Level Three. Illness.

Level Three. Illness.

By Michelle Lloyd.

When Lana, New One’s dog had arrived to live with them, there had been an awful lot of the private chats between his M and D. In fact as New One expressed it, at that time the dog was probably the bulk of the conversational flow between mum and dad. As New One understood it, having Lana was a precarious decision and it sounded like his experience of responsibility depended on it.

RV, New One’s friend, had not been convinced that he could ever have a dog but recently there had been a lot of familiar responsibility chats in his family. The question of a pet was at the heart of all the hubbub. He was sure.

A dog. RV loved Lana but did he want a dog of his own. What’s it to be? RV asked himself to have a dog in his life or not. He loved dogs but he knew that they did involve a lot of work. That word of RESPONSIBILITY loomed up before RV’s eyes yet again.

That evening as he studied his mum and dad he watched them talking in an odd way with each other. They were standing too close, talking quietly and then when RV could take it no longer he saw something that decided it all for him, the knowing look went from dad to mum.

Worried about what that look indicated, thoughts of nightmare scenarios and worse case theories filled him. Was somebody ill? Illness worried RV because it was something that he knew meant time off work or school, time away from friends and fun…and before he knew it, out came his protest that a dog for him at his point in his life was out of the question.

It was to both shocked parents that RV quickly gave his prepared outburst of a speech. He did not want to upset them, but he knew that something was wrong and if someone was ill or there was talk of altering their non pet owning status in some way, then he would really rather that they just came out with it.

It was at that point in the proceedings that RV’s Mum and Dad did the worrying and highly suspicious look thing once again and just as he thought he had made his views on the matter all clear and put an end to all the oddness that had been an issue in the household for so long, his mum asked his dad to tell him the news.

A baby. RV had felt as if he had been hit by his favourite toy truck. Several times! A brother? A sister? Or both? He had a friend at school who had twin siblings and he had even heard of some people having three. RV had looked at his parents, he had felt shock, confusion and then because he was unsure, he did the only thing he could, cry.

RV’s mum explained to him that they had known for a little while but that they had been trying to prepare him before they told him about it. RV had not been sure about any of it. He was not against babies, he understood why some may like them but he was not an individual who liked shocks.

RV had difficulty with accepting new ideas and that had been a very new idea. It had taken time to adjust, and the family were not acquiring a dog as he had suspected. A few months of getting used to it and then a further while to accept that responsibility had a few up sides and rewards, meant being an older sibling was everything like RV had thought and simultaneously nothing like he had believed. Ultimately he felt like it was the most emotive experience that he had ever been involved in and he felt very positive about what it had taught him.