The next morning comes all too soon as I hear my dad's snoring end. I’m really going to have to figure out how to block out that noise from my hearing if I'm going to sleep near them. I give a yawn as I hear him get out of bed and start to get dressed. It is still weird how much I can hear, and even understand.
I try to go back to sleep as I hear my dad walk past me, heading over to the bathroom to use it, and soon he's getting himself ready. I manage to get a few minutes more sleep, but not much before I hear my dad calling up to my sister, "Sarah, time to wake up and get ready," he says. Come on, it's too early to get up, though at least as a wolf I should be able to sleep on the trip when needed.
I stretch out as I pick up my plushie in my mouth and wait for my sister to bring me food as she stares at the plushie and laughs, "Fluffy, that's Mike's old plushie...though I guess you can have it, as he never seems to touch it anymore," she says. She heads into the pantry as I hear her grab the dog food and bring it over, filling the bowl with it.
Shrugging inwardly, I can't help but wonder at that. Though a big part of it is that it's my one connection to my old self that I can at least control and have close by. And for the moment, I'm not too worried about it.
Soon, my sister brings the bowl into the kitchen and adds warm water while grabbing some meat and adding it as I lick my mouth and fight the urge to get in there and eat it right away. I am a complete gentleman and give her space until she moves away, and then quickly begin to eat, my tail wagging with excitement.
This time I manage to mostly enjoy it without any issues, okay, I may have inhaled one piece of meat, but I at least do my best to enjoy the taste and texture of the food. I am soon finished and lick my lips clean while looking around at everyone else.
That really feels good as I walk back over to where I dropped the plushie in my hurry to eat, and I walk over to the front door and lightly scratch at it. My dad walks over and raises an eyebrow, "You need to use the bathroom, Fluffy? Or do you have other reasons?" he asks. I quickly nod to the first part and run out once he opens the door.
I run as usual behind the shed before coming back and heading back inside, giving my dad a rub of my muzzle against his leg. Now that I am fully awake and have eaten, the concerns and nervousness about this trip return. How well can I keep it together for Christmas? This isn't just a possibility, a maybe, but finally it is happening.
My dad looks to my sister once we enter back in, "Did you finish your packing? Anything you want to bring, you should grab it now," he says as my sister sighs, "I think so, but I should make sure." My ears perk up at this making me just groan, of course she's only partly sure, while I didn't do it because I would get distracted playing games, she would just flat out forget.
I follow my sister upstairs to her bedroom, curious what she is getting. And then I give a small woof of surprise, the place is a mess, clothes strewn everywhere, suitcase half filled, a couple of books in a corner, a doll, and it looks like she is only barely half started. She glances over to me as she groans, "Okay...I may have forgotten to finish it," she says.
Tilting my head gets a laugh from her, "Thankfully you don't know what I'm saying so can't tattle, now if I can just finish all of this fast enough no one will know, the perfect crime!." she says as she begins stuffing random clothes into her suitcase taking no time to be careful or worry about wrinkles at all.
I roll my eyes as I am already fully packed!!!....I mean of course it is because I have one item I can take, but it still counts as having done it. I sit down and watch as she looks more frantic looking around, "Where are my crayons, I left them here." she says looking and making a bigger mess as she quickly throws everything around looking for them. I just shake my head trying not to laugh inwardly.
I give a small, okay FINE sound, as I start to look around the room sniffing under stuff, though not fully sure what I'm looking for other than pencil smell. I keep looking while I hear my sister's frantic searching and then I find a scent. It is under a pile of clothes that my sister had thrown into a corner in her frantic looking as I bury my head under the clothes.
My sister looks over at me laughing, "Fluffy what are you doing over there?" she asks trying to figure it out as I finally smell it more strongly. She must have tossed it by accident when she threw one of the piles she had done sorting. I finally nose against it and unlike the book I gently take a hold of it. Okay maybe too gently as I drop it, but then second time I get a hold of it.
I give a smile to myself, okay I got it, maybe I should practice picking things up to find the right amount of force needed to pick something up without damaging it too much. Finally pulling my head out of the clothes I lift up and hold up her crayons with a muffled woof. This just leaves her staring at me in confusion and then excitement, "You found it Fluffy your sure smart." she says as she takes it from me wiping the slobber off on her shirt before putting it into the suitcase.
Soon she is finished with the packing, and manages to get only a single sock stuck in the suitcase as she picks it up and heads downstairs as I soon follow her giving an excited bark. My dad calls from the kitchen, "Okay I think we're just about ready have some breakfast and we will head out." he says.
It is at that point where there is a knock at the door and I perk my head up sniffing the air. I can just smell Charlie through the gap in the door as I woof excitedly. My dad walks over and spots Charlie there and grins, "Hey Charlie we were just getting ready to go." he says as I run over and jump up lightly onto Charlie excitedly as my dad gives me a look of, 'Really?'
Charlie laughs as he smiles, "Mike asked me to make sure you guys got off fine, and to check on the new dog." he says giving me a wink. I figure it is a cover story for why he is here to see me off as I drop down giving a small whine. I know dogs aren't allowed to jump like that, but I am so excited that it just slips out.
He grins and leans down to ruffle my head fur as he looks to my dad, "Can I take him outside while you get ready?" he asks I give an excited bark almost wishing that Shiners was here, but then again him not being here is a good thing as it makes it easier for him to be on the trip.
Charlie steps to the side as I walk out the door barking excitedly and nudge him as he walks outside and he smiles sitting down on the grass, "So are you ready for this big trip? You got your new adventure taken to a new level." he says. Oh yeah, though will it be a good adventure, or a bad one.
I nod my head a little bit nudging him, hopefully we will have some fun strange story to talk about when I get back. He grins and holds out a present, "I got you something, though you may hate me for it." he says as I eye the package, it's decent sized as my ears perk up wondering with a hint of dread what it is.
He laughs as I sniff at it, "Oh no, that's for Christmas, I'm giving it to your parents to keep until Christmas itself." he says as I make a small lunge for it trying to get at it but he keeps it out of my way.
Whining, I hear the front door open, and my sister and dad walk out as I woof and Charlie walks over, "I got this gift for Fluffy over there, make sure he doesn't get it till Christmas morning." he says.
My dad grins and takes the gift looking it over, "Oh I will make sure he gets it at the right time, might even take a photo of it." he says making me whine.
My mom comes out carrying a couple of suitcases as Charlie smiles to her, "Can I take that for you?" he asks as she nods and hands them to him. He walks over to the trunk and places the suitcases into it as my sister hands him her little suitcase, while keeping a small bag of her things.
I smile as I give Charlie a nudge as my dad calls, "Okay lets get into the car and we're off, thank Charlie." he says as he opens the back for me and I jump into the car laying down on my usual seat.
Charlie waves, "Seeya in a week or so guys." he says as my sister gets in beside me along with my mom and dad in the front. I just give a bark as my dad starts the car and backs out of the driveway. I sit up for a moment to look back towards Charlie and give a paw wave and look at the house that was my home. I watch as it grows smaller behind us and then vanishes as we near the main street and head off.
This is it, the end of a beginning and start of a journey.
