As dawn breaks, my day begins with frantic plea for help
As I lie in bed, I can't move or he’ll hear me. I am afraid to make any sound.
I listen for the warning signs across the room.
When I hear a groan and heavy exhale, I know it has probably gone too far already, and my peaceful night’s sleep is about to come to a sudden end.
Then there is the slurping noise in the darkness as he licks his ankles. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea.
Then I hear the telltale full-body shake and I know I'm in trouble. That is usually the last straw.
Progressively more desperate sounds begin to pass from one side of the room to the other, back and forth.
I don’t dare open my eyes.
But he is onto my tricks, and the end is near.
“Stop,” I grumble into the dim early-morning light streaming into the bedroom through the blinds and the gaps around the curtains.
Then a paw lands on my chest with a thud. I slowly open one eye to see his large head, white with light-brown spots, close to my face. He snorts.
Bode, somewhere between 100 and 110 pounds of desperate mutt, is ready to eat. And that's all that matters to him as he looks me in the face.
I tell him to go back to bed, but he is a master of this game.
On rare occasions, the 9-year-old beast grudgingly wanders back to bed, waiting to start the morning ritual again. But not today.
Bode plays his last card and begins to bark. He knows the threat of waking up everyone in the house will force me to act.
I pull back the covers. Bode gets close but I push him back to make room to pull on my sneakers. After I stand up, he steps on my foot and then herds me toward the kitchen.
By this time, he is almost frantic.
Bode stays close as I shuffle to the utility room, where his bin of food is kept.
When I open the door, he barks loudly and insistently as I scoop up a cup of dry dog food. He then rushes toward his bowl, scampering around in a circle before stopping.
I tell him to sit, but at best he hesitates as he hovers over to his food bowl. As soon as I get an opening, I toss in the cup of dog food and immediately get out of the way. He devours it, gasping occasionally for a breath of air.
Bode has won again.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
