Paw-ning Off Responsibility

My brother calls me at night, which means he needs something.

Brother: “Can you look after my dog this weekend?”

Me: “You ask me to do that so many weekends that my kids are going to think it’s our dog.”

Brother: “I can’t help it. I have an important trip.”

Me: “An important trip that you couldn’t plan for and arrange pet boarding?”

Brother: “It happened last minute.”

Me: “An important trip on the same weekend as Coachella?”

Brother: “Uh…”

Me: “Look, your dog is cute and my kids love him, but it’s obvious you got a dog because he looks good on your Instagram, not because you were serious about looking after a dog. I’ll take him this weekend, but if I see a single photo on your socials about you being at Coachella this weekend, I’m keeping the dog forever.”

Brother: “…”

Me: “…”

Brother: “I’ll ask Mom and Dad.” *Click.*

A few months later, I did indeed end up ‘inheriting’ the dog, as having to look after a loving and living being was far too inconvenient to the festival season…