We really need to name the dog. His picture is on Twitter at ManhattaniteNYC if you need inspiration.
Send me your suggestions! (He looks like Bandit to me - lol)
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas)
Helena had opted for dinner at home that Friday night because she wanted nothing more than to be with Myka, enjoying a nice meal in peace. Claudia had offered to take Sui with her for the weekend, a favor Helena truly appreciated. Unbeknownst to the CEO, the IT Director had been given the task of getting him ready for his new job. What better way to prepare than to spend some time with the former occupant of that desk? The Wells Team gathered at Claudia's for pizza and a lively training session that would last into the early hours.
Myka had an afternoon appointment and met Helena at home. Helena's entrance, the usual casting of coat here, the shoes there, was not met with any of the Fashion Interns. And so her shoes lay in wait for a gnawing set of teeth. Careless was going to come with a price now.
"We're in here," Myka called from the kitchen where she and Leena were fussing over the adorable dog.
Helena leaned in to kiss Myka….. and had her own throat licked in the process by the furry ball between them. It was an experience she found quite unpleasant.
"I think the first rule your trainer should convey to him is that he should not put his tongue anywhere you put yours," Helena said without much thought to how it sounded.
Myka burst out laughing. "Oh yes, I'll be sure to explain that."
Helena failed to see the humor. It was only when she glared down at the pet and he howled in response, did Myka entertain the thought that she was going to have to work on them getting along. Myka suggested Helena go upstairs and change for dinner. In the meantime, she made sure the dog was fed and walked. She tried to wear him out by running, but he came back into the townhouse energized. Leena kept him in the kitchen while dinner was served. That is, until he escaped and found something in the hallway to keep him occupied.
It was over dinner that Myka remembered the offer from her professor and gently worked it into the conversation. "Do you remember I told you about this great professor I had in law school, Michael Calvert?" Myka asked as she took a bite of her orange glazed salmon and rice.
"You liked him a great deal if I recall," Helena said, sipping her white wine. Helena made a mental list of anyone Myka spoke fondly of. Actually, Helena also made a mental list of anyone Myka wasn't fond of, too.
"Yes, he was very unorthodox and I really liked that about him, which is odd considering how conventional I am in many respects, although certainly not all respects because I can be pretty open-minded about …..," Myka said, and had to take a sip of water. "…..things."
Helena knew that the rambling was a telltale sign of Myka's nerves and so she dabbed her mouth with the cloth napkin, put it in her lap, caressed the wine glass, and waited.
"Well, he was at the conference! I didn't expect him of course, but it was nice to see him. He looks good and you'll never guess why he was there!" Myka said, not feeling as nonchalant about the topic as she was when she first thought about it.
"Do tell," Helena said, now her chin resting on her folded hands.
"He is teaching at Columbia now which is amazing because it's one of the top law schools. I think number four since 2009 or something," Myka said.
"He flew all the way out to Los Angeles to tell you that?" Helena smiled because she knew Myka was anxious. Myka had the adorable habit of tucking her chin in to control the anxiety, but it was there.
"He…flew there…..and offered me a job," Myka said, quickly stuffing another fork full of salmon into her mouth.
"To teach?" Helena asked.
"Yes," Myka answered, wondering why this was so hard.
"That's wonderful! Oh Myka, darling, they'd be fools not to offer it to you. What will you teach?" Helena asked all excited.
"I would…teach…corporate law. Wait, you want me to do this?" Myka asked surprised Helena was okay with the news. "I told him no."
"Myka, I hope he didn't take you at your word. This would be a wonderful opportunity for you. You'd make a wonderful teacher. They'd be lucky to have you," Helena said, smiling.
"But I don't want to leave my job," Myka explained, her forehead all wrinkled with worry.
"Don't!" Helena said, waving her hand in the air. "You'll get staff to help you out at work. We can adjust around a schedule that allows you to do both," Helena said matter of factly.
"You would do that …just so I could teach?" Myka asked, touched that Helena saw no issue with this.
"Myka, your happiness is what matters most to me. If you want to teach, then you shall. It's really rather simple," Helena said, reaching across to touch Myka's hand.
"I wouldn't do it if it hampered my responsibilities at Wells," Myka assured her – as if she needed to.
"Good, because then I'd have to fire you," Helena said, smiling devilishly across at Myka.
"You can't fire me. I have a very solid contract," Myka teased, her foot now rubbing the back of Helena's calf under the table.
"I made it so three people quit this week. Do you really want to challenge me on that, Ms. Bering?" Helena said.
"I thought you had nothing to do with those people leaving?" Myka questioned quickly. Millie had filled her in on anything that had happened in her absence.
"Not directly of course. I can't be blamed if they had no backbones," Helena smirked. "Now tell me, why were you nervous about telling me?"
Myka thought about it – Helena was absolutely right. "I am not sure I want to do it, but I was concerned, I guess, what you would think about doing both," Myka thought out loud.
"I think you were projecting your uncertainly on me, Counselor. I believe you can do anything you set your mind to," Helena pointed out wisely.
"You're right. I haven't had time to think it through and it would have been easier just to put this on you," Myka reasoned. "You're very bright," she added.
"Guilty as charged, Counselor," Helena laughed.
"Oh no!" came the shout from the hallway and in stepped Leena with the culprit. There, out of the mouth of the very expensive dog, was the equally expensive shoe, the straps chewed in half. "One of you has to get trained," Leena said as Helena glared at the dog. He immediately began to howl as if defending his actions.
