Cerridwen Plays Dotty
Part Two: A Performance of a Lifetime

I figured now I should tell you a little about the fund raiser I've volunteered to take part in. You see, each month our town's only no- kill animal shelter and rescue place puts on a little show. The main draw of the show is somebody from our town volunteers to put on a Dotty, the Dalmatian Princess costume. The costume is a dalmatian print dress that comes with a puppy ears headband. A pink collar and a brass nameplate completes the outfit.

Anyway, the person who has volunteered to play Dotty or who has been selected has a photo of them taken and posted on Benton's Animal Rescue Facebook page. A Paypal Donation link is normally posted at the bottom of the photo with a short bio, normally about three paragraphs or a thousand words is included. Anyway the person who volunteers becomes something of a minor celebrity in town.

And of course the goal is to raise as much money as possible. Because the more money the person raises the more cans of cat food the shelter can afford to buy and the more bags of dog food the shelter can afford, and of course more money means the shelter can afford to pay its bills. Now what does the person who has volunteered to play Dotty do? Oh that simple, they are guided on stage, and the person there closes too has them perform a number of tricks.

You know, the classic tricks a person would teach a dog to do, speak, roll over, shake hands, fetch, play dead and I'm sure I've missed some. The crowd gets a real kick out of it. The Creme de la crème of course is the last act. The one people sit through, in the final act the person who has volunteered to play Dotty is led over to a massive wading pool that has been spray painted yellow. The person's name is normally plastered over the front of the pull using punch out letters, they then take a seat, strike a begging pose and have buckets of chili poured over them.

Let that sink in. They have buckets of chili poured over them. Cruel? I'm not sure, degrading? Again I'm not sure. But the crowd loves it. People seem to love it, and  public humiliation seems to be the main draw of the whole thing. And what does the person who volunteers get beside a chili bath? Well they get written up in the paper, they get noticed. Some are even given scholarships. Jamie volunteered and was awarded a five hundred dollar scholarship by Bank of Yazoo, same with Madeline. Bank of Yazoo always seems to reward those who volunteer with a five hundred dollar scholarships. Not a lot you might say? But when you come from the rougher side of the tracks, five hundreds seems like five thousand dollars. Plus mom wants to attend college.

“Daisy?” I said, taking a deep breath as he guided me out onto the stage. The crowd went wild. You see, it not often the person who play's Dotty has such a devoted boyfriend like me.

“Yes love?” He said smiling as he removed the leash from my collar.

“When you play Dotty, I'm going to give you hell.” I said grinning.

“Of course love.” He said, sighing as looked toward the heavens. I'm sure at that moment he was breathing a prayer under his breath. Wondering why the Goddess had deemed it fit to give him such a girl like me.

“I mean it. I'm going to see how much each of your pigtails are worth!” I said I got down on all fours and started to make barking sounds.

“Two dollars and fifteen cents.” He added in a dull tone of voice and he bent down and once more clipped the leash to the collar. And with that he guided me out to the center.
Now most of the time. The show is performed at a school, if the student attends Benton High School then the show is performed in the auditorium of Benton High School if the student attends Benton Academy our town's token private school then it is performed in the auditorium of Benton Academy. But since both schools were not closed due to it being the weekend, the show it was decided would be performed in the auditorium of Benton's newly open convention center. That was the old middle school that had been remodeled and retooled to serve as the town's new convention center.

Because every town needed a convention center and since anime, manga, cosplay, comic, and gaming culture seemed to be blooming in Benton. I bet soon the convention center would be home to its very own anime convention in the near future. Anyway as I was guided across the wooden stage the gathered crowd went wild.

From the collective throats of some three or four hundred people came a bedlam of noises. Loud shouts, whoops, wolf whistles, whistles, clapping, the stomping of feet on the wooden floors. And something akin to the famous Rebel Yell filled the air. I blushed a little and decided to turn around and show the crowd my bottom that had a tail pinned just above my bottom, the tail had been pinned to the back of my dress. Giggling a little I started to wiggle it around, trying to make the tail swish back and forth, back and forth.

The crowd roared with laughter.

Daisy smiled and then decided to get on with the show.

“The first trick.” He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, yellow tennis ball. “Wil be fetch the tennis ball !” He said as he tossed the ball across the stage.

I just peered at him and blinked and blinked again.

“Can Cerridwen fetch the ball?” He asked as he peered toward me.

“Woof!” I responded as I sat down and pretended to sit like a dog.

“I guess not.” Daisy said, blinking.

The crowd chuckled a little. I think it was refreshing to see Dotty give her handler a hard time.

“Okay since that trick is a bust.” Daisy said, looking around.

“I guess the next one is roll over? Can Cerridwen roll over?” He said as he looked toward the crowd.

Instead of rolling over, I trotted over, picked up the tennis ball in my mouth, trotted back over and dropped the ball at his feet before making another 'Woofing' sound with my mouth.

