Dogs and Dust Mops

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Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

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Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I'm about to tell you a bedtime story. It's simple and not much happens in it.

Speaker 1 And that is the idea.

Speaker 1 The story is a soft place to rest your mind.

Speaker 1 A simple and pleasant way to occupy it so that it doesn't wander away and keep you up.

Speaker 1 All you need to do is listen in a relaxed way.

Speaker 1 Just follow along with the sound of my voice

Speaker 1 and the simple details of the story.

Speaker 1 And soon,

Speaker 1 very soon,

Speaker 1 you'll be deeply asleep.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice,

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake in the middle of the night,

Speaker 1 You could listen again

Speaker 1 or just

Speaker 1 think your way back through

Speaker 1 any part of the story that you can remember. We're training your brain to settle and rest.

Speaker 1 And the more you do this,

Speaker 1 the better your sleep will get.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Dogs and Dust Mops.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about some spring cleaning on a warm afternoon. It's also about an orange kitty in the window,

Speaker 1 the sound of the vacuum running upstairs,

Speaker 1 fresh sheets, scrabbling paws on the deck,

Speaker 1 and the way

Speaker 1 your heart swells when you wrap your arms around someone you love.

Speaker 1 So turn off your light,

Speaker 1 snuggle your body down into your sheets, and get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Take a moment to just

Speaker 1 feel how good it is

Speaker 1 to be in bed,

Speaker 1 to be

Speaker 1 about to sleep.

Speaker 1 Let's take a deep breath in through the nose

Speaker 1 and out through the mouth.

Speaker 1 Nice.

Speaker 1 Let's do that again. Breathe in.

Speaker 1 And out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Dogs and dust mops.

Speaker 1 We were doing a bit of spring cleaning.

Speaker 1 We had all the windows open

Speaker 1 with fresh air moving through the house

Speaker 1 and the sound of lawnmowers and talking neighbors

Speaker 1 echoing from a few doors down.

Speaker 1 Marmalade,

Speaker 1 my regal orange cat,

Speaker 1 was wedged into one of the open windows,

Speaker 1 her round body pressed against the screen,

Speaker 1 and her silky fur sticking through the mesh.

Speaker 1 Her green eyes were closed,

Speaker 1 and her head swayed a bit on her neck,

Speaker 1 not dozing, but catching scents on the wind.

Speaker 1 Her whiskers twitched when the breeze blew.

Speaker 1 And I knew if I lay a hand on her back,

Speaker 1 she would start to purr

Speaker 1 almost instantly.

Speaker 1 She was an indoor cat

Speaker 1 who,

Speaker 1 every year,

Speaker 1 had a few carefully chaperoned visits into the back garden,

Speaker 1 a few bike rides buckled into her cat trailer,

Speaker 1 and a few impromptu walks to the mailbox tucked into my arms

Speaker 1 it suited her

Speaker 1 I'd found her out in the snow a few years back

Speaker 1 just a kitten leaving tiny paw prints in the flakes

Speaker 1 And I'd wondered when she'd first stepped into my house

Speaker 1 if it would be difficult to keep her in

Speaker 1 if she'd want out again

Speaker 1 if she were

Speaker 1 some kind of rambling rolling stone

Speaker 1 who wouldn't want to settle down

Speaker 1 but those fears were quickly allayed

Speaker 1 As soon as she'd discovered the delights of a crackling fire

Speaker 1 and ear rubs on the sofa.

Speaker 1 She'd been happy to leave the outside, outside.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 in the spring,

Speaker 1 when we open everything up,

Speaker 1 she loves to get close.

Speaker 1 A squirrel dashed across the yard,

Speaker 1 and her eyes sprang open, sensing him.

Speaker 1 Her lazy, docile attitude suddenly shifted.

Speaker 1 She sat up,

Speaker 1 pressed her nose to the screen,

Speaker 1 watching as the squirrel teased her by running closer, flapping his fluffy tail,

Speaker 1 and generally acting unbothered.

Speaker 1 If this were a cartoon,

Speaker 1 he would have pulled out an emery board and begun filing his nails.

Speaker 1 Marmie began chattering and clicking at him.

Speaker 1 An empty threat, for sure,

Speaker 1 but one she felt compelled to issue.

Speaker 1 I'd been running the dust mop

Speaker 1 along the floorboards, watching this drama unfold,

Speaker 1 and rolled my eyes as I fished a brown dust bunny from far back under the sofa.

Speaker 1 If it were a little bigger, I might have expected it to start barking and jumping.

Speaker 1 It was clearly made of crumb fur.

Speaker 1 Our scruffy, small pooch,

Speaker 1 who had more energy than the rest of us put together,

Speaker 1 was shedding in the warm weather.

