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The date was April 2nd, 1997. Carl was getting older, and Madeline (Or Maddie, Mads) was 13. Carl had been with Maddie for her entire life and they'd had many adventures together. But Carl was clearly winding down as he approached the end of his life. He still always had a wag and a kiss for Maddie, but his fondness of going for walks was greatly diminished. He never knocked cakes off counters now, and it had been years since Carl had been able to carry Maddie around on his back.
Despite these changes, you could never say Carl was lazy. He got up each morning with the noble duty of waking up Maddie for school. He was no longer agile enough to jump onto her bed and lick her face to summon her from her slumber, so he had changed his method. There was a boom box in Maddie's room next to her desk. Every day Carl chose a CD from the small pile set next to Maddie's bed for this very purpose. Today he chose "Macarena" by Los Del Rio. Each disc's case had been conveniently fixed to be just slightly open so that Carl didn't have to exert himself too much to get to it. The boom box was similarly fashioned for easy-of-use by canine patrons. It wasn't that Maddie liked waking up- she didn't. But the way Carl's face broke into a huge slobbery smile every time she said "Good dog, Carl!" when she got up and turned off the boom box was totally worth it. Plus, they usually danced for a while before she turned it off, and that really got her in the right mindset for the day ahead. Where would she be without Carl?
The disc entered the book box with a slight sliding sound and then a click, and for a moment Carl could hear it spinning. Then the music started up. It was soft at first. Steadily it got louder, and with glee Carl began to shake back and forth in time to the music. When Maddie opened her eyes each morning this was the first thing she saw- a giant, aged Rottweiler dancing in time to all her favourite tunes. It really was sweet, especially because of how important this job clearly was to him. On the weekends Maddie could often hear him whining to go upstairs and wake her around the time she got up on school days. Today, she lay still for a few moments listening to the music and watching Carl, then she slid out of the cozy warmth of her bed and into her grape-purple bunny slippers. She stretched briefly, yawning. Carl's tail began to wag in wide circles and he swayed more forcefully.
"Okay, okay!" Giggled Maddie, shuffling over to him and getting on her knees to dance with him. He jumped onto her shoulders and continued to sway, Maddie joining him. Carl, as always, clearly wanted to give her a kiss but in a show of enormous self-restraint he merely bopped his wet black nose against her forehead and wagged instead. Maddie sang all the words to the song as though she were the band singing and Carl was her paying audience. Carl was deeply absorbed. They continued to dance until the song was nearly over. Then, noticing that Carl had been exerting himself for too long, Maddie sat him gently back down on the floor. She hobbled over to the boom box and switched it off. Then she went right back over to Carl and knelt down, hugging him like he was the only thing in the whole world. She gave his ears an affectionate scratch and gave him a big smooch on the nose, between his eyes, and spoke the famous words.
"Good dog, Carl!"
Carl wagged some more, grinning. Another job well done.