— Creative Writing —
Coco comes from Texas with a notch in his ear
and a mystery in his heart.
Nobody knows exactly when he was born.
So his mama picks a day, August 19,
and says, that’s your day, baby.
That one belongs to you.
Coco is unlike any dog anyone has ever met.
He chews socks. He chews shoes. He chews rugs.
He bites things he shouldn’t bite,
he bounces when other dogs walk,
and he loves so loudly
the whole house feels it.
Some dogs are calm.
Some dogs are quiet.
Coco sees a sock,
and decides to try it.
When he arrives, there is already a very dignified gentleman living in the house.
His name is Pepe.
Pepe is eight years old.
He has opinions about naps.
He has preferences about treats.
He has a whole system,
eat, snooze, look handsome, repeat,
and it has been working perfectly for years,
thank you very much.
Then comes this tiny tornado from Texas.
Pepe opens one eye.
Then opens the other.
Something tells him life just got
a whole lot louder.
At first, Pepe complains.
(He complains quite a lot, actually.)
But then, slowly, like sunshine through a window, something shifts.
Pepe starts playing again.
He wrestles. He runs.
He does things his old bones had forgotten they remembered.
Because that’s what little brothers do.
They wake you up.
Even when you didn’t know
you were sleeping.
Coco cuddles his way into any lap,
any blanket,
any heart that will have him.
He doesn’t know about his notch.
He doesn’t wonder why he’s different
or where he came from
or why he chews everything in sight.
He just knows:
I am here.
I am loved.
This is my pack.
He curls up close and breathes in deep.
He finds his people and falls asleep.
Some kids ask, why am I different?
Look closely at Coco,
curled up in the bed he’s claimed as his own,
chewed sock nearby,
Pepe grumbling softly beside him.
The answer is right there:
Different woke Pepe up.
Different filled the house with sound.
Different travelled from Texas,
notch in ear, paws on the ground.
Different isn’t broken.
Different isn’t wrong.
Different is the missing piece
that makes a family strong.
Coco no chewing, his mama says.
But she’s smiling when she says it.
Seven months of joy already,
and a whole life still ahead.
For every kid who just wanted to be like anybody else, you were always exactly enough.
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