Blackfoot, the furry Christmas Cupid
Blackfoot was a white puppy with black feet. His master, a nerd who always wore a frown that made him look old, was grooming him to be the meanest and toughest dog in Cebu.
First, his master warned: “Never go out of the apartment until you are over a year old.” Then came the lessons: “Do not bark when a stranger with a sinister plan approaches our apartment. Your bark would only alert him to go away for a day or two, but he will return soon with a plan to break into our apartment, slipping through your watchful eyes. Stop him on the spot: Quietly sneak behind him, then bite him!”
Blackfoot did not like doing what his master was teaching him. But, to please him, he would yelp, yes.
“Do not yelp,” Blackfoot’s master commanded. “It’s too friendly – bare your fangs and growl.”
Blackfoot bared his baby teeth – but, instead of looking fierce, he looked like he was smiling!
No reason to be jolly
This made his master roll his eyes and say, “There’s too much niceness in the air these days. And all becuase of this so-called season to be jolly, Christmas. The fact is, there is no reason to be jolly – just check the Internet: Our planet is dying, thanks to global warming. There’s war everywhere. Cancer is rising; the stock market is plunging; thousands of children are starving. As for you, dogs, you are treated like dolls! Do you like that?”
Blackfoot wanted to say yes. He once saw a TV show where dogs walked on a ramp, dressed in the latest doggie fashion trends. People applauded and seemed to love them very much. But, fearing the sharp looks of his master, Blackfoot shook his head, saying “no” to dogs in human clothing.
To lighten his master’s sour mood – it’s instinctive for a dog to help his master – Blackfoot walked noisily to the only thing that could make his master smile: His computer. He found it adorable that Blackfoot expressed interest in what he did for a living.
All grownups in Villa Sto. Niño worked in offices, but not Blackfoot’s master. He worked at home, with his very expensive computer. His job was to analyze numbers that appeared on his computer screen, then make predictions and forecasts about the economy. People paid him to give advice on how to make more money, and he was known as Mr. Investments Consultant, or MIC. For some reason that no dog could understand, the numbers that regularly appeared on the screen made MIC smile.
But, there was something else that could bring a smile to MIC’s face – and this was a secret: Every time he saw his next-door neighbor, a very pretty grade-school teacher, his heart would beat faster than the blink of the mysterious numbers on his computer. He wished he could introduce himself to her, but he was too insecure about his crooked teeth, the thickness of his eyeglasses, and his thin body.
He wished the pretty teacher would throw him a glance. Well, she never did – not once since she moved to her apartment a month ago. Desperate, MIC knelt down on the eve of Christmas and prayed for something to happen to make him and his pretty neighbor get together!
He did not celebrate Christmas Eve, though. The numbers on the screen were unusually jumpy – and he was quite busy.
On Christmas Day, MIC was at his computer, as usual, because, to him, it was just an ordinary day. As he worked, children were caroling outside his apartment. This was a big disturbance for him, because he couldn’t concentrate on the numbers on the screen. He went out the door and threw some coins, yelling, “Stop singing! Get lost!” He went back to his computer, forgetting to close the door.
Blackfoot looked at the open door. His master had warned him not to go out until he was grown, but he was curious about the goings-on outside, especially the merriment of Christmas. And so, he stepped out of the door and began to run around the space between his master’s apartment and the pretty teacher’s door. He looked up her door and saw a Christmas bell with a long ribbon. He wished he were a cat, so he could climb up the ribbon and look inside the bell. Well, he could never be a cat, so he did a puppy’s bump-bump game on the door.
Inside, the pretty teacher was wrapping food baskets to give to the poor. At the bump-bump sound, she stopped and cried out, “Who is it?” Nobody answered, so she opened the door. “Oh, what a cute puppy!,” she exclaimed. She carried Blackfoot like a baby, and this made him bark his cutest bark.
Girl of his dreams
“What’s the matter?” MIC yelled. “I told you not to go out.” He went out of his apartment – and finally got to meet the girl of his dreams – face to face!
MIC didn’t know what to do or say. So, he blurted out, “Merry Christmas. I’m MIC, I mean, Mike.”
The pretty teacher extended her hand and said, “I’m Ligaya. Is this your puppy? He’s so cute! He’s the sort of dog who barks but does not bite, isn’t he?”
As he shook Ligaya’s hand, Mike stammered,” You are r-right. I’m training him to…to…not bite.”
“Great! Most of my friends on Facebook talk about how their dogs get them into trouble by biting passersby. What’s your Facebook? I’ll add you up and tell everyone how they can avoid trouble through your example.”
Mike replied, “I’m too busy for Facebook or any other social networks.” He was nervous, so to cover up, he said, “But I’ll make a new account now and post a lot about Blackfoot and what we’re up to.”
“Wonderful!,” Ligaya said. “Christmas is wonderful, isn’t it?”
Mike replied, blushing, “Yes, it is.”
Blackfoot was thrilled about what he was hearing, but he was more thrilled to see his master happy about something else other than the numbers on his computer screen.
Mike looked more Christmas-y, just like Ligaya, and Blackfoot thought, “My master now has a better reason than numbers to be happy. Maybe he’ll actually celebrate Christmas, and I’ll finally get to eat the ham and sausages I keep seeing on TV. Bow-wow-WOW!”
