Chapter 4: Getting Settled
We finally arrived at where I assumed was where the Heelers lived. After Bluey and Bingo got out of their respective seats, I followed them out and was met with probably the nicest neighbourhood I've ever laid eyes on. A cul-de-sac home to rows of houses, one of which that we had parked into had to at least be two floors high, boarded with sand beige wooden boards and a step ladder that lead to a front balcony where the front door was. A single bay window on the right and a roof tiled in pale red with a single pillar at the top with a frilled dome that matched the colour of the roof. As I followed behind the Heelers, I often glanced around for any watching faces, thankfully, there were no other dogs in the area giving me cautious glares as Chilli unlocked and opened the door and we all stepped inside.
The first room was surprisingly spacious. In front of me, I already saw a staircase leading upstairs, the redwood floor being covered by a few rugs of varying colours, several doors that either lead to another room or outside were noticeable. A red single chair sat next to the window on the left of the doorway with a rectangular picture frame that had two silhouettes, maybe of the Heelers' relatives with a red cross like object in the middle hung above said chair.
"Welcome to the Heeler household, Nathan! Only the finest Queenslander house in the whole neighbourhood!" Bandit smugly announced as Chilli rolled her eyes at her husband. "Now how does a tour of the house sound?" Bandit offered to me as Bluey suddenly chirped up.
"Let's play House Tour!" Bluey held her hands up excitedly before turning to her sister. "Come on, Bingo!" Bluey encouraged the little orange heeler who quickly followed her, but not before giving me another uncertain look. "House tour?" I asked Chilli and Bandit with confusion. "Let's just say the kids love to make a game out of anything that sounds fun to them." Chilli said, smiling at how her daughters seemed to have a big enough imagination to make even mundane events sound fun. I nodded in understanding as Bluey soon returned, wearing a long tie around her neck and a purple pair of lens-less glasses with the outer sides having a trio of bumps on them like flower petals as she suddenly spoke to me, trying to mimic an adult's voice, Bingo standing beside her holding a notepad in one hand and a crayon.
"Oh hello, sir! Are you the one who's come for the grand tour of the Heeler house?" I couldn't help but chuckle a little at Bluey's little roleplay as like an estate agent. It was honestly kind of adorable so I decided to play along. "Ah, yes ma'am! And I have to say the place looks quite nice so far!" I responded, actually being serious about the compliment I gave to their home as Chilli seemed to notice this and smile at me. "Very good, sir! Please follow me!" Bluey gestured me to follow her for emphasis as I did so, tailing the two as we went through one of the doorways and I was met with a pretty large lounge room with a modern looking orange sofa in the middle and a brown short table. Like the entranceway, this room also had a stairway leading to the second floor. There was also a pair of double doors opposite of the stairway side that led to an outside porch. "First we have this room, big and great for lots of games with the family!" Bluey explained as I thoroughly looked around, I meanwhile briefly noticed Bingo scribbling on the notepad before I was lead to another room.
Like the previous room, this room also appeared to be like a living room of sorts only much smaller and with many noticeable differences. The walls were a light beige unlike the last room which had walls of light green. There were also two couches and two coffee tables in the middle, both differing in appearance and a TV set. To the left of the TV was another doorway to likely another room. "And we have this room if you want to watch the game with your mates!" Bluey chimed in before once again I was lead to another room.
A good few minutes later, I would now be outside with the two girls finishing the tour of the house with the backyard. A large open field with a single shed not far from the house and next to the porch staircase was a huge tree with red flowers and a few spherical lanterns hanging from the branches. The garden was bordered by hedges that if you looked over could see the neighbouring houses. During the tour, I had seen the kitchen, a BBQ porch, a room they called the playroom which had a large kiwi rug in the middle and then the upstairs with a bathroom, a toilet room, Bandit and Chilli's bedroom and lastly Bluey and Bingo's bedroom.
"And that's the end of the tour! What score would you give this house?" Bluey asked as I could only smile at how hospitable she had been to me all the way through. "I'd give it a solid ten out of ten!" I praised with a clap as Bluey grinned in response to my answer and held her hands into the air like she was cheering. "Hooray!"
