Bean the corgi woke up grumpy. Usually, she was all smiles and energy from the moment she arose on Saturdays because Saturdays were her park days with Mom. Oh yes, on Saturdays Bean the corgi was most definitely a morning doggo. Today though, something was off. As she stretched her big morning stretch from sandy brown head to her light blonde tail, all the fading shades of fur in between bristled along her back, and she thought, “Time to find mom.” Mom could always help Bean when her feelings weren’t great.
Leaving the bedroom, Bean skipped and bopped down the hall, first sticking her head into the office across the hall to see if Mom was working. When Mom wasn’t at her desk, Bean checked the bathroom but had no luck there either. Unconcerned, Bean bounded down the hall, sure she would find Mom in the kitchen at the table, drinking her coffee and eating her breakfast, but there was no sign of her there either. When she couldn’t find Mom in the living room or laundry room, Bean raced back to the bedroom, sure she had missed something. Nothing! Frantic, she sprinted all over the house, searched under beds and shelves, and clawed at closets, all the while barking as loud as her little puppy lungs would allow.
Mom wasn’t home. Had she left home without Bean on a Saturday? Bean marched into the kitchen and smacked her paw down on the edge of her food bowl, flipping it and sending kibble skidding all over the kitchen floor.
That very same moment, the front door swung open. “Bean! We’re home!” Mom called out.
Bean froze. She looked at the flipped bowl and scattered kibble, and she hung her head. Without Mom around, Bean had lost her temper again. But maybe it wasn’t too late! Bean rushed from piece to piece, eating the food right off the floor to get rid of the evidence of her outburst.
“Bean, did you knock over your bowl?
Bean raised her head from the floor to offer her defense, and that’s when she saw it. Mom was holding some kind of short-haired goblin, brown on its back with a white belly and legs. It looked almost like her, but not quite.
“Bean, this is Jolene. I think we’ll call her Joey! She’s a cowboy corgi, so she’s half cattle dog and half corgi just like you! She’s the newest member of our family!”
Bean snorted and shook her head. She had most certainly not asked for an addition to the family.
“Joey is still a baby, so I’ll be looking to you to help show her the ropes since you’re ten now. And, Beanie, I expect you to be nice.” Mom emphasized those last two words to show this was more a rule than a request.
Bean barked her displeasure. When Mom put Joey down on the floor, Bean’s barks turned to growls. Mom crouched down to look Bean directly in the eye.
“Beeeeaan,” said mom as she scratched right behind Bean’s ear in her very favorite spot, “it’s okay. I’m going to be much busier with work now, and I think it’ll be good for you to have a friend to play with, don’t you?”
Bean narrowed her eyes. She looked around for Joey and saw what she’d been doing while Mom wasn’t looking. To her surprise and amusement, Joey had eaten nearly all the spilled kibble off the floor! Bean smiled. Maybe a new family member wouldn’t be so bad after all. At the very least, Bean was willing to give things a try.
“Joey! That is not your food!” Mom picked the puppy back up and moved her away from the food and close to Bean.
Bean stiffened and scowled at Joey, who just smiled that dumb puppy smile right back at her. Bean shook her head and went back to watching Mom getting food. “Barely here an hour and the pup was already getting in trouble,” Bean thought. Maybe she would get lucky and Joey would be such a problem Mom wouldn’t want to keep her, but somehow Bean didn’t believe that was how things were going to play out.
Something caught Bean’s eye. She looked back to Joey, who now sat at tense attention, rocking back and forth, then stood and walked around in a small circle. Bean knew what was coming. She recognized the signs. Joey was about to have an accident in the house, and right in the middle of the kitchen, no less! Mom was distracted with the food, so she hadn’t noticed. She couldn’t help.
Bean smiled. Joey thought she could just come in here and make herself at home? She thought she could replace Bean as Mom’s favorite doggo? Not so easy to be the favorite when you’re making mom clean up your messes that belong outside, is it now?
Joey looked at Bean and whimpered. Bean grumbled. If Mom had to clean up two messes in one morning, that might mean that she couldn’t have a cookie after dinner! Or worse—no Saturday park trip! Bean didn’t want her Saturday with Mom ruined. She decided to help by making the yippy sound that always got Mom’s attention.
“Bean—what is so urgent??” Mom turned around and saw Joey making her “I gotta go” face. “Oh, oh! No! Joey! We potty outside! Wait! Wait!”
Mom got Joey outside just in time. With that crisis averted, it was time to go to the park.YES! Saturday park day wasn’t ruined! Bean waited for Mom to take Joey inside, but she walked to the Jeep instead. She opened the door and lifted Joey into the front seat. Bean’s eyes got as big as her face. All THREE of them?! She yipped and barked in protest, but still hopped into the car, where she now had to share the passenger seat.
