by Mayer, Dale
Her phone chose that moment to ring. Struggling upright, she reached across doggie paws and heads to snag it from her night table where she'd put it after her early morning call to the police.
"Good morning, Ninna. How did you make out last night?"
Stuart. Her tummy warmed and the smile on her face beamed so wide she felt like a schoolgirl again with her first crush. "Hi, good to hear you arrived safely. My night, yeah, that was interesting." She gave him the rundown of the nocturnal activity.
"Then I'm very glad to hear you stayed at my house."
"I was too until I woke up this morning. Why didn't you warn me about the dogs being bed hogs?"
Stuart's warm laughter reached through the phone and made her toes curl. "I never thought about it. I gather you left your door open."
She grinned, staring at her bed again. The big black lab had stretched across the entire place where a second person would lie. Goober hadn't moved. He, or was it a she, snuffled and tucked his head in deeper. "You would not believe my bed right now. I can barely move."
"You're still in bed?" His voice deepened and a whole new element entered. God, he was sexy.
She murmured back, "I am. You've deputized your dogs as my bed mates."
"Ha! I'm coming home early then. Damn. Are they all there?"
She sighed as the boxer kicked his legs out and shifted her own heavier legs against the lab. "Oh, yeah, they are all here." Mosey had sprawled along the bottom of the bed, lying on his back, all four feet pointed to the ceiling - grinning at her. She was so not going there.
"Good thing you're just a little bit of a thing. Otherwise there'd be no room."
She snickered. "There is no room. I forgot the lab's name, but he's taking up half the bed himself."
"That's Ticker. He used to belong to an older guy who passed away. Ticker spent the bulk of his life alone and didn't adapt well to the noise and confusion at the center. That's why he goes in daily to learn social skills."
"Hmm. So when are you coming home?"
"I was due to speak tomorrow, but they've shifted things around and now my talk is today. I'm scheduled to stay overnight, but home is sounding pretty damn good right now." His voice deepened again, leaving innuendos hanging in the air. "I won't be able to make a decision until I see if I'm expected to attend tomorrow or not. Otherwise, I might leave after dinner. I'd still be very late if I make it at all though, so please stay. I like the idea of you sleeping in my bed."
There it was again, that deeply sexual overtone that headed straight to her libido. "I'm sleeping in your spare bed."
"For the moment. Think of me today."
He rang off, leaving her staring down at the phone in her hand. With that note, how could she not? Of course, that's exactly why he'd done it.
"Gravy time?"
"No. Hell no. No gravy for you. You should be on a diet. Look at you, your rolls almost kiss the ground when you walk." She struggled to sit up, shifting dogs as necessary.
"More to love. Diets are a human issue. What animals would willingly deprive themselves of what they love?"
"People are health conscious. You should be, too." Speaking of which, breakfast sounded good to her. She hoped Stuart had something decent in the fridge. She hadn't even looked last night, having scarfed a quick bite at her house.
"Exactly. Gravy? It's one of the main food groups."
"You're a joke. No damn gravy. Besides there isn't any in the house."
"You can make some. Stuart does."
He does? "Does that mean Stuart cooks?" She loved the idea of man who could cook. "Maybe I do need to get to know him better."
Mosey nodded his head, jowls flapping in the windy movement. She had to laugh. If he'd been human he'd be a stand up comic.
"If I were human, I'd be eating gravy."
Chapter Five
Ninna shooed the dogs off the bed to head downstairs to let them out into the yard. After a shower and a slow getting dressed session, Ninna made up the bed. She didn't know if she'd be sleeping in this bed again tonight or not, but it had been an experience.
She'd slept with several two legged animals over the course of her relationships, but never four legged ones.
Downstairs, she grabbed her instructions and started doling out breakfast then called the dogs in. It went faster this time as she felt more comfortable with the dogs' antics. When she made it to Tiny, she couldn't resist picking him up and taking her cup of tea to the living room for an extended cuddle. He didn't appear to mind.
Sitting there, she had an insight to a world she'd never considered before. With a pet, on crappy days there was someone to cuddle and hold. On depressing days, you still had to pick yourself up and look after someone else, as pets required care. That could only help. There'd always be someone to talk to, someone for company.
She supposed it might sound sad to other to people to hear about someone like her, twenty-six, employed and single, not having a ton of friends, but most had moved away in the last year and the others were all connected to her old jobs. And most of them no longer held the same jobs, either. She spent way too much time on the Internet, but not so much on the social networking sites. She'd rather have friends close by to do things with. But as she wasn't overwhelmed with those...a pet or two might be nice - two because then they'd have each other for company.
"Walk. It's walk time." Mosey planted himself in front of her.
"But I haven't eaten yet."
