(Continued from a story started five days ago)
Nan had bought the house next to the park thirty-five years earlier with her husband. In fact, they lived there for twelve years. Nan always liked living by the park, but the allure of water was even more enticing. So when they found a great place on the other side of town by the water, they took it.
Because Nan and her husband could afford it, and perhaps because she was also a sentimental woman, they decided to keep the “Park House,” as they started calling it… just in case.
After all, maybe Nan would one day want to move back there.
That had been many years before. Her husband had since passed, and for over twenty years, the Park House had been rented…for the past five years, to Charlie, the Eccentric-with-the-funny-coat-and-the-big-smile-who-otherwise-was-alright.
Last night, Nan had called Charlie and left a voice mail saying that she would be by on Saturday morning to tend to the front yard garden. She often came by to garden–at least every other week–and she always made sure that she notified Charlie at least the day before, as she was required to do as a Responsible Landlord who respected the privacy of her one tenant.
So that Saturday morning, Nan drove up to the Park House in her husband’s pickup–she still referred to it as his, even though he had been gone for ten years, and they had used it jointly for several years before that. She was equipped with gardening tools, and looking forward to seeing how the tulips were doing. My, how she loved tulips!
She was just getting out of the truck, when a giant red dog, looking like Hell on four legs, came bounding up the sidewalk past Nan. For a moment, she feared that it was going to attack her, yet instead, it ran up to the front door of the house and leapt inside. Nan, like both Charlie and Stevie just moments before, was completely taken by surprise. By the time she had collected herself, there was Charlie, with a bright smile on his face, standing next to her on the sidewalk.
“She’s fast, isn’t she?” He beamed at her.
“Who in the world let that dog off that leash? Why’d it just run into the house?” Nan exclaimed, none too pleased, trying not to look as startled as she felt.
“I couldn’t tell you, Nan,” Charlie chirped. “She’s a funny thing! Just ran into me a few moments ago, ran into the house like she just did again, then out towards the tennis courts, I followed her, and she followed me back… and now she’s run back into the house!”
Charlie’s tone was filled with matter-of-fact wonder, as if marveling at the unexpected turn of events. Nan, on the other hand, was shaken. “Well, get him out of there before he tears something up!”
“Something tells me she’s a girl,” replied Charlie, as if the dog’s gender were actually the most important matter of the moment. “She has a really cheerful, loving nature, and, I must say, she is so affectionate!”
“Charlie,” Nan scolded, “She’s in the house! Get her out of there!”
Many times in the past, Nan had thought that Charlie was a little bit, shall we say, spacey. As well as being eccentric, he always seemed to have his head in the clouds. She had never reprimanded him before, although she had, at times, thought she was capable of it. He had a way of not always keeping his eyes on what was most important. Yet that wasn’t her problem. He always kept the place clean, and never caused any problems.
Until now. This situation seemed to demand a more forceful response. After all, a giant dog was running around… in her house.
“Right, Nan!” agreed Charlie cheerfully. He ran inside.
Nan waiting a moment or two passed, reminder herself to take deep breaths to try to get calm. Charlie did not return. Where was he? Was the dog that hard to catch? Had it attacked Charlie? In her alarm, she imagined what dangerous behavior the dog was capable of. She would have to act. Taking a decisive deep breath, Nan strode into the house after Charlie.
And didn’t see him anywhere. Nan strode through the living room, the dining room, and peered into the bedroom and bathroom, but did not see sign of Charlie nor the dog.
She did however hear them. “Come on, girl!” came the sound of Charlie’s excited voice.
Putting two and two together, Nan realized they were in the back yard. With the bougainvilleas.
Nervously yet quickly, Nan made her way to the back screen door. Behind it, Charlie appeared to be rough-housing with the dog on the lawn. They were rolling on the grass like two children. Had she been calm, Nan might have found this charming.
“Charlie,” she yelled. “What are you doing? Get a hold of the dog! Stop it!”
“Ah, we’re just playing, Nan. No harm done!” defended Charlie.
Nan was not buying it. There had been plenty of harm done, at least to her composure, as well as to her plans of doing some much needed Saturday morning gardening at her favorite Park House. Much needed not only for the plants themselves, but for her.
And that’s how her Eccentric-but-otherwise-alright tenant started to seemed like a potential problem.
I’m hooked. I like Charlie’s outfit. I love Charlie’s new dog! I want him to keep her. I don’t love his landlord (landlady). I want her to disappear. Or turn over a new leaf and learn to love dogs.