Belly Rub

Cleaning dog poop
off the floor is a rarity these days.

She knows better,
an exercise in anxiety more
than a need,
but it was the thunder and the rain,
those mystery entities of dark
night sky that had her barking out the
window at 5 AM.

I knew
she was having a hard morning
by the way she was curled up on my slippers
this morning instead of on her fluffy blue bed,
like usual
and by the way she clung to me,
as I
made breakfast,
watching me with her big, sad eyes,
and that little bit of tremble around
her ears.

Finding her mess,
I lowered my voice,
deep,
she came to me,
and I asked her,
"Did you do this?"
and she slinked away
like a scolded child,
watched me working
with plastic bag and
spray cleaner.

Disposing of the mess,
I called her to me,
and we made friends
with a "gimme five" and a
"shake"
and a little bit of a
belly rub.