At the park, Mom sat with Joey and watched Bean making the rounds and playing with friends. Bean circled back to them and sat down next to the park bench. Mom stroked her head and said, “Beanie, I know this is a big change and you’re having big feelings. That’s expected and it’s okay. But, I also know that you’ve worked hard and learned how to handle those big feelings over the years. And you know I’m always gonna be here to listen when it’s really hard.” Bean still felt pretty awful and wasn’t sure about Joey, but having one-on-one time with Mom was making her feel better.
Back home from the park, Mom carried Joey into the living room to show her Bean’s toy box, only she didn’t call it “Bean’s Toy Box.” She called it “The Toy Box,” and that didn’t sit right with Bean at all!
Bean watched in horror as Mom showed off Bean’s toys to Joey one by one as if they were hers now too. Had the whole world gone crazy? Bean practically flew to her toy box to protect her toys. She pushed Joey out of the way and growled. Joey bonked her head into Bean’s rump and smiled. Bean did not smile back. She was in no mood to play, especially not with this… this intruder!
“Barley Bean!” Mom used Bean’s middle name, which got Bean’s full attention. “Do you mean to tell me you have all these toys, and you can’t even share a single one of them?”
Bean looked at the pile of toys. There were at least ten toys on the floor already, and the toy box was still more than half full. Mom was right. Bean let her muscles relax and took some deep breaths. She had plenty of toys. Just as long as Joey didn’t take her—
“Oh, look who found Mr. Duck,” Mom said. “Beanie’s favorite!”
Bean’s big corgi eyes went even wider than usual. Her little face got hot under her fur. She froze, unable to do anything to stop Mom from actually playing with Mr. Duck with Joey. It was as if Bean wasn’t even in the room, or like she wasn’t even alive. Bean decided right then and there that she would rather have no toys than have to share her toys with Mom’s new favorite doggo, Joey.
She growled as she took another toy, Mr. Giraffe, and bit down into his neck as hard as she could. She shook her head back and forth until Mr. Giraffe ripped and sent stuffing fluff flying all over the living room.
“Barley Bean Smith! What did you do?!” Mom asked. She used all three of Bean’s names and her stern voice too. “You may be upset right now, but that is not how we behave in this house.”
Bean put her head down and her tail between her legs. She tried to look up and give the sad puppy dog eyes, but Mom was having none of it. Bean turned tail and slunk back into her bed in the office to hide.
Later, when she heard Mom and Joey move into the kitchen, she emerged to retrieve Mr. Duck. She tucked him away, far back in the office closet before coming back out to eat dinner - a dinner she made a point not to share with Joey. Whenever the pup came sniffing around, Bean gave her a growl so low mom wouldn’t hear, but still enough to let Joey know she meant business. As soon as dinner was finished, Bean retreated to the office.
All evening, Bean could hear Mom and Joey playing. She heard them laughing together and wondered what they were laughing about. When she heard Mom turn on the TV, Bean thought about going out to watch because she loved Mom and Bean TV time, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She walked right to the door frame, ready to apologize and be good, but something wouldn’t let her cross the threshold. Bean had her favorite toy, sure, but she wasn’t proud of how she got it, and now she wasn’t even sure the trade she’d made was worth it.
Much later that night, when Bean was sure Mom had fallen asleep, she crept into the bedroom. Bean just wanted to go to sleep and put this day behind her. Tomorrow was a new day. Maybe she could do better. When she entered the bedroom, however, yet another disaster greeted her. Joey had passed out in Bean’s favorite bed! The nerve! Bean drew a deep breath, ready to unleash the loudest, meanest, yippiest bark in corgi history. Then she remembered what Mom said earlier at the park, about controlling her feelings. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
Just then she heard a noise. It was so quiet, you wouldn’t even hear it if you didn’t recognize the sound, and Bean recognized the sound completely. She looked at Joey’s tiny sleeping puppy body. Sure enough, her little legs started kicking. She whimpered again, a little louder this time. The whimper sounded scared. That was when Bean remembered her first night in what was then her new home. She remembered how scary and lonely it was, how frightened she had been, and how much she missed her other Mommy. She thought about how Joey was probably feeling frightened and lonely and missing her own other Mommy, and Bean wished she hadn’t been so mean to Joey all day.
Bean decided to help. She snuck back to the office, into the closet, and returned to the bedroom carrying Mr. Duck in her mouth. She dropped him in the middle of the bed, right up against Joey’s little brown back. Satisfied with herself, Bean snuggled up tight in her favorite bed, next to her favorite toy and her new sister. She would be better tomorrow. She just knew she would.
This story was brought to you through the Child and Adolescent Program at Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara.
Author: Derek Cowsert | Illustrator: Mindy Kilgore