"Kids! Dinner's ready!" That was when Bandit's voice called out to us from inside as Bluey and I headed up the short flight of stairs back inside until I heard a small yelp from behind me followed by a thud. I quickly turned to see Bingo slowly get up off the floor, her face clenched in pain as she sat on the porch, holding her knee which had a small red bump. Her eyes shut tightly as if she was trying not to cry in pain. A strong pang of sympathy washed over for me as I looked down at the two legged puppy to which I quickly rushed inside, finding myself in the kitchen. There was a first aid kit above the fridge which I managed to reach and grab before quickly going back to Bingo and kneeling down to her.
Bingo's eyes slowly opened and she squeaked as her pupils shrunk upon seeing me so close to her. Bluey meanwhile was trying to comfort her sister as I dug through the health kid and found a pack of band-aids, removing one from the set and as gently as possible, I applied the band-aid to Bingo's sore knee before I looked up to her, her face meeting mine. "Better?" I gently asked as she only responded by silently nodding. I reached over to her with a hand, making her flinch as she clung onto Bluey, letting out a little whimper until my hand felt the top of her head and I slowly pet her. Her fur was incredibly soft, like I was trailing my fingers through a newly made fresh carpet. Bingo slowly looked up at my hand and then to me as she seemed to calm down before I stopped.
"See? Nathan's not a bad guy!" Bluey reassured Bingo who looked at me once more and for the first time, actually let a small smile grow on her muzzle, a sign that she was now starting to trust me.
Before we could head into the dining room to eat, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see another two legged dog. Judging by how much of her could only be seen over the hedge, she had to be somewhere around the same age and height as Bluey. Unlike the Heelers, her fur looked to be longer, making her look fluffier in appearance. Some of the fur on her forehead hung down the front, the tips just barely covering the top of her eyes and I could notice she was wearing a blue headband with yellow spots. I wasn't entirely sure what breed she was, but she did seem to resemble one I've heard about called a 'Chow Chow', and the fur and the headband alone were the only things that convinced me that she must be a girl. The Chow Chow herself was staring at me, mouth agape as she stood in place, no doubt in shock at what she was seeing which was a human person.
"H-Hi there." I stammered out to the dog who didn't respond until seconds later.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" She suddenly screamed before running off. Honestly, I should've expected that. I just hope that she doesn't tell someone who knows or is related to the dogs who tried to chase me down the other night.
I was rather surprised on how good of a cook Bandit was. We were all served slices of chicken breast with tomato puree and cheese on top, sided with some French fries and a few herbs for seasoning. According to Bandit, it's called 'Chicken Parmigiana', such a dish actually sounded more Italian then wherever this place was supposed to be. Nonetheless it was really good, and Bluey and Bingo seemed to agree, Chilli seemed to notice however that I was eating a little faster than her and the others.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't get to eat much yesterday other than a fish." I explained as Chilli nodded in understanding whilst Bandit decided to make conversation with me.
"So Nathan... I've kinda noticed that for a human, you're honestly kind of like us. You talk like us, you eat like us, you even play like us." I took what Bandit said to me in thought. To be honest, I thought the same way as him and his family, what I still didn't understand however was how these kinds of dogs existed let alone if I was even in my own world anymore. As far as I recall, there was never any documented information about anthropomorphic dogs with the ability to speak and live like humans.
"Well, that's what I thought about you as well. I had no idea your kind was ever a thing and... seeing you is just still so new to me." I confessed. It was just really difficult to figure out how what I was seeing and interacting with was even possible. Every logical answer I could come up with had been thrown straight out the window and rendered completely screwed up beyond any repair.
