Week 9 Story: Jensen and the Blue Blanket

    Jensen had just recently been adopted from the same dog shelter that Dandi was adopted from, the Low Riders. At first, he was very shy and timid because he did not know his new family and because he was an older dog. 

    After a couple months he was his full self and loved playing with his owners and his sister Dandi.

    One day, Jensen had been resting at home while his owners were away. He noticed that Dandi was laying on the same blue blanket that she always laid on when the owners were away. 

    He thought to himself, “What is so special about that blanket? Why does she always lay on it and burrow herself up in it?” 

    Suddenly, Dandi got up to go get a drink of water and Jensen realized that this was his opportunity to lay on the blue blanket. Jensen jumped up onto the couch and began to burrow himself into the blue blanket.

    Dandi came back to couch and noticed that Jensen had stolen her spot. She yapped at him, but she knew that once Jensen laid down that he was not going to get up any time soon. Dandi pouted and sat in the recliner with flower blanket instead.

    As soon as Jensen had burrowed himself into the blue blanket, his whole world changed. He sank down into the couch and the blanket formed perfectly around his little body. This was the softest blanket that Jensen had ever felt, and it was the comfiest. He laid his head down and immediately fell into a deep sleep. He dreamed of running through a field of flowers while chasing his tennis ball, as well as being in the bathtub but it was filled with his favorite treats. Jensen was having the best sleep of his life when he was unexpectedly woken up by the jangling of keys at the door.

    His owners soon walked in and him and Dandi darted straight to them. They were both jumping up and down and were ready for their treats. Once Dandi got her treat, she took off with it and jumped onto the couch with the blue blanket and ate her treat there. 

    Jensen ate his treat and went over to Dandi, and she yapped at him saying, “You got your turn with the blanket and now it’s my turn.” 

    Jensen then knew why Dandi loved that blue blanket so much.

Dandi on Top, Jensen on Bottom

Author’s Note: The original story Fox-Fire from the Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhem and translated by Frederick H. Martens. This story was a tale of a fox and a farmer. The farmer had stolen the fox’s ball of fire that also happened to be the elixir of life. The farmer became a wealthy man, and he was able to live a happy life. He had the ball of fire for thirty years and the fox finally retrieved it from him. I made this story my own by telling the story of my Jensen, and how he got to lay on Dandi’s blue blanket. In my story, Jensen is the farmer, Dandi is the fox, and the blue blanket represents the ball of fire. My story doesn’t end with Jensen not being able to lay on the blue blanket, instead they end on the decision to take turns.