Late night visitors and house leavers.
Having received the reviews I did get some inspiration so here is chapter two. Set over three episodes, So it Goes, Collateral Damage and Game On. Jake has been added to several of the scenes in a way which I think a dog would act. As always just some fun, enjoy!
My goodness, my readers it appears you wish to hear more of the musings of this your humble servant. Well the family have seen some serious developments in the last month or so therefore it is fitting for you to be informed of these.
It is important to understand that while I do rule the house, I am not in control of the comings and goings. Although there are times when I believe that putting me in control would absolutely improve the situation. I am pretty sure that if I stopped people arriving or leaving there would be less stress, we would be having more fun and most importantly more people would be paying attention to me. I don't need much, a place to sleep, food in my bowl, the opportunity to visit the facilities when required. However it has been brought dramatically to my attention that when everyone else is stressed my needs move from the top of the list to further down.
Let me illustrate, breakfast is a crucial time. I have behaved well over night and expect certain things when morning comes. Firstly, usually with 'the detail' I need to have a brief excursion outside. Then, with Dad, I get my morning snacks. Finally, most of the family in no particular order provide me with love, more snacks and a general chat about their day before they all disappear to their places of work. This routine was working very well until this particular morning. To start with it had been a late night, but I will get to that later, so Mom, Dad and I were very much at the end of our patience. Anyway Allison picked this very morning to be dancing on the spot for some reason. Naturally when someone is acting strange it is my job to join in, so I bounced along with her and knocked a few things off the counter – not my fault. Stevie was running around talking on her cell phone, now is it my fault that she did not watch what she was doing. I tell you, I get blamed for everything. Now it is possible that I could have watched where I was in relation to her feet, but I was fully involved in watching Allison's as she jumped on the welcome mat. I have no idea what she was trying to attack on the mat but I was very engrossed in helping her. I just happened to move into the path that Stevie was carving around the island, just at the point when she passed me. Needless to say I got the blame when coffee, cereal and a variety of other things landed on the floor with Stevie and her phone in the middle of the puddle. I knew before I was asked that the pantry was where I needed to spend the next several minutes. It appears that I am now to be kept out of the way at breakfast, I don't expect this will last but I will play along and wait my opportunity.
Now where was I, oh yes late night visitors. I have explained before that Mom keeps strange hours nowadays but this last few weeks have been ridiculous and I have been very vocal in pointing out my unhappiness. The visitor was the same several nights in a row, a nice lady, she has visited before but this time she was here for the long haul, and by that I mean that they took over my sofa for nearly the whole night. I was unceremoniously dumped from my sleeping sofa when I had assumed everyone was heading to bed, the kids had gone up, Mom was in her sweats and Dad looked pretty relaxed. It all changed when the woman appeared with big white folders and they spent hours looking over them. No-one played with my ball, no-one took me out and no-one gave me a treat, I was most put out. Then to add insult to injury I was faced with the big white board. I mean why on earth would you need a great big board in the middle of the room. Surely you could put anything on the wall that you wanted, there is no need to put something up that could easily come down. Perhaps you are seeing a theme to my story today, that of things falling down. The white board was at fault this time. On the first night, after I had been completely ignored in favour of white folders, the board went up and some pictures went on it. Now Mom and Dad were being a bit secretive about this meeting and this board. The plan was clearly to make sure that none of the children saw what was on it so it got packed away when they were heading for bed, finally. On the second night, I was ready for it, Dad began to move it from its hiding place in the cupboard to the living room, well I was not going to be ignored again. I waited for it to be almost in place and then I pounced, the board flew backwards, hitting Dad on the head in the process. The photographs, all neat and laid out, scattered. Mom was shouting at me and, in fairness, the other woman just laughed. It would appear that this is not the appropriate thing to do in this situation. Apparently the board is a smidgen more important than me and as such I was reprimanded. Fortunately I was not sent to the 'detail' and none of them came to see what was happening which was good as well. I was sent to my basket.
I have not mentioned my basket before because I rarely use it. It is a place of humiliation, where I am sent when I have done something wrong. I get no treats there, therefore it is a place of despair. I had not been punished much in this new house, well there were no rabbits to catch here and bring into the kitchen for Mom, and no garden for me to enjoy digging. This was the first time I had been sent to my basket and it was all the fault of a white board.
