Chapters | The Dog House Animal Crackers

Chapter 2

To be honest, no one really knew what the heck to say. Tyler's revelation that he was responsible for the destruction of his mom's clothes was, simply put, shocking. Missy stood up, sat down, stood up, then sat back down again, looking distressed. Smokey smoothed his whiskers in reflection. Andy was simply too young to understand the implications of it all. Reno's first thought was to tell Tyler he was a sissy boy, a fashion fag; but even he knew what courage it took to disclose such a secret. And Tommy, well Tommy didn't really give a flip. He just busied himself, cleaning his fur.

Finally, the silence was broken by Missy. She walked over to Tyler and nudged him with her tiny, little black nose.

"You know what, Tyler? In all the years I've known you, the one thing I can always say is that you never tried to eat me. You growled a few times, even bared your teeth when our Mommas wasn't lookin'. But you never tried to eat me. So, as far as I'm concerned, that makes up for anything you disclose about yourself. I still love you, my big dog brother."

Smokey chimed in, "Yes, yes, dear Tyler. Although I can't say the same about your proclivity for eating cats, I do so enjoy conversation with you and would dare say never hold anything against you for such a courageous stand. Without it, I would have continued to feel that our Momma's coming out was of minimal consequence. However, in light of your confession, it surely changes my viewpoint."

Slowly getting to his feet, Reno cleared his throat as he lumbered over. "Well, Tyler, you know there's no love lost 'tween us, right? I still think you're a pussy boy. But I can't sit here and say that you didn't do a damn brave thing. And yeah, as Smokey said, you have given us all something to think about. Anyway, you're all right by me. Long as you don't come over here wearing pink tutus or anything like that."

Everyone chuckled. A little humor was exactly what this moment needed to lighten things up a bit.

Tyler looked at them with misty eyes. "Missy, Smokey, Reno—you have no idea how much that means to me. Honestly, I didn't know what anyone would think once I disclosed my secret. I was prepared for the worst—losing my dear friends— if ya'll didn't accept it. I am, to say the least, extremely relieved to know that ya'll will accept me as I am."

At that, a huge woof resounded in the room.

"Now wait just a dang minute! You chew up the clothes, you make a teary confession and everyone's happy?! Whatta 'bout me? I'm the one gettin' my butt in trouble every time Mom turns around! She thinks I do it!!"

Heads turned as Grady bounded into the room, barking all the way. Given his size, it felt like a small earthquake with every leap and bound. He had been exploring an old tennis shoe in another room, but caught the tail-end of Tyler's confession. Now, he was fumin' mad and wanting some answers.

All eyes turned to see how Tyler would handle this. It was true—he had been lying and blaming the destruction on Grady—all to cover up the real truth about himself.

"Ah, well, um . . . Grady . . . it's a big brother/little brother thing and I'll need to explain it to you in private," Tyler said.

"No, no," Tommy mewed. He just loved seeing a stinkin' dog squirm. "Please, Tyler, explain it for all of us to hear."

"Yeah, big brother," Grady sarcastically chimed in. "Please explain it for all of us."

"Look, you little sh—"

"Ahem, uh, Tyler, remember, we do have little ears here," Smokey interjected, nodding towards Andy.

Composing himself, Tyler smiled towards Grady, who inexplicably shrank back and became docile. No one else quite knew out why, but Grady knew; that smile was the promise of a butt whoopin' if he didn't drop the subject—now!

"Little brother, we'll discuss this at home, okay?" Tyler continued baring that dazzling display of teeth.

Grady responded nervously, "Uh, sure, okay. No problem, bubby."

Tommy finally spoke up. "Look, this is all good and fine, but I thought we were meeting about Momma's decision to come out. If we're not gonna to do nothin' but talk about a fashion fag, then I'm outta here. I got better stuff to do, like hairballs to cough up."

Missy threw him a glare, but conceded he was right.

"Okay, like we discussed earlier, we've got to have a game plan on how to handle this. Given the events thus far, I think we seriously need to assess what can happen if she comes out and how we're going to deal with the repercussions. Believe me when I say this, this decision of hers could change our lives . . . forever.

To be continued...

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapters | The Dog House