Chapter 29- Perfect Pets?
'Come on Lucky.' I tug at the little dog's lead gently. Obstinately, he stays where he is and gazes towards where Gerry is clipping Bella's lead onto her collar. 'Ah, you're worried about going without your friend? Don't worry, she's coming too, I promise!' I smile.
"Er, Sandra? How are we going to do this? We have two dogs and a buggy... How are we going to hold them all?" Gerry asks me. I roll my eyes. 'Oh yeah...Well I guess one of us could push Jess and the other one could hold Bella and Lucky's leads?' I ask. "Okay." Gerry says. I hand him Lucky's lead and we set off.
'They're actually really well behaved." Gerry remarks later on as we sit down for a rest. 'They are.' I nod in agreement as I reach down to stroke Bella. She leans against my leg and places her paw on my boot. 'Bella! That hurts!' I protest. "Sandra, it's cute! Stop being such a drama queen! Anyway, are we going to adopt them or not?" he asks.
'Well, I think that we've made the right decision. So, yes.' I answer. 'What do you think, Jess?' I ask my daughter. She smiles back at me. 'I think that's a yes!' I grin. Gerry smiles. "D'you want to go back to the shelter, sign the forms, and take the dogs home now?" Gerry answers.
'No,' I reply, looking at my watch. 'It's 12.30 already; we're due to be at Brian and Esther's at one. We'll come back later, yeah?' I reply. "Sounds good. Let's take 'em back then." Says Gerry, standing up. "Come on Toby!" he continues, whistling at the little dog. He then begins to jog down the road with Lucky in tow. 'That's not fair! You know that I can't risk running with the buggy and a dog!; I yell at him. He stops, turns round and grins at me. "Spoilsport!" he chides.
'Bye Bella, bye Lucky. We will be back for you both, I promise!' I smile at the two dogs. "See you later!" smiles Lauren. 'Bye, we'll be back at about four' I answer.
"Should we bring Jessica's car seat in or not? For her to sit in, I mean?" Gerry asks. I roll my eyes. 'I know it's for Jess to seat in, and no we don't need to. She's trying to crawl now, and when we visited the doctor's for her check-up, and she said that we need to encourage it.' I reply. "I can't believe she's 5 months old already! She's growing up." Gerry says. 'Just wait till her first day at school! Before that, though, we've got to potty train her, teach her to walk, talk. Anyway, let's concentrate on the here and now.' I reply as Jess starts to cry. "I'll bring her in, you go ahead. Come on, madam!" says Gerry.
I ring Brian and Esther's doorbell. Brian answers, accompanied by a very enthusiastic dog. All I can see of Scampi is a constantly wriggling, moving ball of large fur. "Hello, Sandra. Come in, where's Gerry?" Brian greets me with a smile. 'Hi, Brian, Gerry's just getting Madam out of the car. She's inherited my talent for being a drama queen.' I reply with a grin. "Ah, that, I understand!" he says, letting go of Scampi's collar. Immediately, the spaniel is jumping up at me, nearly knocking my off my feet! 'Scampi, bad dog, down!' I scold him.
Esther walks into the hall, her face lighting up. "Hi, Sandra. Where's Jess?" she asks me. 'How did I know you were going to say that?' I ask, turning around. Gerry is standing in the doorway, looking grumpy. "Can I come in?" he enquires grumpily. 'Oops, didn't see you there. Come here, Jess.' I say as Gerry passes our daughter to me. She's straining towards Esther. 'Er, 'scuse, me, Madam but I do happen to be your mum! There you go Esther' I say, handing Jess to her.
"So what have you three been up to today?" Esther asks us when we're in the sitting room after we've had our lunch. Jess has just woken up from a nap, she's having a cuddle with Esther.
'Well, we went to BeechWood dog shelter and... We're going to adopt two dogs, Bella and Lucky!' I grin. "Bloody hell, I never thought you'd adopt dogs! I swear that, since having Jess and getting engaged, you've had a personality transplant, Sandra!" says Brian. "Calm down! She's become a mother, that's all. Us women do change you know!" Esther answers him. "And don't we know it! Esther, I think Jess wants to go on the floor, she looks a wee bit grumpy" Gerry adds. Jessica is staring intently at Scampi, who for once is quiet in his basket. "Okay, then. There you go, little one." Esther says, placing Jess on the floor.
Jess attempts to crawl over to Scampi, but keeps falling over. She looks at me as if to say: "Well? Are you going to help me or not?" I smile and pull her back onto my knee. 'Do you want to say hello to Scampi? Okay, Scampi, come here.' He does. 'Now, sit!' I order him. He sits, much to my surprise.
I slip off the sofa and sit cross-legged on the floor, Jess in my arms. 'Come here Scampi.' I say. He come and sits in front of Jess and I. He sniffs Jess's face, much to her surpise. "Og! Og!" she keeps repeating to me. 'Yes, og! Well, it's dog, really but it's a start!' I say to her. "She called you um, the other day, didn't she? I'm "A"" adds Gerry.
As I position myself and jess back onto the sofa, Esther asks Brian what Mark's first word was. Unsurprisingly, he cannot remember! Esther rolls her eyes and tuts at him.
"Are you going to be feeding Jess onto solid food soon? " Esther asks me. 'Yup, probably after Christmas. I'll tell you something though; I hate the smell of baby food! It turns my stomach, so after we've have completely weaned her off breast milk, feeding Jess will be Gerry's job.' I reply, turning towards Gerry to clock his reaction. He looks shocked. "Nobody told me that!" he says. 'Ha! Well I just have!' I reply cheekily.
I look at my watch. 'It's quarter to four, Gerry. We'd better go collect Bella and Lucky.' I tell him, my stomach flipping over with nerves.
