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| Masiniello; Neopolitan Mastiff; the best dog I ever had growing up |
She opened the
door and he saw boxes everywhere. He closed the door behind him, “Did you just
move in?”
“No, I’ve been
here for a while.” She took off her shoes, “just sit anywhere and I’ll be right
back.” and she headed up the stairs.
He looked
around. There weren’t many places to sit, but, if he moved a stack of boxes
slightly to the right, he could sit on the couch. Putting his foot to the base
of the stack and pushing, he made a window in front of the couch big enough to
sit down in. He sat down; stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing his
ankles, putting an arm over top of the couch.
He heard a
strange clicking sound, but couldn’t see around the stacked boxes. He sat up,
hearing the noise louder as it seemed to come closer.
He saw a huge
grey shape lope from behind the boxes. It walked up to him and seated itself
onto his feet. He knew it was a dog, but couldn’t place the breed; he’d never
seen one so big before. Looking away from the steel blue eyes that seemed to
bore a hole through him, he attempted to move his feet and heard a menacing growl.
“Ah, Gee?”
The dog never
moved and continued to stare at him. Laces of drool were descending from the
corners of the dog’s mouth and would soon reach his jeans.
“Gee?” he said,
slightly louder.
“I’ll be down in
a minute
He nodded,
“That’s fine, but uhm, your dog.”
“If he’s sitting
on your feet, just push him away; he doesn’t bite; he’s a sweetie; his name is Masiniello;
Masi for short.”
He looked at the
ominous presence before him.
“Okay, Masi, she
says you’re a sweetie.”
He put a hand on
each of the dog’s massive shoulders and felt the hard muscle beneath the loose
skin; he pushed lightly at first, but then with more force. The dog did not
budge, but a rumbling came from deep in its chest and was slowly getting
louder. Looking to the dog’s sagging face, he saw an almost imperceptible, but
undeniable raising of the dog’s lips. Andy took his hands off immediately and
sat back in an attempt to put as much distance as he could between him and the
huge teeth he knew were hiding under those jowls.
“Gee?”
He knew his
voice had a somewhat urgent pleading tone to it, but he couldn’t help it.
“Masi?” Andy
heard her voice from somewhere behind the boxes.
The big dog
turned his great head towards the sound of his master’s voice, his tail
thumping the wooden floor, sounding like a base drum.
“What’s Masi
doing?”
Andy almost
sighed with relief when he saw her appear from around the boxes. He could tell
the dog wanted to go to her, but acted like he didn’t want to lose his quarry.
Andy made another attempt to move his feet and was again rewarded with
growling.
“Masiniello, you
stop that. You’re scaring Andy; you know you’re just a big coward.” She bent
and put her hands on her thighs, “you come here now, or I’ll show Andy your
rubber ducky.”
Andy could see
that the big dog was torn about what he should do.
“Okay Masi” she
turned to leave and Andy’s heart dropped, “I was going to take you for a walk,
but I guess I’ll just go alone.”
He didn’t think
something that large could move as fast as he did. One minute, he was on Andy’s
feet; the next he was jumping onto Gee. Andy winced when the dog collided with
her, but to his surprise, Masi pulled up short, just as collision was imminent.
Andy could see that the two had been together a long time and knew each other’s
limits. The way the huge animal was acting; rubbing on Gee as she scratched him
behind the ears and at the base of his tail almost made Andy forget the fear he
felt before.
“Now sit” she said
and the dog dropped immediately to obey. Andy laughed when Gee had to push him
off her feet or risk falling down. Andy saw the mutual adoration as the big dog
looked up and Gee looked down to meet his eyes.
“This is Andy.”
She told him, “he’s a good guy.” She wondered how she knew; having only met him
hours before, but she did know. She looked over to where Andy stood and smiled;
he smiled back at her. Masi saw the exchange and Andy heard the growling again.
“Masiniello you
stop that” she tapped the dog between the eyes, “now you go give Andy a proper
hello.”
Andy looked at
her horrified.
The big dog was
loping up to him; his tail between his legs; just obeying his master.
“That’s really
not necessary.” Andy stammered.
Masi looked back
at her; as if to ask if he really had to.
“Go on”
“Gee, that’s
okay; if he doesn’t want to”
But Masi had
heard and obeyed. He stopped in front of Andy; jumped up and placed his front paws
on Andy’s shoulders.
It was a bit
disconcerting to see those steel blue eyes level with his.
“Aww; that’s a
good Masi. Now give Andy a kiss.”
Andy tried to
protest, but could only close his eyes and prepare for impact when he saw the
enormous pink tongue coming straight at him. He felt wetness cover his whole
face. Then he felt the dog’s weight leave his shoulders.
He opened his
eyes and saw Gee standing with her hand over her mouth; trying not to laugh.
She held a towel out to him.
“You did that on
purpose.” He wiped his face, but could still feel the stickiness of the drool,
“bathroom?” he asked.
She pointed to
her left and burst out laughing as he passed her. She heard the bathroom door
close.
He looked in the
mirror and saw that the drool had reached his forehead, causing a huge cowlick
in his hair.
He corrected
himself, “Dog lick you mean.” And he smiled.
She was nervous.
What if Andy got mad at her? Maybe she shouldn’t have made Masi lick him; maybe
that was going a little too far. She felt the dog on her feet again and gave him a
rub. She heard a sound coming from the bathroom and relaxed when she realized
it was laughter. She squat down to hug her big baby.
“You like him
too don’t you?”
