So my partner is gone for the weekend to a retreat. He usually gets his parents to baby sit his 16 year old dog, Lady. I have written about her before, bless her heart. I spoke up and volunteered to keep her this time. He said he forgave me if she died while I had here.
So last evening I went over to his house, woke her from her sleep, and loaded her in the car. The last time I took her someplace she had gone out and rubbed her face in something dead and I had to get a stick of incense and burn in the confined space to get the smell out. She did well this time, jumped out on her own and wondered what was going on. She had only been to my house once before and then only breifly.
Oh this was going to fun. I had a small package of ground cow flesh to prepare her a special meal, garnished with bits of cheese, on a sauce of alpo gravy. Of course I had no batteries in the camera to document the Dog Food TV masterpiece, but o-well. I had not cooked cow flesh inside my house in over a decade, and man the grease, it went everywhere, I slid on the floor presenting her with a big bowl of water. Then I put my creating on the floor for her and she snifferd it and tottered away.
My friend James, who does not drive, called me from our friend Carol's house the next county over. Carol was gone for a couple of days to a glass blowing class and he wanted to know could I come by and visit. I had long thought
Lady might enjoy meeting Carol's dog, Cole, a big friendly black lab almost as old as her, so I loaded the stiff bag of bones back in the car and off we went.
In the darkness I could sense she was laying down. I wondered how she would take all this upset to her routine. I remembered his words saying he would forgive me if she expired on my watch, but I wondered if I would be able to forgive myself. "I am just not set up for this" I thought.
About that time my phone made a wreid sound, one it rarely makes, but I now recognize as an incoming text message. I hardly ever get one of those. I knew immediatly it was Lynne, and she knows what she wrote and how perfectly it fit with my train of thought. Yes, Friend, you would be a big help, I know you would. I pulled over and collected Lady's feces from the back seat, at least they are solid.
Cole was sleeping when we arrived. James was immediatly wondering at the wisdom of introducing the two. Poor old girl, tottered around the house, sniffed the trash, the water bowl, went into the living room and lay down and went to sleep.
We watched one of them millionair shows on Carol's 4 inch portable TV (Black and White at that).
"You want some whine?" James asked. Part of me still cringed in memory of last Sunday night in West Virginia.
"Sure" and I had a glass.
Presently Cole got up and waddled in the den and demanded attention. I took him by the collar to the living room, he saw his own kind, where none had been expected, and furiously swished his tail in joy. Poor old Lady, stiff old bag of bones held real still and let him sniff all over her, not hazzarding any encouragement by sniffing him back. We kept an eye on them, but in five minutes the courtship was over, they were totally ignoring one another.
Back home she still would have nothing to do with the gournet supper. I went to bed and dreamed of vacation rentals that didn't allow pets, where one might find a spoon handle jutting out of a can of beans. She went to her nightly ritual of walking, patrolling to make sure her territory is safe from tresspassers. Around and around she'll go in his house, but mine is laid out differently. About 4 am her clicking toemails woke me, in the twilight of the dream time I wondered if this was the way parents and infants become bonded, in the weak vunerable times of the days and the lives. Thinking of how we revert to childhood again and need sitters as we age I heard her tumble down the stairs. Ah hell.
I jumped out of bed and hopped to her as quick as I could. She was shaken but okay, I opened the door and let her into the basement and let her explore there. I laid down on the sofa in the downstairs room and tried to go back to sleep, but her constant wet nose and muzzle kept getting under my wrist and arm and demanding attention. She needed reassurance, love, anything but cow meat. When I awoke at 8 am she was sleeping in the bathroom, when I woke her she was as dazed and confused as I have seen her, I told her it was time to go home.
Safely back at her own territory, she ran to her water bowl and drank a long measure. I fixed her some breakfast of dry food augmented with Alpo. She devoured it and climbed under the Azeleas and curled up to sleep the day away.
I called his Mom and told her I would bring Lady up there about 5:30.