Day 51 of 100

“Bark like a dog. Then I’ll know it’s you.”

When I was a kid, my friend Alex and I were schemers. He was the friend that dropped a kitten off at my house so I could pretend I found it. We once bet each other who could wear shorts the longest (I won at 371 days in a row). There was nothing we weren’t curious about.

As a side note, Alex and I are Gen Xers. We are of the fuck around and find out generation. The generation that knew it was time to come home because the street lights came on. Who were left at home to fend for ourselves while our parents worked. No nannies. Just a key and a promise not to die.

This particular day on our way home from school we found the most interesting bug in the world crossing the sidewalk.

“Let’s bury him in dirt and see if he is there in the morning,” I suggested. “Come early,” I told Alex, “and when you get to my house, bark like a dog and I’ll know it is you. Then we will sneak out and check on the bug.”

The next morning I woke up at 5:30am. Alex was expected at my house around 5:45am. I sat on the couch and waited.

“Arf! Arf! Bark! Bark!”

I started laughing.

“Woof, Micah, Woof!”

I couldn’t stop. Here I was sitting on the couch laughing so hard I was crying when my mom walked into the living room took one look at me, heard the “Arf Arf” from outside, shook her head, opened the door and yelled, “Alex get your ass in here!”

I’m not sure why I thought the whole thing was so funny, or why I would fail my friend. But to this day, when I think back to that moment I hear “Woof, Micah, Woof” and giggle.

Oh, and the bug? It made it out of our trap alive on the 217th day in a row of me wearing shorts.