We soon make it home as I see my sister waiting on the steps. I give a woof while wagging my tail and heading over to nuzzle her as she looks excited, "There you are, was wondering where you were. Mom said that Charlie took you for a walk, I wish I could have gone," she says.
Charlie smiles, "Sorry you were not home from school yet, and wanted to make sure he could be handled. He's still young and new, and big," he says as he walks over petting my head, "I should get heading home, but I will be by tomorrow." he says as I give a tail wag and a bark in response.
I watch Charlie walk off as Sarah calls me over, "Come on, Fluffy, dinner time," she says as I head in. I notice Shiners nearby giving me a nod. Considering the fries in his beak, he must have been getting food. I had wondered why he didn't follow after me. I head inside and sit by the kitchen as my sister begins to pour my dinner.
As I start to eat, I hear my dad come in from outside. He gives me a glance and a nod before looking to my sister, "Sarah, Mike's going to be leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning. I will be picking him up and driving him to the plane. Mom will be driving you there to see him off," he says.
Sarah looks a little upset, pouting. I'm sure she wishes she was going to Hawaii, but her response makes me relax a little bit. "I'm a little jealous he gets to go on a vacation, but at the same time, I love Fluffy," she says as she hugs me making me stop eating for a moment and looking back at her. I again wish I could tell her, but I can't let myself keep thinking about it.
My dad smiles, "That's why he was adamant that we get you Fluffy. He felt bad enough being away sick, and we could only afford the trip for one. When he comes back, you will have a ton of great stories to tell him," he says. I nuzzle against my sister as I give my dad a questioning look. The story makes sense, though I'm curious when he found time to think about it.
My mom walks in with food and sets the dinner table as I finish eating. She made some kind of vegetable dinner, which catches my interest. It stunk and stung my nose a little bit, making me wonder... did she make something I disliked so that I wouldn't feel left out eating food that I liked? My mom smiles and thinks, "You know what we should do, find out what Fluffy can eat, call the vet up. Make sure we're getting him enough food, and making stuff he could eat."
I perk my head at this, licking my lips. Hey, maybe I can get something more then soggy kibbles, ohhh, could I get a steak? Or maybe figure out how to hunt my own deer or rabbits? I would definitely love to hunt something, though maybe not a deer, isn't that usually a pack thing and not something solo?
My mom laughs watching me and shakes her head as they sit down to eat, not wanting to think about food or the smell, I move off to think in the living room as I look out at the sky and notice that it was starting to snow again. Ohhh, I always loved snow, most of the snow we had gained had started to melt, so was nice to see more.
I see Shiners out there as I hmmmm, <You okay out there? Wish I could let you inside.> I think. Though I realize he might be more comfortable out there in the cold then I was, as he's used to cold winters.
Shiners shakes his head, <Nahhh, I'm fine, it would feel weird going inside, not natural, too many ceilings and such, plus how would you explain it?> he asks as I shrug.
I nod, sighing, <I guess... I just miss you. When I go to bed tonight, let's talk for a while. I saw you got some food earlier.> I say as I hear the plates being put away in the dishwasher as I guess dinner was done.
Shiners tilts his head and I hear him chuckle, <If you want, it's not like I haven't spent most of my life alone, so I'm used to the quiet, though I will admit I do enjoy your company and talking too.> he says.
I give a soft nod as I stretch myself out to head in and watch the family as my sister grins, "Hey Fluffy I've got some homework to do, you want to come up and watch me?" she asks. I perk my ears curious about what homework she has. Yes, I remember a lot of the homework from school, but still wondering.
I follow her upstairs and walk into her room as she sits down at her desk and opens up her book and begins to work on it. Though it's soon apparent she's having trouble with a math equation as she looks confused. I look over and ughh I think I know the solution, but can't tell her. I give her a small nudge trying to cheer her up as she laughs, "It's a good thing you're a dog and don't have to worry about math."
I whine slightly. While I'm glad for no homework and math, I still miss some of the fun things about school as my ears droop slightly causing her to look at me with concern. Before laughing, "Awwe are you saying you want to do homework? How about this, I go watch TV and you do it for me," she says.
I groan as I shake my head while tilting it as if I'm confused, but really I wouldn't do it even if I could. I may miss it, but doesn't mean that I will go out of my way to do extra homework that I don't need to do.
She gives an exasperated sigh, "I guess not. You probably don't even know what the words and numbers mean anyway," she says as she continues to work on it. I can see her frustration as she gets through her math section. Since I can't do anything else, I give little barks and woofs of encouragement to her, my way of saying, 'you can do it.'
She smiles down at me, "Thanks for the encouragement," she says as I tilt my head panting slightly as I find myself laughing inwardly. If she only knew how much I understood her. Soon she finishes up her homework. Thankfully math was the only class she seemed to struggle with as she pats her leg, then runs downstairs calling out, "I’ve done my homework, can I watch TV?"
My mom nods, "For half an hour, after that you should get ready for bed if you want to see your brother off, his plane leaves first thing in the morning," she adds. She looks over to me and motions me into the living room as she crouches down. "You're doing well, hon, I know this won't be easy for you, but we are there for you and have faith. You're doing very well and being brave."
I take a deep breathing as this was hard, and I knew it was hard for her too. But it made sense, we couldn't just pretend that I was sick forever, and too many questions. Just one thing to suggest it, and another to do it. I nudge against her leg letting her know that I was fine, and I understood what we were doing.
She then explains, "Tomorrow dad will pretend to pick you up. We will late for last minute for when the plane has already been boarded then show up. She will see the plane take off and fly away we will let her know your waving to us. I hate to lie but this way she will have some closure till we figure out what to do next. If you want, you could invite your friends to watch you go." My ears perk up at that as I bob my head, okay that's something I wouldn't mind doing as I nod a bit too hard and throw myself slightly off balance before she laughs, "I take that as a yes."
She smiles as she shoos, "Now go watch some TV before bed, and if you think your up for it you can try to sleep outside the room again and we will see if you can handle it over night," she says.
I nod my head a little excitedly, as I walk up the stairs to my bedroom as she thinks, "Sure you can try there tonight, it certainly should help make you feel better," she says as I give a small bark and run off to watch TV.
I run in and lie on the floor next to my sister who slides off the couch to watch TV with me. I was slowly starting to get the hang of how the TV looked and acted. Even if everything looked muddy, least I could tell the action and the story. Though in relation to drive-ins, not sure which I will like better, the slide show but good colours, or muddy but without chopiness.
We watch TV as she slowly falls asleep against me and then completely conks out as I nudge her slightly, but she was out cold. My mom comes in shortly saying, "Come on Sarah it's..." but stops when she sees Sarah sleeping next to me and laughs as she gets my dad and they carefully pick her up to take her to bed.
I follow along feeling tired myself, not falling asleep the second it got dark was a bonus, but still got tired earlier then I would have expected. Watching them take Sarah to her bedroom I move over towards my bed and flop down on it yawning. My dad soon comes over rubbing my head, "Night Mike, See you in the morning," he says and soon I'm asleep.