"Oh no, how did you get out?" Myka said, taking the pet from Leena. "We really need to name him," Myka said, as she explained to him in great detail how those were Helena's very expensive shoes and he mustn't chew on them. Leena cleared away the dishes and left the room. "I'm sorry about your shoes, Helena. I'll get them replaced," Myka offered. She was having a very hard time disciplining the dog. "No!" was the extent of her chastising.
"It would help if the dog couldn't get at them," Leena said from the hallway. Since very few articles of clothing actually made it to the hooks or tables, she feared the dog would have an endless supply of things to chew on.
"You are having difficulty in disciplining him because you find his features attractive," the scientist surmised. The dog's head immediately turned and looked at Helena as if to say – I could say the same about you.
"See, even Helena thinks you're cute. Yes she does," Myka said, getting the dog all excited and getting off topic. "He needs chew toys, don't you? We'll go shopping tomorrow."
"I can hardly wait," Helena said sarcastically.
Myka was like a kid on Christmas morning and as offensive as Helena found the pet, she loved watching Myka play with him. If there was any correlation between pets and parenting, Myka was going to spoil her future children terribly. The two women went into the living room where Helena sat with her tablet and caught up on her reading. Myka sat on the floor with the unnamed puppy and played with him.
A couple of hours later, when the women went to retire for the night, the puppy protested …loudly. "He's a pack animal and they have to get used to being alone. It's hard for them," Myka said, biting her bottom lip as she explained it to a disinterested Helena. His howls rose from downstairs as they listened from the bedroom. "Maybe I should go down….," Myka said. Helena could see how exhausted she was and suggested that she would go check on him. The yelping had become frantic.
"OK, but you'll call me if you need me, ok?" Myka yawned as her eyes became very heavy.
"Of course," Helena said, kissing her forehead and going downstairs to explain to the dog that he was disturbing Myka and it had to cease.
An hour later, it was clear to the Brit that she did not speak his language. Every time she tried to leave the room, he started to howl and she feared he would wake Myka up. By one thirty AM she was desperate and called the only person she knew who could handle unruly things.
"Helena? Are you okay?" Irene answered the phone, her feet already in her slippers because there had to be a very good reason this call was coming in at this time.
"I need you to come to Manhattan," Helena said, hoping that was enough.
"Are you ok? Is Myka ok?" Irene asked and Helena could hear the concern in her voice.
"Yes, we're fine," Helena answered and then yelled when the puppy playfully nipped her toe. "Ouch!"
"Helena, what is wrong?" Irene asked, getting up slowly, in case she had to get dressed quickly.
"The bloody thing bit my foot!" Helena complained.
There was dead silence as Irene tried to put this all together. Helena would not call just to update her on her injury. "Helena, why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" Irene asked, sitting back on her bed and taking her slippers off. She was pretty sure she had it figured out.
"He refuses to listen to me! I have explained that his barking is disturbing Myka and she needs her sleep, but each time I leave the room, he starts over again," Helena explained, thinking Irene could have been here by now.
"He refuses to listen to you?" Irene asked.
"Yes," came the answer.
"And you explained everything to him? More than once?" Irene stalled, as she began lying back down.
"Several times," Helena said expecting the sympathy to come pouring out any minute.
"And he's still barking?" Irene asked, pulling the covers up over herself.
"Yes, so I don't know what your solution is, but come prepared with whatever it is, because he's a very stubborn animal," Helena said in between her commands to stop that the dog ignored.
"My solution would be to stay with him tonight if you want Myka to sleep," Irene said, yawning loudly.
"Good, when can you be here?" Helena said. Now the dog had the end of her silk pajama pants and was shaking it back and forth as he bit on it and growled.
"Not I, Helena. You," Irene said, adjusting her pillow to just the right spot.
"You're not coming?" Helena asked in disbelief.
"I am not," Irene confirmed as she found the comfortable position in her bed.
"I'm going to fire you bright and early Monday morning," came the hollow threat.
"Oh Helena, stop teasing me and getting my hopes up. Good night," Irene said, hanging up the phone and falling back to sleep.
The ball of energy stopped tugging and stared at Helena. Every command to go into the crate or to go to sleep was met with a defiant bark. This led to pleading from Helena to be quiet. She caved in and took him to the living room because she refused to sit on the kitchen floor.
Helena lay on the couch, pulled the heavy blanket over her as the canine stood on its hind legs and stared at her. "You bloody hell don't think you're coming up here!" Helena said to him. As if he understood her, he made several feeble attempts to get up on the couch. When she ignored him, he howled to get her attention.
She surrendered. "Oh bollocks," she said, picking him up and placing him on the other end of the couch. He sat there and whimpered, which Helena thought was not much of an improvement over the barking. There seemed to be no appeasing the dog who grabbed at the blanket until Helena thought of something. She reached behind the couch and took the book. She opened it and began to read.
"The Time Machine by HG Wells. Chapter One. The Time Traveler (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses," Helena read slowly and became very sleepy.
The lull of her voice calmed the dog as well and he settled down. Seconds after the human he had trained all night fell asleep, he did the same.
On the other side of Manhattan, in an apartment the size of Helena's living room, there was another training session coming to an end. The friends had consumed the pizzas, drank the beer, and perhaps provided Sui more of an education than they had intended. There seemed to be nothing off limits that the group would not teach him.
Except, of course, how to make the perfect cup of tea.