Ahh....the sounds of laughter

I keep thinking about laughter; about how Bea and I sit in our villa and watch all the humans around us laughing and I haven't figured out what causes it. Sometimes the laughter starts for an obvious reason – like when I lick someone in the mouth as soon as they open it to talk after they thought I was done licking their face. In that case, I assume that they're just happy to have been licked by me.


But other times, it doesn't make sense. Vonnie was helping mother treat a cat named Target that had gotten so nervous on the trip to the clinic that he had made the marking liquid all over himself. The cat was sitting quietly while the work was being done, but Target had a silent rage inside evident only by the wild swish of his tail. Vonnie was trying to keep her distance from the smelly wet fur, all the while howling on about how bad the cat smelled. Well, Target's tail swished just when Vonnie started to howl again and I watched as some of the smelly yellow marking liquid landed right on Vonnie's tongue! And that was it. I don't think I've seen the humans start laughing quite so fast. Mother could barely keep hold of the cat she was laughing so hard. Of course, Vonnie just kept on howling, but she did it while trying not to move her tongue so it sounded like “I got urwin on my ton, I got urwin on my ton!” Pretty soon, Dancing Debbie, Laughing Laura, and Sweet Sally were clutching their sides in pain, all the while laughing.

Later that afternoon, the mother of the wormy puppy named Bambi came back in to the clinic. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping well, and she had a plate in her hand covered in foil. My dad, always looking for a tasty treat, thought that the nice lady had been up all night making special kibbles. “I can't stop thinking about the worms” she said as she handed the plate to my father. “I'm really worried that my kids could have worms now, so I brought samples so you could check them too.” Now, I'm not a person, and I don't really get the whole laughing thing, but I'm pretty sure that the stunned look on my dad's face would have made me start laughing. He quickly told the nice lady that a person doctor needed to check for people worms, and while balancing the plate on the tips of his fingers tried repeatedly to hand the plate back to the lady. Of course, the gang in the back was busy laughing so hard by the time my dad came to the back, that even the sounds he made scrubbing his hands couldn't drown them out.

I don't think I'll ever figure out this laughing thing. I won't give up though. I figure if I learn to time it right, I'll be able to get some good mouth licks in!