"Too bad, so sad. We have to go pee."
"Crap." But she got up, took Tiny back to his basket and headed out the back door. Stuart's back yard was fenced. The dogs could roam out there and take care of business. The dogs burst out the door, tails wagging and noses in the air, happy to check out the world. They started their regular day with more enthusiasm than she did on a good day. She stood in the sunshine drinking her tea while the dogs explored.
Ten minutes later, she was pulled out of her peaceful reverie.
"That's great. Now that we got to go pee, let's go for a walk. We need our exercise."
"I can't take all of you for a walk at the same time. That is not going to work. You guys will drag me all over the place."
She remembered something about that in Stuart's instructions. Going back inside, Ninna snatched up what amounted to her bible for her animal owner experience. "So Brie, the boxer, and Goober, the white mop, require leashes but the rest are good and stay close." She snickered. "Like I'm going to believe that."
"You should. We go out all the time."
"Okay. I'm willing, definitely not eager, but let's take a walk over to my house and see if that guy last night caused any damage. If everyone behaves, I'll consider a trip to the park afterwards."
"The park. The park. We're going to the park."
As she grabbed up the leashes, excitement swept through the dogs. She could try to take them out in relays, but if the first experiment went wrong, she wasn't sure she'd do it again.
Two dogs came running at the sound of the chains. She presumed they were the right ones. By the time she had the two leashed all five were twisting and wiggling in joy. At least she was making them happy.
With her hands full of dogs, she opened the front door. All the dogs jumped outside barking. Great. Now the neighbors were going to be mad at her. She walked slowly so the dogs could do their thing, sniffing and wandering around as they were wont to do. And was Mosey rolling in the grass? She hoped not. She kept walking, looking back when she'd gone forward a dozen feet to find him still lying there.
"Mosey, come on."
"Why? It's nice here."
"No, it's not. If you're tired and need a nap already then it's home time. You can sleep for the rest of the day inside. And I'll need to cut your meals down as you're more out of shape than I figured."
Mosey rolled over and struggled to his feet. His fat squat body looked bulldoggish - matching the stubborn look on his face. "Shoulda given me gravy for breakfast. It gives me energy."
"Like hell," she muttered, finally realizing she was outside and although people talked to their pets all the time, she didn't want to appear crazy. At the crosswalk, she called the dogs to her side and made it across in one piece. Of course it was a small town and traffic was light at this hour on a Saturday morning.
Once on the other side of the road, it was only a few minutes to her house. In her yard, she walked around the outside first. Thankfully, there were no broken windows, and as far as she could see, nothing had been disturbed. She didn't want to make an insurance claim. She could barely afford the premiums now. Unlocking the door, she pushed it wide open and ushered all the dogs inside. There she took off the two leashes so the dogs wouldn't get tangled. Her house seemed impossibly full. Skirting the moving bodies, she checked out her living room - normal like everything else. Heading through the kitchen, she was sorry the neighborhood intruder hadn't thought to wash her dishes while she was gone. Surely it was the least he could have done for disturbing her night's rest.
After a quick trip to her bathroom she doubled-checked her bedroom. Again, everything appeared normal. Sighing with relief, she realized how bothered she'd been. She navigated through the chaos back to her tiny kitchen where she worked at cleaning it.
With the few dishes washed, she enjoyed an hour in her own space doing laundry, checking her messages and calling Jane. No answer. That figured. She wouldn't be out of bed for hours yet.
Finally, with the chores done, she turned to survey the living room and had to laugh. Dogs lolled wherever they found space. There was a large park about a block away. She could go down the alley and around the corner to avoid cars. The park would be perfect. No traffic, almost no people and a wide open space for the dogs to run.
"Yes, let's do it."
"Damn. I forgot you can read my mind. "
"Yes, and now I know. Park, park, park." His chant turned to a half howl and before she knew it the rest of the dogs were on their feet, staring at her holding the leashes in her hand. Probably in sympathy. "Okay fine," she shouted, "but we have to come back later and switch over the laundry."
Mosey headed to the back door. "Whatever. Park, park, park."
***
The park was mostly empty, but then she wasn't walking on the normal pathways. She thought the dogs would prefer the wooded area along the side. As she enjoyed the stroll, she wondered at the many unanswered phone messages she'd left for her old shrink. Maybe he was on holiday, although there should be an answering service of some kind.
Somehow the concept of a talking dog didn't bother her quite so much anymore. Just then Mosey stopped and threw her a jowly grin, making her roll her eyes. "I'm not saying that I like talking to you, because you don't actually talk. At least not out loud." She paused and wondered. "At least I don't think so. You're talking in my head, so maybe I'm making you up and maybe not. Either way, I'm the only person affected, so, I can choose how I respond to you. Maybe a talking dog isn't so bad after all.