Speaker 1 It reminded me to make an appointment with the groomer

Speaker 1 and as he came around the corner, racing through my dust pile,

Speaker 1 I told him so.

Speaker 1 Haircut next week, mister Crumbles, I said.

Speaker 1 He didn't seem to care or notice.

Speaker 1 Instead he jumped his front paws up beside marmalade

Speaker 1 and began barking at the squirrel.

Speaker 1 I liked watching their backs

Speaker 1 shoulder to shoulder

Speaker 1 as they shared this moment of sibling excitement.

Speaker 1 For a while it had just been Marmalade and me,

Speaker 1 and she was a mamma's girl.

Speaker 1 I wasn't sure how she would do with a little brother,

Speaker 1 but I shouldn't have worried.

Speaker 1 While she occasionally feigned being too cool for dogs,

Speaker 1 the truth was that

Speaker 1 she adored him.

Speaker 1 Not in the same way that he adored her.

Speaker 1 He came with wild love,

Speaker 1 the bull you overtype.

Speaker 1 She came with gentle love.

Speaker 1 The lick your face at the end of the day type.

Speaker 1 He was

Speaker 1 a bit her baby when she watched over him,

Speaker 1 reassured him when the thunder crashed,

Speaker 1 meowed at him when he got late night zoomies,

Speaker 1 told told him to go to sleep.

Speaker 1 Upstairs,

Speaker 1 I heard the click of greyhound toenails on the floors

Speaker 1 and I chuckled, imagining what was happening.

Speaker 1 I was on floor duty downstairs.

Speaker 1 And their dad was on bedroom duty upstairs.

Speaker 1 And I was pretty sure he'd just gotten to changing the sheets.

Speaker 1 Bird, our rescued hound,

Speaker 1 the sleepiest boy

Speaker 1 you've ever met,

Speaker 1 had just been evicted from the bed.

Speaker 1 I was still laughing under my breath as I went through the hall to the foot of the stairs and called out to him

Speaker 1 Birdie,

Speaker 1 did dad make you get up

Speaker 1 come on down here

Speaker 1 and you can sleep on the porch. It's sunny.

Speaker 1 A pointed gray face emerged at the top step.

Speaker 1 Sweet Birdie's deep black eyes blinked at me.

Speaker 1 He shuffled down the stairs

Speaker 1 and pressed his body against my leg.

Speaker 1 Bird is probably the gentlest of all of us,

Speaker 1 humans included.

Speaker 1 He was calm

Speaker 1 and thoughtful,

Speaker 1 Stood back while Crumb tore his toys to bits

Speaker 1 or Marmee strutted through the kitchen.

Speaker 1 I leaned down and held him.

Speaker 1 His soft body wrapped in my arms.

Speaker 1 I could feel his heart beating

Speaker 1 and the light touch of his breath on my shoulder.

Speaker 1 I love my family so much.

Speaker 1 Each of these souls

Speaker 1 so much.

Speaker 1 It sometimes brought tears to my eyes.

Speaker 1 I wiped them away,

Speaker 1 reminding myself that...

Speaker 1 While there was nothing wrong with the tenderness it had brought up.

Speaker 1 They were here with me now.

Speaker 1 They weren't a memory.

Speaker 1 I should enjoy them now.

Speaker 1 I think Bird understood how I felt.

Speaker 1 He stood very still,

Speaker 1 letting me take some deep breaths.

Speaker 1 When I stood up,

Speaker 1 I patted him on the back and led him out to the porch.

Speaker 1 At the sound of the door opening,

Speaker 1 the squirrel, who was still teasing Marm and Crumb in the window,

Speaker 1 finally decided he'd probably pushed his luck as far as it could safely go

Speaker 1 and ran a few feet up the nearest tree.

Speaker 1 Bird paid no mind to him,

Speaker 1 just lumbered down the steps to find a patch of sunlight

Speaker 1 to stretch out in.

Speaker 1 Crumb came hurtling out of the house behind us,

Speaker 1 and I could see by the look in his eyes that he really thought

Speaker 1 he had a chance of catching up with his little harasser.

Speaker 1 Oh bless, I mumbled as I carried the dust mop over to the compost pile

Speaker 1 near the fence

Speaker 1 and started shaking it out.

Speaker 1 Dog hair

Speaker 1 and specks of dust flew out

Speaker 1 and caught in the sun

Speaker 1 and drifted away on a breeze.

Speaker 1 Bird's eyes were already shut,

Speaker 1 his long legs stretched out in the new grass.