I am happy to say that my punishment only lasted that night and I was back getting tit-bits at breakfast seemingly forgiven. I spent a lazy day on the sofa, as I had not slept fully in the basket. The day took its normal course and soon my pets had returned but that night was quite distressing. I had decided to try and make it up to my pets, clearly the last couple of days had not shown me at my best what with knocking Stevie and Dad over in a very short period of time. I waited for all my pets to go to bed, pretending to be asleep on the sofa, but if one of them had paid attention they would have seen my ears were still very alert. Anyway, after a short amount of time I crept up the stairs to my pet's room. I decided it was best to go right to the top, the kids would love me whatever I did but I knew who was in charge of feeding me.
I made my way along the corridor and through the small gap in the door, did I mention I can open doors myself, yes a trick that helps a lot in my life. What greeted me was a bit of a shock. Mom was upset, I could hear it in her voice. She sounded like her whole world had crashed around her. I could do nothing else but walk over to her, put my head in her hand and try to comfort her. If the rest of her life was in turmoil I needed her to know that here in this, albeit annoying house, she was cared for.
It should be pointed out that while I am in full control of my pets at home, what happens elsewhere I cannot be held responsible for. So it came as rather a big surprise last week when Stevie was packing up again. She was mad, she was really mad. Something Mom had done was really getting to her. I tried to use all my wiles to get her to stay, I had even managed to empty her suitcase several times. However she was having none of it, she was leaving and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. I waited by the door for Mom to come home, surely Stevie wouldn't leave without speaking to her. She had her case ready and I was hoping that Mom could solve the problem. I sat between them my head moving from one to the other as they spoke to each other. I could tell that this was not going well. I tried to add to the conversation, I barked at Mom and then at Stevie, and what did I get for my efforts, you guessed it – the basket again. Now this time I really feel that it was not an appropriate punishment, I could have dragged them together by their jackets, I could have knocked them into each other. No all I did was try to get their attention, to break the tension. I will be voicing my displeasure at this punishment at a later date. Of course Stevie moving out has its own set of benefits, there was now a very comfortable bed upstairs for my exclusive use. The day after Stevie moved out, I moved in. Myself, my favourite toy and comfort blanket were quickly taken up the back stairs when everyone else was out. It appears that my pets found this very cute and I was all over Facebook – whatever that is. I got a lot of likes and can only hope that this is continued for many days.
Much to my displeasure, barely a week has passed and I have been kicked out of my penthouse bedroom. Stevie is back, although she isn't very happy, and more worryingly Mom and Dad are leaving. Now back at the farm we had occasionally been left alone, sometimes with a neighbour popping in but this was the first time we had been left with the new house, new friend's and the 'detail'. I was a little concerned about who exactly would be looking after me. Jason was away so I had no hope in that direction and while both the girls cared for me, they often forgot my list of needs and wants. I was therefore preparing for a lean couple of days, where I may not get fed at exactly the right time and I would have to rely on the 'detail' for my comfort breaks. Oh this would be so humiliating, especially if I had to beg to be let out. The degradation!
Well the first day went relatively well; I was fed at the appropriate time, although Allison seemed to forget that I often had a morsel of chicken on my dinner. I tried not to worry, at least I had food. In the evening we were all sat on the sofa, the TV on, both the girls on their weird computer devices. Then after a brief discussion Stevie stood up to leave. Now even I knew this was not a good idea, Allison was not to be left, that was why Stevie was staying. As ever I tried to reason with them, unfortunately they both thought I just wanted a treat. It's such a shame that I can be distracted so easily, one delicious treat later and Stevie has left without me even noticing. Well given my complete failure to stop her leaving I took it upon myself to ensure that the front door was guarded to protect Allison.
You can imagine my surprise when Stevie arrived back with a member of the male species; Mom and Dad were not going to like this. They were on the phone so I started barking to try and get their attention. It was to no avail and the boy remained. What happened next has given me nightmares that I may not recover from. Allison and the boy on my sofa, kissing. I was shocked, disgusted. Naturally I tried to get in the way of the couple, nudged the boy out of the way, tried to jump between them, grabbed Stevie by her jumper and pulled her to see them and what they were doing. Nothing worked. I was just about to pick up my full water bowl and dump it on their feet when Stevie walked in and asked whether Allison wanted the boy to stay. Oh my word, I didn't know where to look. This was such a bad idea. I did what any good pet would and stood at the bottom of the stairs menacingly refusing to let them pass. I held my ground, I could see Stevie wavering and I snarled some more. Now this does not come naturally to a quiet beast like me but in times of great peril you need to rise to the occasion and I was doing just that.
Remember before when I said I control my pets, well it appears that the control is increasing, I made one snap at the boy and Stevie changed her mind and demanded to take him home. Hurrah, I have accomplished my mission, Allison is safe, the boy is leaving and again the sofa is all mine!
AN: So I think this may last a bit longer, will see where inspiration takes me. Thanks
