Blinded

The weekend passed by swiftly. I was a little depressed I hadn’t finished all the things I wanted to do. I wouldn’t have as much time with Lucas through the week. Things between us were going good, however, there were odd patterns beginning to form in our routine and I wasn’t sure what to make of the incidents. I was determined to find logic to each fault. The television, which I knew I turned off the night before, was on again this morning. I hadn’t given much thought to the details until now. I was beginning to think Lucas was messing with the remote. Or I was paranoid and he merely stepped on it every time he jumped on the couch. My solution: make sure the remote was picked up each night.

The second curiosity over the last couple days was food. Lucas refused his dry food. I didn’t want to starve the poor guy and allowed him table scraps. I knew this was a bad thing; it couldn’t be healthy for a dog to eat the same thing humans did. Still, I couldn’t help feel troubled for him. It was a new place and I was certain he was accustomed to something else for meals and I hadn’t found out what it was yet. I wished, many times in fact, I could contact his previous owners to find out what they had fed him. The phone number I had was now out of service and the original ad from online had been taken down.

“On the way home tonight I will pick up some samples for you to try Lucas. I should pick up some training treats too.” I took the time to look down at the dog in question. He continued to guide us home from the park. He did a weird snort thing as he pushed air out of his nose and shook his head. If not for the fact that he ignored me more often than not I would have guessed it was reply.

It was the first day I would have to leave Lucas home alone and I was concerned for many reasons. I doubted he would have separation anxiety but, if he was defying me on purpose, perhaps he would tear my apartment to pieces out of spite. I had gone over my ground level apartment to move anything of important out of the way. I also checked over the windows. I was more than a little afraid he might try to run off. I wanted to believe he was happy here. There was an ease about him over the last day and more than anything I wanted this to be a sign of his settling and accepting this as his new home. Till I was a hundred percent, I kept the windows closed at night and watched him like a hawk when they were open. I had a screen over all three windows and one for the balcony door. Lucas was large enough to push them out of the frame if he truly wanted to escape. Still, it might be enough to slow him down so I could take action to stop him.

Breakfast for us consisted of scrambles eggs with a touch of cheese and a sliver of salmon. I had researched a website explaining what human food options were open to dogs. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if I managed to make his food should I be unsuccessful in finding a solution in the sample products. I showered and dressed for the day before gathering work supplies. It was clear when I headed into the living room that Lucas planned on ignoring me again. He was splayed on the couch, his new favorite place, facing the cushions that made the back of the couch. I didn’t much care about him being on the couch and when I wanted to sit down he was willing to give me some space. I considered it positive progress. He was at least closer to me in distance compared to the first day when he wouldn’t leave the space by the front door.

“Good bye Lucas,” I said as I patted the top of his head, “I will be back tonight before dinner. I will bring you a treat too, if you’re good.”

I had hoped that work would pass by swiftly. Instead time was ticking by so slowly I caught myself sighing in aggravation many times. When lunch was finally upon me I pondered if I should work through it in order to leave early. The growling of my stomach talked me out of it. In the lunch room my mentor sat at a round table in the back of the room staring out a round window.

“Good afternoon, Skylar.”

“Ah Kale, good afternoon, you startled me,” he said as he averted his gaze from the outer gardens. “Lunch for you too I see.”

“Yeah, can I join you?”

Skylar was a friend of the family. I had known him from the times he came by the house to visit father. The man was always bringing small treats that his wife made at a little shop downtown. In fact, while in school, I had worked at the shop until I had come to work with Skylar in giving children a voice. The brown hair had long since turned gray and there were bags under his brown eyes. It was clear something was wearing at him.

“Of course, I haven’t a chance to talk with you since they sent you on your own. How are things going?”

“I have a few simple cases at the moment. Today is a paperwork day so things are going slowly.”

“Yes, well think about the good you are doing for the children.”

There was a pause and I pondered my next question. It was probably none of my business. I couldn’t help ask. “You can tell me to mind my own if you want. Is everything okay? You look like you are contemplating something serious. You can’t deny it,” I added quickly before Skylar could object, “I know the look.” The look. A contemplative glare that gave the outward appearance of content and had a brewing storm of despair in the eyes. Skylar didn’t often show it unless he had a tough case.

“It’s Margarita,” he said simply.

That hit home. It was more personal than a case at work. I knew the name. I had never met Skylar’s grandchild. His daughter had moved across country a few years ago. Rather than pry, since it was clearly a very difficult topic for Skylar, I waited quietly. We looked out the same window, watching as the clouds covered the sun. They were darker than this morning and I remembered the rain in the forecast for this evening, it looked like it would be heading in sooner, much to my dismay. I picked at the bread of my sandwich followed by a sip from my water bottle.

“I have some sick time coming I think. Margarita is ill, they are hopeful. One never knows with these things. I tried to get Liza to bring Margarita here. She is refusing. Liza seems to think it will make things worse for them at the moment.” I knew this was serious. Skylar barely took vacation each year. Claiming sick time was not an easy decision for him.

