Linda is always upset with us when we kennel Sid. She sits by his food dish and meows until we bring him home. It’s that horrible meow that sounds like she has been trapped in a closet or that she has brought us the disembodied head of a bird. We try to say nice words to her in calm voices, but nothing that we do helps the situation until we bring the dog home.

Of course, once we get him home, she ignores him completely. She doesn’t love the dog. We never catch Linda snuggling up with Sid for an afternoon nap. She refuses to play with him when he wants to play. When she wants to play, she ignores him or aggressively swipes at his nose to keep him away from her newfound piece of string. She has no use for him other than his small part in the order of the day.

The best part about bringing Sid home from the kennel (aside from shutting up the autistic cat) is how clean and sweet he smells. It only lasts about an hour or two before his normal dog smell comes back full force, but for that brief time, he smells like shampoo. He never smells that good when we wash him on our own. Maybe it’s like home cooking. It only tastes good if I don’t have to cook it. Sid only smells good if I don’t have to wash him.

We spent five days without our pets. The cats were visited by Mike’s parents and Sid happily went to Abraxas kennel (it’s called The Pet Resort for a reason, you know). By the end of the trip, I began to wonder why we have pets. At the campsite, there were a plethora of animals that we could feed and watch. The quail peeped at us. The bunnies gladly munched on our popcorn. The mice scurried away with crumbs and kernels. The crows cackled at us. The falcon flew silently over us, threatening to snatch up an unsuspecting pet. The fish bounced over each other to get to the food we tossed in the water for them. There were so many animals to enjoy at the campsite that I began to think that owning a pet is an inconvenience.

When I got home, Linda meowed that horrible meow to tell us that we forgot to bring back Sid. Maggie sat on my chest and purred. Sid jumped and smiled at us when we picked him up from the kennel. He smelled clean and he only wanted to pee on two or three bushes before we got him to the car. After all of that, I remembered. Bunnies don’t cuddle. The quail didn’t miss us. We own pets because they love us back in a way that humans don’t. Only time together can create this bond. Next time, I think we should take Sid camping with us.