I was having a peaceful, nice dream about chasing balls... making me wonder if this was normal or what dogs would dream about when I heard the door open, and my sister ran in and came over to hug me, "I got to go to school, I wish you could join me," she says as I think the same thing. Or at least any school.
I bump my head against hers as I give a big yawn, and before I can fully wake, I do the first thing that comes to mind and lick her face as she ughhs again and laughs, "Fluffy!!" I smell her mild frustration, but mostly her finding it funny as she says, "I'm heading to school soon as Dad's driving me," she says as I tilt my head trying to process that.
I give a nod and yawn loudly as she heads out of the room, leaving the door open. That was a rather nice sleep, and hey, I need to use the bathroom, but no emergency or waking up in the middle of the night. I make my way out and down the hall to the kitchen as my dad is getting his coat on, and I give a woof in hello. He smiles and looks over to me, "You need to use the bathroom, Fluffy?"
Giving a nod of my head, my dad opens the front door as I head out and look around, suddenly being VERY conscious that people can see me as I look around for a minute, trying to figure it out. Then I think and run off behind the shed where there is a fence, and a few moments later come back as my dad looks at me with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'Really?'
My ears burn a little bit in embarrassment as I nod. I may be a dog, but fifteen years of being a human is still normal. As a bird, it was simple, as a dog, I'm all too aware of what can be seen. I move back to him and rub my nose against him before heading to the door and getting there just in time to see my sister run out, "Bye, Fluffy," she says.
She holds the door open for me as I butt my head against her and head in as I find my mom cleaning up the dining room. She smiles over to me, "Hey Mike, I have to grocery shop and do some things in a bit, I can leave the TV on to YTV for you if you want, give you something to watch if you get bored."
I give a nod of my head as I follow her to the TV room, where she turns it on, and I find a spot on the floor and begin to watch the TV, it was showing He-Man, as I had never really gotten into it, but always did find it a little fun. As soon as Cringer showed up on the screen, I found myself growling as I fight the urge to bark.
My mom comes in running at the sound of my growling as I turn over to her and she looks at me, "Mike, what's wrong? You okay?" she asks before turning to the TV and seeing the large cat on screen and shaking her head, "Are you really...growling at a cat?" she asks a little incredulously laughing.
I groan, shaking my head as I try to avoid eye contact with the TV in case I bark again. She moves over and ruffles my head, "I'm going to the store for groceries, I will be back in a few hours," she says as I perk my ears up and give her a bark before I decide to follow her, watching her as she takes the keys and heads out the door.
Listening to the house, it's so quiet, just my breathing and the old creaks and groans of a house. I decide to head off and explore some now and head to the basement, looking down into the dim light, my hackles raising a little bit. I always found the basement a little spooky, yes, I would spend a lot of time down there, but didn't mean it wasn't creepy. There weren't any sounds that I could detect there that were unusual.
Taking a few tentative steps down the stairs, I fight the urge to run back up the stairs and try to get out of the house. I wasn't normally THIS scared, though I was at times usually bolting all the way back up stairs, or using the little window on the wall to the main area as a way to bypass all the scary parts near the furnace.
I tentatively start to head down the stairs, sniffing the air, and at the bottom, I peek around the corner at the long hallway that the furnace is in, hearing and smelling nothing. I do the only rational thing, run as fast as possible past it, even jumping over the part alongside of it and into the main basement area, panting from nervousness.
I continue to pant as I turn around so I'm facing the hallway, but when nothing scary comes out of there, I shake myself out and begin to explore the basement. I see the couch, the older TV, the bathroom, and even the old computer room. Everything seems normal, if at a weird angle. It doesn't take me too long to explore before I turn around and bolt back up the stairs, staying as long as I am comfortable.
Soon, I'm hiding under the dining room table, finding it both comfortable and weirdly open and vulnerable as my breathing slowly begins to calm down. It's at that point I hear Shiners laugh, <Mike, did you see something big and scary in the basement that scared little old wolfy?> he asks as I can practically smell the teasing through the window where I could just see him perched.
I look over at him, glaring, <There are monsters down there...okay, not really, but my entire life it's been spooky, then add in wolf instincts to not hang around dangerous places,> I think. Well, I'm hoping that's the case, and it's not just that I'm a scaredy cat and can't handle a little darkness.
