Rufus, The Army & Transgression

When I started this blog years ago, I said to myself that I would never bore anyone with how I brush my teeth, comb my hair & wear my clothes the way some bloggers bare all in their online journal. Well, I’m still not going to do that but as Rufus is such a welcome addition to my routine, I thought I’d share with you some of my challenges to make my new routine a little more meaningful.

My day begins early as I prepare to have Rufus walked & settled before I get ready for work. He is house-trained & looks forward to having his romp in Peaceful Stony Park. I would put my Hello Kitty apron on, shove his necessary items in the pocket & proceed to wear the harness before the leash on him. My greatest stress is reaching the ground floor where 7 stray dogs await him. Seeing him injured & limping, five of these dogs deem him as a weakling & would somehow lunge at him. The alpha male is somewhat of an aggressive dog & he is the one that causes me to carry all 23kg of Rufus from the lift to the car & vice versa. Rufus has gotten accustomed to car rides & we would go to Stony Park not far from my place. Our usual walk begins at the start of the park for about 150 – 200m while he investigates all the stony coves….possibly your ancestor’s who’s resting in peace as Rufus circumvents his surroundings.

Since Awal Muharram was a public holiday, we slept in & by the time we got out to the park, it was already 10am & the sun was shining brightly. We walked & walked & decided to rest underneath a big tree with lots of shade to marvel at the peace offered by Stony Park. Before long, Rufus began to twitch & fling his head from side to side as if something was seizing him……..and the twitches got to me too. It wasn’t until I got the third & forth sting that I realised we were standing on the path of an army of RED ANTS.

“Rufus! Run for your life!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” Half shaking the ants off my body with flailing hands, half running with the leash on Rufus, we both made a 100metre dash for our lives as we gyrated our torsos to shake the remaining ants off our bodies. I could see clearly that the ants were attacking Rufus so I had to rid the ants off him too. It couldn’t have been a funnier sight if Prince Charming was to meet me at that point of our walk. The incision that each ant inflict can be so severe that I would have swells thereafter but at that time Rufus understood that we had to vamoose or face the wrath of the entire army thereafter. We went home with relief on our faces & I subjected him to a hot bath. Since then, walking in Stony Park had been a cautious affair & whenever we pass that big shady tree, we would make a quick dash to not let the nasty squadron land on us. That’s the pain that we both felt.

Being bored at home, he has sinced, chewed up my computer cable, speakers cable, one cd, my portable hard drive casing & sleeve, one soft toy, my hair clip, one roll of Glad wrap, one AA battery, my orchid collection, a cacti, my prized Philodendron & whatever else that he saw, lying around without use…..but the joy he’s brought me has surpassed all the pain of having to replace the result of his wrongdoings. He’s taught me to do the same for humans too. That’s the pain that I must let go of.

This is not a red ant, but it is an ant with an armour!