The problem with purple

by on Sep 24, 2011

There’s a rule in my house that nobody but me seems to follow: all permanent markers are to be kept in the drawer and are only for adult use.  Having stepped on more than my share of crayons, colored pencils and other writing instruments, I laid down the law that anything capable of leaving a permanent mark was to be closely guarded and monitored. Nobody, and I mean nobody paid attention to my rule so it’s not unusual to find Sharpies perched precariously on the edge of the table or hiding in the pockets of shirts that have been tossed in the hamper.

So when Jack announced that Griffin (our dog) was chewing on a marker it caused a wave of panic to go through me. I raced down the hall and saw the dog lounging on my nice light beige carpet with his back to me. From the sound he was making it was obvious that he was indeed chewing on something. I called his name and he turned his head to look at me. His face was purple. He stood up and turned around to walk toward me. His front paws were purple. The area of carpet where he was chewing was purple. And in the middle of all this purpleness was a mangled white piece of plastic that at one time was a marker.

As I ran toward the dog my mind raced. Permanent or washable? Was it a Sharpie or one of those lovely Crayola washable markers? By what was left of the marker I couldn’t tell. I carried the dog to the tub and thought about the potential outcome. If it’s a permanent marker the upside would be that I could probably guilt my husband into replacing the carpet in that room. The downside? I’d have a dog who was half purple.

Thankfully, Griffin chose the washable marker as his afternoon snack that day. All the purple was safely removed from his coat, his mouth and my carpet. I watched the dog carefully for the next couple of days and there seemed to be no ill effects from chowing down on a washable marker. Not even a purple poop showed up on the lawn .

We dodged a purple bullet on this one but just to be on the safe side all Sharpies are kept in my office in a locked drawer.

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