One of the best things about Mister Mosely was how he used to wait out the front of our house every day for me to come home from school.
He started doing that when I was in Grade Three. That’s when Mum stopped picking me up from school because she had to work at the supermarket while Dad was trying to find another job. I didn’t mind walking home. It was just a couple of streets away and besides, I wasn’t a little kid any more. Mum still gave me a million instructions but and kept on telling me over and over to be careful and not to do anything stupid.
Moe was waiting for me on the very first day I walked home. When I turned into our street there he was sitting on the footpath in front of our house. And he was there every time after that. Mrs Nguyen who lives across the road told Mum that Moe sat for hours in the afternoon waiting for me. She said he was like ‘a big white sphinx’, which I thought was a pretty good way to describe him.
But the best thing about Moe waiting for me was what he did when he saw me coming. First of all his tail would start wagging and then it would get faster and faster till you’d think it was going to come off. Then he’d start dancing around in a bit of a circle because our house was way down the end of the street and he wouldn’t be sure if it was really me or not. When I got closer and he knew it was me he’d come charging up the road and jump all over me and whip me with his tail and slobber me half to death.
No one was ever as happy to see me as Mister Mosely was. He always made me feel good. Even if I got into trouble at school or lost something or some kids were being idiots and saying or doing stuff, it didn’t make any difference to Moe. He just went nuts every time like I was some kind of a hero or a movie star or the most important person in the world. And that’s sort of how I felt.
Sometimes just for fun I’d play this game with Mister Mosely. I’d pretend I was a spy or a special agent or something and our house was a secret enemy hideaway that Moe was guarding. My mission was to see how close I could get to the house before Moe figured out it was really me. What I’d do is, I’d keep my school hat pulled right down and I wouldn’t look up at him or smile or call out or anything. I’d just keep walking slowly down the street making out I was some stranger.
That would get Moe confused straight away. I’d watch him from under my hat. Pretty soon he’d start to think he’d got it wrong and that maybe it wasn’t really me and he’d stop jumping around. Then his tail would stop wagging. The closer I got the funnier it was. Moe would start sniffing the air and his tail would wind up again. Then he’d come up the street a little bit but he’d stop and turn round. Sometimes he’d go round and round in circles and I’d have to try really hard to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Laughing was a BIG mistake. As soon as I laughed, I’d give myself away and Mister Mosely would charge at me and be so psycho with happiness he’d almost kill me.
The best one I ever did was this time when I pulled my hat really low and I walked down the street sort of mumbling in the deepest fake voice I could do. That totally fooled old Moe. I got so close I could have almost reached out and patted him. But I didn’t. I just stood there. I could see Moe’s feet dancing around and I could hear him whining like crazy. He was going totally nuts because he was ninety-nine per cent sure it was me but still one per cent thinking maybe it wasn’t. When I finally took my hat off he was so happy he knocked me down and gave me the biggest slobbering ever. It was pretty horrible but it was still worth it.
I stopped playing those kinds of tricks on Mister Mosely because of the day it all went wrong. That’s going to be my next story. It’s one of the ones I wish wasn’t true.