"If only you'd learn to talk back to me in your head when we're in public."
She laughed. "Yeah, if only."
At the park, she unclipped the leashes and let the dogs roam. She wandered along the trees, enjoying the unusual experience. Not only that, but for the first time, she had to wonder if it was truly bad to be talking with an imaginary friend - even if it was a dog. Sure, having real friends would help, but in lieu of the real thing, was this so bad? Of course Mosey didn't quite fit the bill. He was real flesh and blood. Not imaginary. Still, telepathic dogs came under the heading of imaginary.
Maybe she should just give it a rest and accept it. If and when her shrink decided to respond to her messages, she could make a decision about seeing him or not. Besides, by then, maybe Mosey wouldn't be talking any more.
A large grove of evergreen trees lay up ahead. She wandered over, looking for a place to sit. The dogs ran to her, then ran away again, delighted with their outdoor playtime. She wished she'd brought her camera. Her aunt would never have believed this.
Sitting down and resting, she glimpsed a bright blue item deeper in the shade. She stood up and walked closer. The color intrigued her. There was an almost familiar look to it. She had to work her way under the low-lying boughs to grab it. Crawling back out again, she straightened and stretched. Turning the square item over, she froze.
It was a picture frame. From her house. Her name was written in the space where the picture went. She'd written it herself. The frame used to hold a picture taken last year, when she'd been celebrating having bought her first house.
The picture was missing. Even worse, she hadn't noticed that this picture had even gone missing.
Someone had broken into her house and stolen this picture. Her mind stalled on that idea.
Someone? It had to have been last night's intruder. Nothing else made sense. She didn't dare contemplate that her house had been broken into another night, and she could have been home.
Another thought hit. Oh shit. He'd kept her picture.
She swallowed hard. Her stomach revolted at the thought. She started to shake.
"Hey what's wrong?" An older couple stood off to one side, staring at her in concern. "Are you okay?"
Ninna tried hard to smile. "Yes, thank you. I'm sorry. I'm suddenly not feeling well." She turned to look for the dogs. She needed to go back. Not home. Back to Stuart's. She needed to go - now.
"Mosey, come on, boy. Let's go. Goober. Brie. It's time to go." She whistled hard. Giving the older couple an apologetic smile, she headed back toward the way they'd come, the dogs running to catch up. She didn't know why Mosey wasn't talking to her. Usually his sarcasm underlined everything she said or did. Today, right now, he was actually being considerate. Or maybe it was because of the other people. Not likely, though. Clipping the leashes back on the other two dogs, she called the remaining ones into line and picked up the pace as panic threatened to overtake her.
All she could think about was getting inside. Safe. She felt vulnerable outside.
She felt violated.
And didn't know what to do about it.
***
There she was. Troy stopped and stared in shock. Heading to the corner store for smokes himself, he'd cut across the park, almost missing her. Where'd the dogs come from? There'd been no sign of her having any pets in the house. The sun beamed high above him, making him squint. He lost her momentarily. Panic made him run to catch up. He had to be cautious. She couldn't be allowed to see him.
His mood lightened. Maybe she'd been house-sitting for a neighbour. He patted his back pocket, her picture folded and tucked in his wallet. What a perfect opportunity to find out.
Following her a safe distance behind, he watched as she entered the yard and went inside a huge house just across and down from hers.
Interesting.
He'd have to check that out a little closer.
***
"How do you know it's yours?" Jane asked in her most reasonable tone. This time she'd picked up two sub sandwiches and both girls sat in Stuart's kitchen and ate a late lunch. The dogs, ever eager to help them, sprawled on the floor in a large circle, all eyes tracking the food as they ate. Even Tiny's miniature mouth opened every time Ninna opened hers. She didn't know if human food was good or bad for a kitten but she couldn't imagine it would be good.
"I wrote the date and location inside the frame where the photo goes."
"It's kinda creepy."
"Kinda? It's way creepy." Ninna opened her mouth to take a bite as Tiny mimicked her with an open mouth of her own. Groaning, Ninna turned to face Jane, who appeared oblivious to all the animals' silent pleas. Jane had the shortest attention span of anyone she knew, and if issues didn't revolve around her, they were dropped into that vast space of 'not important.' Ninna couldn't help grin. Jane might be shallow, but she was loyal. Just in small doses.
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know. I guess I need to call the police but I'm not sure it wo
uld help. Fill out a police report so it's on record but then what?" Ninna shrugged. "I'm hoping that having gone through my place once, they figured out I didn't have anything worth stealing and they won't bother coming back." She took another bite of her sandwich, almost choking on the hot peppers. Jane loved everything super spicy.