"Well don't worry, mate. We'll soon find out how to get you home soon enough." Bandit said to ease me as I could only smile at him in response before finishing up my meal. "Excuse me for a moment." I said as I excused myself from the table and carried my empty plate and used tableware to the kitchen sink and running the tap under it, proceeding to wash the plate and cutlery of any excess puree and other stuck food residue. "O-Oh, Nathan, you don't have to do that!" Chilli told me with a little grin on her face as I faced her and her family. "It's the least I can do for you all for being so nice to me and letting me stay with you for a while." I replied gratefully as Bandit had a smile on his face as well.
Sometime after dinner, Bluey, Bingo and I were playing another game that Bluey had come up with called "Human Tree" where I had to stand in place and pose with my limbs out like tree branches and the two were trying to climb up me and reach my head which served as the goal, but very frequently I'd need to move my arms and leg around in different directions to make the game more difficult. We chose to play in the room with the kiwi rug so that if either of the two would end up falling off me, the rug would cushion their fall and reduce the risk of injury. Very often, Bluey or Bingo would have to hang on to my shirt, pulling it down a lot but thankfully it didn't tear even once and Bluey despite my best efforts was close to reaching my head. I glanced down to see Bingo struggling to reach my shoulder due to her being smaller and younger, a look of frustration starting to appear on her face. So whilst Bluey was distracted, I sneakily lowered an arm for Bingo to climb up. She wrapped both arms around it and climbed up it like she was climbing a tree trunk and soon enough I felt both the weight of the two girls on my shoulders and then they both placed their hands on my hair.
"YEAH!" The two cheered upon winning the game, Bluey seemingly unaware that I had helped Bingo win alongside her when Chilli peeked in through the doorway. "Alright, bedtime, girls."
"Awwww!"
"No, not yet! I wanna play with Nathan some more!" Bingo and Bluey complained respectively in response as I looked out the window to see that it was actually starting to get dark. To be frank, I was actually starting to get a little exhausted. These girls were just full of energy even if they were to have played all day long. "Come on, girls, we can always play tomorrow." I reassured them as I helped them down to the floor. "Come on, Nate, I'll set up a bed for ya." Bandit joined Chilli and gestured me to follow him as I did so, whilst hearing Bluey whine with a "Not fair!".
After brushing my teeth with a spare toothbrush provided by Bandit, I was lead to Bluey and Bingo's bedroom. The ceiling was pointed upwards like a roof, almost like it was an attic. Two child sized beds sat against the walls, Bingo's next to the bedroom door and Bluey's next to the doorway that leads to their balcony. A small ledge in the middle with a circular window of stained glass, a small ladder to help either of the two get up on said ledge and the wall surrounded the window adorned with glow in the dark stickers shaped like stars and planets. Speaking of which a mobile hung over Bluey's bed that had models of planets and a rocket ship. Lastly, an open watermelon rug in the middle of the floor which was where Bandit placed down a sleeping bag that was fortunately big enough for me to fit into, bless his soul.
"Bandit, I just can't thank you and Chilli enough for letting me stay here for a while. If I hadn't met you, I probably would've died out there eventually." I thanked the male Heeler as the finished laying out the sleeping bag for me. "No worries, mate. So far you've been cool with us and who would we be if we didn't help?" Bandit gave me a thumbs up as he said this before leaving the bedroom to fetch Bluey and Bingo, giving me enough time to remove my clothes down to my underwear which was all I'd be sleeping in since I didn't have any pyjamas with me. I folded up my clothes and put them next to the sleeping bag and slipped inside it just before the two girls walked in, Bingo letting out a yawn as he and Bluey got into their respective beds, Chilli and Bandit went to tuck them in.
"Night night, Bingo." Chilli softly whispered to the orange heeler as her eyes slowly closed. "See you in the morning, kid." Bandit petted Bluey as she too started to fall asleep, leaving me last. "Sleep well, Nathan." Chilli said to me as she and Bandit left the room, but not before turning the lamp off, shrouding the whole room in darkness.
Even though I didn't say anything about it, I actually felt a sharp wave of sadness inside me as I watched Bandit and Chilli say good night to their kids which reminded me of when my parents would use to do that when I was younger. God, I missed them so much.
With nothing else to say or do, I tried to drift off to sleep, hoping that wherever they are, they were okay.