Daisy looked down at the ball and then back at me.

“I think Cerridwen needs a little more training.” He said as he peered toward me. He then took a deep breath. The crowd no doubt was finding this highly amusing and I was too. Daisy though I'm sure was lost and I'm sure he was hoping I would follow along with the script to the letter. The poor boy had no idea that I had no intentions of following the script to the letter.
Let it be known to all that I'm not the type of girl who follows a script or follows directions. The only time I follow directions is when I'm baking a cake or building a Lego play set. I mean Lord and Jesus have mercy I once tried to brew a love potion.. and I got a little creative with that and it backfired on me. And my mom like any good mother was quick to remind me of that little potion blunder. 

“Let's see if Cerridwen can get this next trick right?” Daisy said, holding his hands up in the air.

“Can Cerridwen speak? Come on girl speak?” I smirked a little and decided to roll over on my back and show my tummy to Daisy. I even curved my hands in to mimic a dog wanting her belly rubbed.

“I guess now..” Daisy said, sighing deeply. “I guess we should train her a little more. What do you think folks?”

The crowd only laughed a little. I'm not sure what was going through the heads of those three hundred Janes and Johns  that had gathered to watch this show. I don't think I want to know. But then again they had paid two dollars a head to watch this performance. As amateur as this performance was, I still wanted the people to feel like they got their money’s worth. And before you ask, the two dollar admission fee was suppose to cover the cost of the chili and the clean up that was the grand finale of the show. 

“Okay! I guess we need to move onto the other trick, can Cerridwen roll over? Can Cerridwen be a good girl and roll over?” Daisy said in a pleading tone of voice. I guess he wanted me to perform one of the stunts correctly.

I paused and then tried to sit like a dog and then I barked! The barking sound echoed and I smiled a little. Daisy just blinked and then shrugged his shoulders. He then turned toward the crowd and in a tone of mock defeat. Said as he held his arms up and rolled his shoulders from one side to the other.

“Maybe we need to send our Cerridwen back to obedience school.” Daisy said as he gave me a sideways glance that made me blush. “Because she really is acting like a spoiled little brat, don't you agree boys and girls?” He added.

And that's when the crowd roared with laughter and a small smile formed upon my lips, I then 'attacked' him. That is to say I made a growling noise with my mouth and 'bite' at the leg of his pants. Daisy blinked and his arms failed around like a windmill. The crowd roared once more with laughter. I'm sure they thought this was all part of the act.

I kept on 'attacking' that to say I kept making growling sounds and kept gently pulling upon his pants leg as he failed his arms around the stage, windmilling as he traveled from one side to the other, dragging me along for the ride. And  the crowd ate it up, like I knew they would. Finally I let go and then trotted toward the center of the stage, I sat down and then waved toward the crowd with my hand, much like a dog might wave with its paw. At this point I wanted this thing over and done with.

“Okay! It seems our little puppy is getting cranky!” Daisy said with a grin. “I think she needs to be fed and put into her doggy bed! Maybe a nap would make her less cranky!” He said smirking as he reached once more into his pocket and pulled out the leash. He once more clipped the leash to the collar I was wearing and then smirking or was that a smile, he guided me over to the wading pool that had been painted and dressed up to look like a huge dog food bowl.

Blushing, I climbed over the rim of the pool and eased my bottom down upon the stool that was provided. And once more I felt that blush starting to color my cheeks.

“This should be you!” I muttered under my breath as I peered Daisy. “I know love.” Is all he said as he waited for one of the volunteer helpers to roll out the chili. “This totally should be you!” I added.
“In a month's time, love.” He said grinning. I don't think anybody beside Daisy and I were privy to this conversation. The exchange was spoken in low, hushed whispers and accented with snarky and witty banter.

“Baka.” I added as I folded my hands in my lap and then peered toward the crowd as I awaited my fate.

“I love you too.” Was all he said.

“WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!” I said again, I don't know why I said it. But that was the only way I felt I could respond and stay in character. Daisy and I had been seeing each other for only six or so months. Since that fateful day he saved me from the schoolyard bully, well that had been the day the seed had been planted. The seed had sprouted the day I had spotted him alone in the music room on the second or was it third floor of Benton Academy. But since then that tender little shoot had grown and matured and dare I say the tiny little bud  and dare I say was about to bloom into a wonderful little flower?

“Well boys and girls. I think our little princess is growing impatient for her dinner!” He said as he smiled a little.

“I wonder where Madeline could be with it?”

Yes I wondered the same thing. I was ready to get this over with, to go home and sort through these feelings, this had been the first no second time my boyfriend had told me he 'loved me' and that had set my heart aflame!

“WOOF! WOOF! AWOOO!” More doggy sounds to express the building frustration that was clouding my mind. And where was Madeline? I was ready to get the second act over and done with already.