Jasper and Holly

My name is Jasper Jamison Jones, and I’m the best dog ever. My humans tell me so every day, and they would never lie.

I’m a handsome brindle-coated pit bull, at least that’s what my humans say. They tell me I’m a senior dog, but I still love to play. My body aches a little when it gets cold, like it is right now, but after my walks, I get to come inside and curl up on a nice soft dog bed next to the fire. I love to nap!

“Every animal should have a safe, warm home.” Daddy said this while I was curled up between them on the sofa.

“I know,” Mommy agreed. She stroked my fur. “Jasper, you will always have a home with us. Always!”

They say things like this often. Sometimes they bring home another dog or a cat who doesn’t have a home. The “foster animals” stay with us for a few weeks or a few months until a family adopts them. Some foster animals come to our house underweight or with scars or matted fur, but they’re always healthy and happy before they leave.

Every year when it gets cold, my humans bring a tree into the house so it can have a nice warm home, too. The foster tree never stays long. Maybe it’s easier to find loving homes for trees than it is for dogs and cats. Some foster trees have missing branches or scraggly needles, but Mommy and Daddy always help them look healthy and happy, too. The foster tree staying with us this year came in looking a little dull and scrawny, but now she is beautiful, covered in lights and shiny balls.

That brings me to Holly. One cold night, very much like tonight, I was napping on the sofa near our foster tree. The humans had left the house, and it was up to me to keep the tree safe. When I awoke from my nap, I heard a tiny, squeaky voice coming from the tree. That was odd. None of our other foster trees could talk.

“What did you say?” I asked. “Your voice is so soft, it’s hard to hear you.”

The tree replied, but I still couldn’t hear what she was saying. I jumped off the sofa and got closer to the tree. My nose found a scent that wasn’t there before. I sniffed more closely. It was a mouse! Maybe that’s what the foster tree was trying to tell me! The mouse was trying to gnaw at her trunk, and she was crying out for help in her small, squeaky voice.

I moved in closer, trying not to step on the brightly colored boxes lying around under the branches of our foster tree. As I carefully sniffed along her base, I heard the squeaky voice again. This time, it was just loud enough for me to hear what she said.

“Please, Mr. Dog. Please don’t eat me!”

The mouse was hiding behind a big red box. I cocked my head to the side. “Are you our foster mouse?” One time, my humans brought home a foster guinea pig and they told me I couldn’t eat him because he was going to be someone’s pet. He smelled delectable — like this mouse — but I would never eat a foster animal. Truth be told, I rarely even tried to chase squirrels. It was much more fun to act as cute as possible until Mommy or Daddy gave me a few treats.

“Foster mouse?” She looked confused. “I don’t know what that means. I’m just a mouse looking for a warm home.”

“That’s what a foster mouse is!” I told her about our foster dogs, foster cats, foster trees, and, of course, the foster guinea pig.

“You mean they’ll let me stay? The last time I was inside a house, they put some delicious peanut butter in a little box. When I got stuck inside the box, they moved it outside and let me out in the snow.”

I whimpered at the thought of being left outside in the snow. No animal should be left outside in the cold. One of our foster dogs had been kept outside in a pen all the time before she came to live with us. People could be so cruel. But not my people!

“Of course not,” I told the mouse. “They’re always taking in foster animals until the animals find homes. What’s your name?”

“Name?” She hung her head. “I don’t have one.”

“That’s okay. When Mommy and Daddy come home, they can give you one.” Some of our foster animals had no names before they came to live with us, but Mommy and Daddy always gave them names. The mouse seemed pleased with this. She and I settled down on a blanket near the foster tree and took a nap.

I don’t know how long we napped before the door opened, but when Mommy and Daddy came home, I was so happy to see them that I almost forgot about my new friend. I ran to greet them at the door, wagging my tail. They petted me and told me what a good boy I was, and I licked their faces.

Then I remembered my mousey friend. I let out a single bark and trotted back to the living room, looking over my shoulder every few paces to make sure they were following me. When we got there, Mousey was sitting up on her hind legs in the center of my blanket.

“Good boy, Jasper,” Daddy said, patting my head. Turning to Mommy, he said, “I can take it to the nature center. Do we have any extra boxes?”

Take her to the nature center? On a cold night like tonight? What was he talking about? Didn’t all animals need a safe, warm home? I leapt towards the mouse and scooped her up in my mouth.

“No, Jasper!” cried Mommy. “Don’t eat the mouse! We want to release it in nature and give it a chance to live!”

“I don’t think he’s trying to eat it. He’s trying to make friends.”

I opened my mouth to let Mousey peek out.

“I suppose we could keep the mouse as a pet,” Mommy said. “Do we still have the cage we used when we had Roscoe the guinea pig?”

“It probably needs to be cleaned, but I’m sure we do.”

I let the mouse out on the coffee table while Daddy went to look for Roscoe’s cage. Mommy sat on the sofa and leaned forward to get a closer look at the mouse.

“Well aren’t you a cutie?” she said. “You’ll need a name. How about Holly? Because you arrived on Christmas Eve!” Holly squeaked her approval.

A few weeks later, our foster tree left to go to her new home. When it started to get warm, a cat named Pippa came to stay with us. After Pippa left, there was a rabbit named Jinx and then a pair of small fluffy dogs named Sophie and Tucker. They all left to go to their new homes, but Holly stayed. She was still living with us when it got cold again and a new foster tree came to live with us. I like having foster animals and foster trees, but having a real sister like Holly is even better.

On Christmas Eve, I curled up to nap between the new foster tree and the table where Holly played with toys in her cage. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about the yummy treats that would be coming tomorrow for Christmas Day — turkey for me, apples and carrots for Holly, and fresh water for the foster tree. Most of all, I thought about how happy I was that all three of us had a warm, safe home.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good nap!