“What about Tabbi?” I called Tabitha by the nickname she was called by friends and family.

“She agrees with me. With Liza leaving Margarita’s father it would be best for the two of them to be surrounded by family. Liza still wants to work it out and she says they should stay close to him.”

I nodded. I knew Skylar’s thoughts on the boyfriend when the two started to go out. The tension between Skylar and Tabitha had grown and Skylar had blamed it on the whispers of Brian. I had seen firsthand how the move had broken poor Tabbi’s heart and yet she hadn’t given up in patching up the relationship between mother and daughter.

“I think,” I stopped and took a deep breath, “I think what matters the most is Margarita. Someone should be there to listen to what she has to say. She’s six now right?”

“Seven, she turned seven a few months back,” Skylar corrected with a reflective smile.

“Well, who best to listen to a child than you? Take the vacation or sick time, go visit your granddaughter, see what she has to say and do the job you do best. I hear the west coast is beautiful, take some pictures for me.”

“Thanks Kale, I appreciate it. Might I add I am glad you joined our team. You are absolutely correct. I should be worried about what Margarita wants.”

With one unforeseen task completed I dug into the rest of my lunch and shared my news about Lucas. We exchanged some interesting tales and Skylar opened up about some of the difficulties he had with his own pets. He casted away my worries as he explained each pet had their own personality. A short time later Skylar and I headed back to our offices and I got back to work.

I flopped onto my bed. It had been a long day. In fact the whole week had been unbearably drawn out. I kicked off my shoes without rising and took a deep breath. When giving Skylar the advice I had about taking time off I had forgotten that meant the cases he was working on would have to be divided between workers. That meant a few extra hours each day. It wasn’t a completely bad thing, though I was finding the extra time was being taking away from training Lucas. After changing out of my suit I entered the living room. Lucas looked up; he was taking more of an interest in my comings and goings. I wanted to take it as validation he was warming up to my presence.

“You’re so lucky you’re a dog. Laying around, sleeping, and being lazy. I wish I could do that.”

Even when I got home I couldn’t lounge. I had to think about all the small things. Like dinner for instance. It wouldn’t prepare itself, so I headed into the kitchen to pull out the vegetables and a cutting board. Carefully I chopped the lot into thin strips.

“Tomorrow looks like I will be going out. A friend wants to go to the movies for her birthday. I will be home late.” It was habit now to talk out loud. In the short time he had been here I no longer judged it odd to talk to Lucas. Sure I never got a reply. It was still nice knowing, even though Lucas was merely a dog, I wasn’t alone. “I have a feeling she is in cahoots with my mother and trying to set me up,” I added. “I wish they would leave me alone about the matter. Speaking of mother, I have yet to tell her about you. We will have to stop by for a visit soon. I can’t wait to see her face.”

I moved to the fridge to find the beef I had bought. After a few minutes of hunting I moved to the freezer thinking I had tossed it up there accidentally. It wasn’t anywhere to be found and I went back to double checked the fridge. “Isn’t that odd, I was certain there were some slivers of beef in here,” I muttered.

My eyes narrowed as I looked over my shoulder to the back of the couch where Lucas was laying out of my line of sight. I turned back to the fridge and sighed. How could I blame Lucas? The wrappings would have been all over the place if he had gotten into the fridge.

“Looks like I will have to head to the store down the street. Wanna come Lucas?”

Without a seconds hesitation Lucas was off the couch and at the door. It was the one obedient thing I had Lucas trained at. He was very willing to go for walks so long as he got to control the way we went. The local butcher shop was about a block down the street. While I was there I made plans to pick up a couple other things. I was still hopeful Lucas’s lack of interest in the dog food was a phase. If it wasn’t I could look into grinding various meat into a mixture for him. Each morning I still put out a couple cups of food. The butcher was kind enough to give me a giant discount on scraps when I explained my situation a few days ago. He had personally taken a curiosity in Lucas because of the size of the giant fur ball.

“Kale, Lucas, come in. I was about to close shop!”

We were greeted by a giant of a man, arms wide open as if he were about to hurl himself over the counter to hug us. His name was Marcus. Well over six feet and nothing but muscle. To me, Marcus looked like he belonged in the old books about warriors my brother used to read. The man was scary with his bulging arms and forceful stance. If not for how much of a softy he became around Lucas, I would still be scared of him.

“Marcus good to see you, sorry for the late hour we wanted to grab a few things if that’s alright with you?”

“Anything for my best and favorite customer,” he was kneeling before Lucas ruffling the hair between his ears. I hid the giggle as I watched the giant man turn to goo before the dog. “What do you need?”

Within a half hour we were on our way home loaded with a few extra things that were ‘to be thrown out so Lucas can have them’ items. I managed to finish the dinner prep and cook a dish for Lucas before we headed out for our evening walk to the park and then back home to get ready for a later than usual bed time. When my head hit the pillow sleep took over immediately.