The sound of rushing water up ahead lures me down a winding forest path that ends on a muddy bank. Climbing down the small trail to the water, I get two steps in when my boot sinks. The other slips out in front of me and I land hard on my ass, sending a jolt of pain rocketing up my back. “Oof!”
Rolling over, I slowly pull myself up and am now completely covered in mud. Even my hands are a gross mess.
Well, go big or go home, right?
I pull out my cell and start snapping pictures of myself covered in mud. The outfit I’m wearing is from a new designer who’s paid big bucks to have me promote their line. I’m sure this isn’t the marketing strategy they were going for, but I can make it work.
With the vibrant, multi-colored trees behind me, I smile and snap a bunch of selfies. Messing with theexposure and filters, it’s not long before I have a series of photos I’m pleased with. Posting the first one, where I’m sitting on a huge rock with the mountains behind me, I add the caption,“Don’t be afraid to let your wild side out to play.”Then I add the link to the clothing brand.
If it flops, I’ll do another photoshoot down the road, free of charge.
It is what it is.
An excited bark gives me a two second warning before Oscar dashes straight to the water and very ungracefully jumps in.
“Oscar!” Dean yells in the distance.
She ignores him completely, which makes me giggle.
When Oscar sees me, she charges over with her tongue flopping out the side of her mouth and I duck before she can shake off all over me a second time. Running circles around me first, she drops down and rolls in the mud, snorting and chuffing with glee. Taking off with another burst of energy, she books it through a patch of bushes and trots back over with a stick in her mouth.
“You want to play fetch, girl?”
She doesn’t let me take the stick from her and I’m too afraid to pull harder than I am.
“Oscar!” Dean yells again. “Damnit girl, get back here!”
The dog wags her tail and sits in front of me, dropping her stick.
“You’re going to get us both in trouble,” I whisper to her.
She wags her tail fiercely as she pushes her head against my thigh. We’re both covered in mud, and Iuse it to my advantage by taking a few pictures of her with me and then set my phone up on the rock and hit record for a quick video, too.
Chucking the stick into the water, I wait for Oscar to go after it.
She doesn’t.
“Girl, I’m trying to do my job. Can you work with me here and go get that stick?” When Oscar continues to stare at me, I clap and get excited. “Go get it! Get the stick! Go! It’s right there!” The stick floats further downstream and vanishes. “Well there went that.”
Oscar rolls around in the mud again and I roll in it with her.
That’s right.
If this doesn’t prove that I’ve lost my damn mind, nothing will.
The mud is freezing. I’ve officially destroyed this pristine outfit, and I…
Don’t even care.
Oscar bounces around me, so happy and carefree. The mud is cold and smells awful, but I’ve already committed to this and I’m not stopping now. I throw a mud ball over Oscar’s head. She spins around to chase it and can’t figure out where it went.
“Oscar!” Dean’s voice is much closer now. He whistles in short, quick bursts and she abandons me to run to him. “Whoa!” he says, and I imagine she’s running full throttle towards him. “No, no, no,ah!”
There isn’t a doubt in my mind that she just shook off mud all over him.
Dean laughs even as he says, “Damnit, dog!”
I creep closer to where they are and see him splattered brown while she runs circles around him, happy as can be.