Speaker 1 Crumb

Speaker 1 still barked around the base of the tree,

Speaker 1 his little limbs bouncing him up and down,

Speaker 1 and Marmalade was

Speaker 1 once again stretched out on her sill,

Speaker 1 tufts of orange fur showing through the weave of the screen.

Speaker 1 I heard the vacuum click on upstairs

Speaker 1 and smiled as I headed back in

Speaker 1 to finish my chores.

Speaker 1 Dogs and dust mops.

Speaker 1 We were doing a bit of spring cleaning.

Speaker 1 We had all the windows open

Speaker 1 with fresh air blowing through the house

Speaker 1 and the sound of lawnmowers

Speaker 1 and talking neighbors

Speaker 1 echoing from a few doors down.

Speaker 1 Marmalade

Speaker 1 My regal orange cat

Speaker 1 was wedged into one of the open windows,

Speaker 1 her round body pressed against the screen,

Speaker 1 and her silky fur

Speaker 1 sticking through the mesh.

Speaker 1 Her green eyes were closed,

Speaker 1 and her head swayed a bit on her neck,

Speaker 1 not dozing,

Speaker 1 but catching scents

Speaker 1 on the wind.

Speaker 1 Her whiskers twitched

Speaker 1 when the breeze blew her way.

Speaker 1 And I knew

Speaker 1 if I lay a hand on her back,

Speaker 1 she would start to purr

Speaker 1 almost instantly.

Speaker 1 She was an indoor cat

Speaker 1 who,

Speaker 1 every year,

Speaker 1 had a few carefully chaperoned visits

Speaker 1 into the back garden,

Speaker 1 a few bike rides

Speaker 1 buckled into her cat trailer,

Speaker 1 and a few

Speaker 1 impromptu walks to the mail box tucked into my arms.

Speaker 1 I'd suited her.

Speaker 1 I'd found her her out in the snow

Speaker 1 a few years back,

Speaker 1 just a kitten,

Speaker 1 leaving tiny paw prints in the flakes.

Speaker 1 And I'd wondered

Speaker 1 when she first stepped into my house

Speaker 1 if it would be difficult to keep her in,

Speaker 1 if she'd want out again,

Speaker 1 If she were

Speaker 1 some kind of rambling rolling stone

Speaker 1 Who wouldn't want to settle down

Speaker 1 But those fears were quickly allayed

Speaker 1 As soon as she discovered the delights of a crackling fire

Speaker 1 and ear rubs on the sofa

Speaker 1 She was happy to leave the outside

Speaker 1 outside.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 in the spring,

Speaker 1 when we open everything up,

Speaker 1 she loves to get close.

Speaker 1 A squirrel dashed across the yard,

Speaker 1 and her eyes sprang open,

Speaker 1 sensing him.

Speaker 1 Her lazy, docile attitude suddenly switched.

Speaker 1 She sat up

Speaker 1 and pressed her nose to the screen,

Speaker 1 watching as the squirrel teased her by running closer,

Speaker 1 flapping his fluffy tail,

Speaker 1 and generally acting

Speaker 1 unbothered.

Speaker 1 If this were a cartoon,

Speaker 1 he would have pulled out an Emery board

Speaker 1 and begun filing his nails.

Speaker 1 Marmie

Speaker 1 began chattering

Speaker 1 and clicking at him.

Speaker 1 An empty threat for sure

Speaker 1 but one she felt compelled to issue

Speaker 1 I'd been running the dust mop along the floorboards

Speaker 1 watching this drama unfold

Speaker 1 and rolled my eyes

Speaker 1 as I fished a brown dust bunny from far back under the sofa

Speaker 1 if it were a little bigger,

Speaker 1 I might have expected it

Speaker 1 to start barking and jumping.

Speaker 1 It was clearly made of crumb fur.

Speaker 1 Our scruffy, small pooch,

Speaker 1 who had more energy than the rest of us put together,

Speaker 1 was shedding in the warm weather.

Speaker 1 It reminded me to make an appointment with the groomer.

Speaker 1 And as he came around the corner,

Speaker 1 racing through my dust pile,

Speaker 1 I told him so.

Speaker 1 Haircut next week, Mr. Crumbles, I said.

Speaker 1 He didn't seem to care or notice.

Speaker 1 Instead, he jumped his front paws up beside Marmalade

Speaker 1 and began barking at the squirrel.

Speaker 1 I liked watching their backs

Speaker 1 shoulder to shoulder

Speaker 1 as they shared this moment of sibling excitement.

Speaker 1 For a while it had just been Marmalade and me,

Speaker 1 and she

Speaker 1 was a mama's girl.

Speaker 1 I wasn't sure how she would do with a little brother,

Speaker 1 but I shouldn't have worried.

