toothbrush

i was given to a boy 4 years ago. my fur is matted, i smell most of the time, i get thrown around, and i end up on my head alot, but i am so well loved and cared for that last night i was the most afraid i have ever been. yesterday started off like most mornings. my boy and i slept really great all through the night. we watched cartoons and had our breakfast and i got lots of snuggles cause my boy's mommy was running all around the house trying to get little sister dressed and ready to go. my boy asked if he could take me along and of course my boy's mommy said yes, she loves me and gives me secret kisses all of the time when no one is looking. we were finally ready to leave the house and when we got out to the car one of the windows had been broken and my boy's mommy looked so sad. but the neighbor came over and helped her call the police and before we knew it we were off to somewhere. my boy and i never know where she is going to take us. we went to some place that smelled like wood chips, i loved it there. and than she took us to a store with a big red circle and two little circles inside of it. i really don't like that symbol now. i thought it was going to be my new home last night.

sometime while we were in that big store my boy and i got seperated. sometimes he gets distracted and normally his mommy reminds him to get me, but she must have been distracted too cause of all that happened with their car. all i know is he was gone and i was all alone. no more snuggles, no more food, no more kisses. i was all alone.

it was really noisey in that place and someone must have found me cause next thing i knew i was in a box with really high walls. i kept yelling for my boy hoping he would hear me and come back to get me. soon it wasn't quite so loud and than i heard a "good night, see you tomorrow?" and someone answered back "no, i'm not on tomorrow". and than silence. dark and quiet and eery silence. no questions, no arguing, no laughing, no snoring, nothing. silence.

it was a long night and i started to think about my boy. was he missing me? was he crying? would he be able to sleep without me? maybe someone had replaced me? maybe he was fine? maybe... gulp! ...he didn't even realize i was gone! all i could do was lay in that cold dark box alone and think about my boy. think about how he named me after a toothbrush and how at first i thought it was a ridiculous name, but now, secretly well, i love it. it fits me. i am toothbrush. my boy loves me and he named me and now i was lost.

the next morning was sunny. i could tell even from my box. i heard voices again and than some strange noise and a drawer would shoot open. than to be shut with a bang. suddenly i heard the phone ring and a voice was coming closer. "what does it look like?" a man's voice asked. things on top of me were being thrown off to the side and than a hand and up out of that box i went.

"yes, tan and white? we have it here. you are welcome mam. yes, you are welcome. yes, i will put your name on it. how do you spell that? L-Y-D-I-A. ok, yes it is marked. and you are welcome again, mam. ok we will see you in a little bit." what? could that really have been her? could that have been my boy's mommy? did she think to call here? they must know that i am gone. they must have missed me! he must have been sad or she wouldn't have come looking for me! i am going to go home! it seemed i waited forever but finally i heard a little voice. a face bent over the box and a familiar touch, a familiar smell, a familiar kiss, it was my boy!

"i missed you toothbrush" he whispered. i wanted to tell him he was chocking me, but i didn't care that much. we were together again. "i'm so sorry" he said to me and i whispered back that it was ok, i love you anyway. he told me all about the rest of his day the day before and how his mommy had looked everywhere and how she had been so upset, how he had overheard his mommy tell his daddy that she wanted to cry. he told me how she had called every place they had gone the day before just to try to find me and he told me how excited she had been when she told my boy that i had been found.

i am so glad that we are together again. i love my boy and he loves me! what a great feeling to be home again after having been lost. my boy also told me that his mommy had told him that i wouldn't be allowed to go on rides in the car for a really long time.