I hear him laugh as he hops over, <You will be fine. Just remember, you got teeth and claws, something most scary monsters don't have.> he says. I roll my eyes, not wanting to point out that's wrong. But it still makes me feel a little better. I get up and nod to him and look around the house a little more, smelling the fireplace, the den. Everything had unique smells and signatures, some that I could place, others I couldn't.
As I'm walking around, I notice on the living room coffee table my sister's favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, and walk over to check it out. I give it a little nudge and a sniff, I didn't quite understand why my sister was so interested in it. But with nothing else to do, I gently grab it with my paw and pull it off the table.
Looking down at the book, I notice it had fallen open, okay, but how do I read it?" I ask. As I use my paw and claws to flip to the first page, SUCCESS!!! Okay, a few pages got bent, but we can live with that.
Shiners calls from outside, <Dude...I think this is a bad idea. I've seen how dogs try to read books, it never goes well.> he says. I ignore him. After all, what does he know? I'm a fifteen-year-old in a wolf body, I'm sure I can figure it out without too much trouble. I manage to turn to the first page and begin to read.
I get through the first page and try to turn the next page, but the page doesn't want to turn it gets partway up, before falling back. Growling slightly, I try to catch it with my teeth before it falls back, and YAY, got it as I manage to get it to the other...RIP!!...I look down, staring in shock as I realize I somehow got my claw caught on the page and ripped it in half.
Staring in horror, I try to place it back down as best as I can. Come on, come on, it's just a little tear. But it doesn't want to stick. No, no, no, this isn't good, maybe if I use my tongue I can make it stick down...nahh that wouldn't work. I try to close the book, thinking maybe this is for the best, I shouldn't destroy it, so maybe if I give up now, she won't notice.
After a few tries with my claws to close it, I growl in frustration and pick up the side with my teeth and manually shut it. Okay, all done...Then I look at the slobber-covered, bitten into cover and realize this isn't good. Okay, only one rational thing to do here, I need to hide the evidence.
I can hear Shiners in the distance laughing, <I warned you, Mike....though I can't wait to see the person whose book that is getting upset,> he says. I try to ignore him as I grab onto the book with my mouth, but I'm too careful, and it slips out, tearing some more, leaving a big tear down one of the pages. Panicking, I grab it again, harder, biting into the cover more before moving it under the couch, see no one will think to look there.
I quickly walk away from it, trying to pretend like nothing happened. After all, a dog can't read, right? I make my way back to the TV room to watch TV, and a little while later, my mom comes in calling out, "Fluffy, I'm home!!." she says as I quickly come out rubbing against her a little nervous she will find the book, but she seems to have no such inclinations and simply starts to put away the groceries.
She smiles and rubs her hand against my head, "School will let out in a few hours, Charlie said he wanted to take you for a walk and test out throwing the ball." she says and adds, "On a good note, while no way to be one hundred percent sure, neither me or your dad saw you as an eagle when we got up to use the bathroom last night, so hopefully that was just a one-off thing.
I nod a little bit, feeling a smidge better, hopefully that was it. I go upstairs to my bed to take a nap before Charlie gets there, thinking I could use a little more sleep, plus that should help make me fully ready to play some more fetch. Hopefully, I was ready for this trip, even if there were a few more tests to go.
A few hours later, I hear someone calling out to Fluffy, which takes me a second to realize it's Charlie and he's calling for me as he grins, "So, Fluffy, you want to go for a quick trip to the back and fetch?" he says. I give a small bark and feel rather refreshed after the nap. I think I got this, I had a bit of practice the day before, what could possibly go wrong, right?
He chuckles and rubs my head slightly as he calls to my mom, "Okay, heading out with Fluffy, we'll be back in an hour, two at max," he says as we soon leave the house and are on our way down the street to the park. I was excited at the chance to be a dog in public, maybe I was getting a little used to being an animal that this just feels like a natural thing. Oh yeah, the other day I was an eagle hunting rabbits, now I'm a wolf pretending to be a dog so he could play fetch, just a normal, weird day in my life.
