Mom Amy’s note: Whether this is your first time reading this post or you are enjoying it as a rerun, thank you! And if you haven’t read the full series of “Xena’s Story” you can click here to get started!
“I’m so glad my Mommy and your Sissy let us stay in Paris,” woofed Xe.
“Yep, even if Sho did send little Missy the mouse to keep an eye on us. As though we wouldn’t notice her hanging around, spying,” laughed Tye.
“I’m also glad Missy agreed to only send good news back to Sho and Mommy when we offered to include her in everything we did!” exclaimed Xe.
“Hey, Missy,” the pair yelled out together, as they were often wont to do. Let’s head on over to the river bank and see what’s going on. The café let us have the night off from tasting food, er, I mean waiting tables, and licking, er, I mean washing dishes so we could enjoy Halloween! They’re so nice there. They even said please, please take the night off, take several nights off. We can text Gigi on the way to meet us there,” finished Xexe.
A short while later, the foursome met up on the bank of the Seine.
“Look at that friendly pumpkin,” observed Tye. What fun we are going to have tonight! I bet we get lots of treats, too!” she added.
“Gigi, will you take a picture of the three of us?” implored Xe.
“This light is quite flattering,” observed Tye.
“Oh, my,” squeaked Missy, “I forgot to smile. And now Miss Mommy and Miss Sho will know I am in cahoots with you two. I’m sorry, Miss Mommy and Miss Sho!”
Later, after nightfall…
“Let’s go to Disneyland Paris,” suggested Gigi. “They always have a big blast for Halloween. It should be tons of fun. And *giggle* maybe we can sneak in like we did at the museum and all those other places we got thrown out of.”
“Poof” said Mickey the Magician. “You’ll disappear if you enter here.”
“Grrr,” growled the pumpkin. “Turn around or you’ll never be found.”
“Come closer,” enticed the witch. “Turn into wood, rot where you stood.”
“Well, we sure didn’t get very far,” grumped Xe. Who knew they would have this elaborate system set up to make you leave if you didn’t have a ticket!”
“Ooo, that was scary,” squeaked Missy the mouse.”
“Let’s go find somewhere better,” meowed Tye with disdain.
“I know,” said Gigi, trying to make up for the Disneyland failure. “Let’s go to the Eiffel Tower. It is never disappointing, and it is free.
The next morning…
“Wake up, my friends,” woofed Gigi. “It’s time to go home.”
“Where am I?” asked Tye. “I felt this terrible sleepiness overtake me and I laid down and fell soundly asleep.”
“We never made it to the Eiffel Tower,” Gigi answered. “You fell asleep, like you said, and Xe went into a stupor. I could not rouse either of you, so I sat here and watched over you both all night to make sure no one played a Halloween prank on you. It was very odd. It was like the pumpkins acted as the poppies did in the Wizard of Oz.”
“I dreamed I was wearing the Cone of Shame, and JenJen Bear came to comfort me,” said Xe.
“Well, I hate to tell you this,” laughed Tye. “Oh, never mind. You’ll realize it soon enough.”
“But I also had an even scarier dream,” said Xe as she began to shake with fear. “Angel Lexi came back as a Vampire Dog…”
“Bwah, ha, ha, ha. I have come… to suck…your blood.” Lexi’s voice could be heard in the distance, moving away from the four friends. “Man, I love Halloween and the Big Guy letting me come back to have some fun!”
As Gigi, Tye, Xe, with Missy riding on her back ran as fast as they could toward their Paris abodes, their screams reminded all of the terrors of All Saint’s Eve.
to adult hood,
Lexi’s gifts and joy of life shone through.
I knew it would be terrible for Mom when I had to leave, so I hung on for two more months than the docs said I would. Then I had no choice but to go on back to my Creator. After four months I could see how sad Mom still was, so I asked the Big Guy to send someone to help her. I figured He would send her another schnauzer, maybe even let me pick out the right one. At first I didn’t understand why He sent her Lucy. When I asked, He said to wait and watch. I could tell she was still very sad, but the break in her heart seemed to be starting to heal, at least a little. As the months continued to pass, I saw stitch after stitch forming, creating a heart that could once again hold love. Lucy was accomplishing the job He sent her to do.
When the time was right Mom contacted my breeder, Becky, who understood what Mom wanted. The litter that would be ready to go in October were from a mom and dad who had puppies with temperaments more like mine, but they were all black and all males. Nope. The litter Becky expected to get in the spring would be from a mom and dad who usually had puppies that looked like me but were all cuddly love bugs with no “attitude.” Nope. So Becky told Mom about another great breeder named Toni. Toni was three hours away, and I knew that wouldn’t be a problem since Mom had driven that far to get me. When Mom went to see these 15 week old puppies, Toni had already picked out the one she thought would be the best match for Mom. You see, I had whispered in Toni’s ear which one to choose, and of course, it was the girl who would soon be named Xena. Even though Xena’s only been in the family for a little over two months, Mom’s heart is healing much faster so it can hold all the love welling up inside it. And Lucy’s new job is to help raise Xena and to be a wonderful big sister to her. She sure is acing that one, too.
Suddenly, I knew what to do. For now, I am going to let little Xena grow and experience life and build her courage. I will keep en”courage”ing her and do my best to instill some of my extra bravery into her. Do you remember when the little warrior princess w
Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with Lucy and Chia 