Speaker 1 While she occasionally feigned being too cool for dogs,

Speaker 1 the truth was that she adored him.

Speaker 1 Not in the same way that he adored her.

Speaker 1 He came with wild love,

Speaker 1 the bowl you overtype.

Speaker 1 She came with gentle love,

Speaker 1 the lick your face at the end of the day type.

Speaker 1 He was

Speaker 1 a bit

Speaker 1 her baby,

Speaker 1 and she watched over him,

Speaker 1 reassured him

Speaker 1 when thunder crashed,

Speaker 1 meowed at him when he got late-night zoomies,

Speaker 1 telling him to go to sleep.

Speaker 1 Upstairs

Speaker 1 I heard the click of greyhound toenails on the floor.

Speaker 1 I chuckled,

Speaker 1 imagining

Speaker 1 what was happening.

Speaker 1 I was on floor duty downstairs,

Speaker 1 and their dad was on bedroom duty upstairs.

Speaker 1 And I was pretty sure

Speaker 1 that he'd just gotten to changing the sheets,

Speaker 1 meaning bird,

Speaker 1 our rescued hound,

Speaker 1 and the sleepiest boy you've ever met

Speaker 1 had just been evicted from the bed.

Speaker 1 I was still laughing under my breath

Speaker 1 as I went through the hall

Speaker 1 to the foot of the stairs

Speaker 1 and called to him

Speaker 1 Birdie,

Speaker 1 did Dad make you get up

Speaker 1 Come on down here

Speaker 1 and you can sleep on the porch.

Speaker 1 It's sunny

Speaker 1 A pointed blue-gray face

Speaker 1 emerged at the top step

Speaker 1 Sweet Birdie's deep black eyes blinked at me.

Speaker 1 He shuffled down the stairs and pressed his body against my leg.

Speaker 1 Bird is probably

Speaker 1 the gentlest

Speaker 1 of all of us,

Speaker 1 humans included.

Speaker 1 He was calm and thoughtful

Speaker 1 stood back while Crum tore his toys to bits

Speaker 1 or Marmee strutted through the kitchen.

Speaker 1 I leaned down

Speaker 1 and held him.

Speaker 1 His soft body

Speaker 1 wrapped in my arms.

Speaker 1 could feel his heart beating

Speaker 1 and the light touch of his breath on my shoulder.

Speaker 1 I love my family

Speaker 1 so much,

Speaker 1 each of these souls

Speaker 1 so much.

Speaker 1 It sometimes brought tears to my eyes,

Speaker 1 and I wiped them away,

Speaker 1 reminding myself that

Speaker 1 while there was nothing wrong with the tenderness

Speaker 1 it brought up,

Speaker 1 they were here with me now.

Speaker 1 They weren't a memory.

Speaker 1 I should enjoy them now.

Speaker 1 I think Bird

Speaker 1 understood how I felt.

Speaker 1 He stood very still,

Speaker 1 letting me take some deep breaths.

Speaker 1 When I stood up tall,

Speaker 1 I patted him on the back

Speaker 1 and led him to the porch.

Speaker 1 As I opened the door,

Speaker 1 the squirrel, who was still teasing marm and crumb in the window,

Speaker 1 finally decided

Speaker 1 he'd pushed his luck as far as it could safely go

Speaker 1 and ran a few feet up the nearest tree.

Speaker 1 Bird paid no mind to him,

Speaker 1 just lumbered down the steps to find a patch of sunlight

Speaker 1 to stretch out in.

Speaker 1 Crumb came hurtling out of the house behind us,

Speaker 1 and I could see

Speaker 1 by the look in his eyes

Speaker 1 that he really thought he had a chance

Speaker 1 of catching up with his little harasser.

Speaker 1 Oh, bless,

Speaker 1 I mumbled as I carried the dust mop

Speaker 1 over to the compost pile

Speaker 1 and started shaking it out.

Speaker 1 Dog hair

Speaker 1 and specks of dust flew out

Speaker 1 and caught in the sun

Speaker 1 and drifted away on a breeze.

Speaker 1 Bird's eyes were already shut,

Speaker 1 his long legs

Speaker 1 stretched out in the new grass.

Speaker 1 Crumb still barked

Speaker 1 around the base of the tree,

Speaker 1 his little limbs bouncing him up and down.

Speaker 1 And Marmalade was once again

Speaker 1 stretched out on her sill,

Speaker 1 tufts of her orange fur

Speaker 1 showing through the weave of the screen.

Speaker 1 I heard the vacuum click on upstairs,

Speaker 1 and I smiled

Speaker 1 as I headed back in

Speaker 1 To finish my chores

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams