Next Door to Perfect Heathens

Author's Note:

CRB… More than I can express with mere words, thank you for getting in touch. Candy was rescued from Town Lake shelter in Austin, Texas. After being rescued at the approximate age of one year (she was forcibly removed from her original owner's care.) She weighed only 32 pounds at the time of her removal from that home. For a Labrador Retriever of that age, that weight is positively criminal. She was starving! She was badly beaten up, with multiple open wounds, she was positive for heart worms, but fortunately not beyond the point where treatment would be beneficial, and her first owner had used her for target practice.

One of the first things agencies do when looking for a suitable service dog trainee who wasn't specifically bred for the job is play with them in order to gauge their ability to interact with people appropriately. They also have several other tests to help them determine which dogs are suitable candidates for service dog status and which are not, but I won't go into all that here.

Candy passed all their tests in spite of the abuses she endured – a very rare occurrence for such a dog. Once they saw her file, they decided to give her a chance at training with the understanding that she might well fail training and have to be adopted out simply as some lucky person's very well-trained pet. However, she breezed through service dog training like a rock star. Throughout our time together, her general attitude was, I will do anything I possibly can to help you as long as you treat me nice, and bring the food! She was trained by Service Dogs, Inc. (formally known as Texas Hearing and Service Dogs) they are located in a little town called Dripping Springs up north of Austin. They are easy to find on facebook, where you will be able to find contact information including phone numbers, their address, and instructions for making any donation you choose.

I was beyond lucky to be partnered with my sweet girl for 11 years and four months, until the time of her passing. In all the time she was with me, I felt driven to make up for that first rotten year of her life, and the Houston Humane Society played a very important role in helping me do that.

If you are so inclined, you may make a donation in Candy's name at any one of these places I have mentioned. I am not absolutely certain about the 501-C3 status of Town Lake shelter in Austin, but I believe that each of these agencies is a nonprofit organization that relies on the generosity of big-hearted people for their operational budgets. Candy and I thank you! Doggie high-five!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rabb Residence

San Diego, California

06:47 HRS

Laura opens the back door and smiles at Elizabeth Hawkes. "Good morning. Aunt Mac is in the shower, but she said to tell you that you can come in if you want to… but you might want to go home and get some ear plugs before you do."

Despite the noise being made by the Rabb's two very unhappy toddlers, Skates smiles and steps over the threshold. "That's okay, I'll risk the possible damage to my eardrums. I'm going to have to get used to it anyway." She steps into the living room and deposits her 10-month-old daughter, Ellie, into one of the family's all-service playpens. She smooths the fabric of her maternity top as she pats her own expanding belly. "In a few months, my house is going to become twice as noisy as it is now."

While putting kibble in her dog's bowl, Laura asks, "Do we know yet? Boy or girl?"

Skates shakes her head. "Keeter and I are still discussing that. He wants to know. I don't."

Laura frowns curiously. "You don't want to know if you're having a boy or a girl?"

The retired navy pilot laughs and shakes her head again as she runs her fingers through her daughter's messy crop of sun-kissed sandy colored hair. "I didn't even know I was having this one until after she arrived. It isn't that I don't want to know. It would just be nice if there was at least a little bit of surprise attached to the next one as well.

Laura shrugs and then nods. "Like waiting until Christmas morning to open your presents just for the fun of it, even though you think you already know what you're getting." She pats Candy's head as the dog begins to munch and then crosses the kitchen, props her crutches up against the bar and climbs onto the bar stool where breakfast waits for her.

Skates nods. "Yeah, exactly! Keeter doesn't understand that, or he's just impatient. He wants to know everything now… Right now!"

Laura giggles. "Gosh…" She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head as she drops a sausage link into her bowl of oatmeal and uses the edge of her spoon to break it into bite size pieces. "I can't be upset with him for that. Most of the time, I want to know everything right now too. I like knowing things. It makes me crazy when people think they shouldn't answer my questions just because I'm a kid. Lots of people do that. I get told a lot that I should wait until I'm older, or that it's not the right time for me to know something. So, I get it. He wants to know. He's just a big kid anyway. But I like your way too. Sometimes, when it's something special - like a baby, or a Christmas present - it's more fun to wait."

"You know, most kids your age sneak around the entire month before Christmas trying to find out what's in the packages underneath the tree ahead of time."

Laura rolls her eyes. "That's my friend, Liam. He gets in trouble every year trying to open his packages before Christmas. I like the excited feeling from not knowing. I think Noah is going to be like Liam too. He's too curious. I don't think he can't help it. He gets fussed at every day for touching things he's not supposed to touch."

"I heard Mac fussing at him yesterday evening. As near as I could tell, he was undressing himself on the beach."

"You heard them at your house?"

"Keeter and I were having dinner on the back porch."

"Uncle Harm gave Noah a bath before dinner." Laura points to a large potted ficus tree beside the back door. "Grandma Trish gave that tree to us a few days ago. Yesterday, Noah decided to play in the dirt." She pauses for a bite of oatmeal.

"Hence, the need for a bath before dinner?"

Laura nods. "He was dir-tttty! He even had dirt in his hair! Us girls were on the back porch. Aunt Mac was helping me with my homework. Shannon got all mad because she was playing with that little red and blue plastic ball toy that has all the holes in it so little kids can put the shapes through the matching holes…"

Skates nods. "I know which one you're talking about."

She was trying to put the star in the round hole, and she was mad because it wouldn't fit. She was making a bunch of noise, trying to talk to it… or yell at it. I tried to show her which hole the star fit in. Aunt Mac tried too, but she didn't want our help. When we tried to touch the toy, she screamed louder. So, Aunt Mac said, 'Fine, do it yourself then!' Uncle Harm came outside to see what all the noise was about. He had Noah all clean and wrapped up in a towel - Shannon says 'Da' now. She means 'Dad."

"Yes, I know. I've heard her."

"Sometimes, Noah says it too, but Aunt Mac says he doesn't do it on purpose yet. She says he only does it when he's copying Shannon. Uncle Harm says he knows what he's saying. They are so silly! Aunt Mac goes, 'Does not!' Uncle Harm goes, 'Does too!" They sound like five-year-olds." Laura giggles. "But they're just teasing each other." Laura shrugs. "Anyway, as soon as Shannon saw Uncle Harm on the porch, she held up the toy and yelled, 'Da!' She's so funny. She didn't want us to even touch that toy, but she let Uncle Harm show her where all the pieces fit."

Skates takes an educated guess where the story is leading. "So, he was busy playing with Shannon for just a minute, Mac was helping you … and Noah - he must've made a break for it, right?"

Laura nods emphatically. "He still likes to play with my walker, but he doesn't need it anymore. Except, he still can't walk down the stairs. He tries, but he gets nervous, so he turns around and crawls down the stairs backward. Yesterday, we looked up and he was halfway down the back-porch steps, but he was still wrapped up in his towel. He kept stepping on the end, and he didn't like it. So, he just took it off. By the time they caught him he was butt naked, headed straight for the ocean, and laughing like mad!"

Skates chuckles. "Time to get a baby gate for the back porch."

"We have two already. One is too short. Noah tries to climb on it. Uncle Harm is afraid he will knock it over and then slide down the porch stairs on top of it. I told them they could use the one they bought when Charlie didn't want me to go upstairs. It's taller but, Aunt Mac didn't move it out yesterday. She uses it to keep him from crawling upstairs in the house. Shannon won't get on the stairs yet. She's still kinda scared of them. She's still holds on to stuff when she walks, and since Noah was in the house with Uncle Harm…"

Elizabeth nods. "All it takes is a couple of seconds… And, you've got a naked baby boy headed straight for the waves."

Laura nods as she bites into her piece of toast. She takes a sip of milk and then says, "He sure does like taking his clothes off. I don't think it matters what he's wearing. He wants it off."

"I think that comes hard-wired into the Y- chromosome, Laura. I've yet to meet a male who doesn't like being naked."

"Aunt Mac, says the neighbors are going to think she's raising a houseful of heathens – Shannon yelling at her toys, Noah running around naked, and me falling down all the time and playing baseball in the ocean."

Skates takes the bar stool next to Laura's and pats her on the back. "Don't worry about it. You're in good company. I'm just two houses down with my heathens. Keeter would go skinny dipping every other night, if left to his own devices, and he is a lot bigger than Noah. The neighbors will complain about that, long before they complain about Noah. What are they crying about this morning?"

"They're in baby time-out; separate cribs. Noah was playing with Uncle Harm's watch, but it was okay, because Uncle Harm gave it to him. Shannon took it away from him and told him 'no.' Then, Noah got mad, took it back, and threw it in the toilet. Uncle Harm had to go to work this morning without his watch!"

Skates groans as she laughs. "Thanks for the warning." She looks down at her own belly. "At least I know what I'm in for."

Laura shakes her head and gently pats her friend's belly. "You still have some time to get ready. Baby Keeter has to at least learn to crawl before he can throw things in the toilet."

Mac steps into her kitchen from the master bedroom and groans when she realizes what they're talking about. "Those two! They are trying to kill me!"