Ch.8, Pt.4: “You say Rick Burman was over?”
“You say Rick Burman was over?” asked Harry.
“Yeah. Do you know him? Because I don’t. That is, he’s a neighbour, and he’s dropped by a couple of times. But I don’t really know anything about him.”
“We don’t know him ourselves, either,” said Clara with a frown at Harry.
“We see him at meetings sometimes,” began Harry, but Clara quickly added “We’ve just seen him now and then, that’s all. That’s all,” she emphasized with a glance at Harry.
“What kind of meetings?”
“Land use meetings,” said Harry. “Rezoning meetings, that kind of thing.”
“We don’t know him personally, either. If he’s a neighbour, that’s nice that he came over to introduce himself and help out. Isn’t it, Harry?”
“Yeah, well, if he’s a neighbour,” murmured Harry. “You know, you might want to start going to these meetings now. You could learn about what’s happening around here.”
Katherine felt uneasy at the idea of starting to go to meetings where she might casually run into Rick, in case he thought that was her motivation. If Rick wouldn’t return her call, she wasn’t going after him. “I’m afraid I don’t have the time,” she told Harry.
“Your work keeps you pretty busy. Have another scone.” Clara lifted the plate toward Katherine.
“Delicious, but I shouldn’t. I really should go home and let Noodle out. But thank you. They’re delicious.”
“How’s Noodle doing?” asked Clara.
“He’s just great. He’s such a cutie. You should come out and see him some time. And see the house.”
“That would be really nice. I’d like that.”
“So maybe the two of you can come for dinner sometime. If you don’t mind vegetarian food.” Katherine felt her spirits lift at the thought of entertaining them.
“Not at all. Some of the retreats we go on have only vegetarian food,” Harry offered.
“Let me look at my calendar then and give you a call.”
“We’ll look forward to that.” Clara smiled.
“All right then. Well, I better go.” They all got up and Clara and Harry escorted Katherine to the front door. “Thanks again. Bye for now.”
* * *
Noodle was waiting when Katherine opened her door. She didn’t even take a step inside before he jumped up, putting his white paws against her, his ears back with joy, his tongue trying to lick her. He began leaping up to her face, his body wriggling with pleasure.
“Keep your tone of voice modulated so that the dog never becomes excited,” she remembered from the preachy dog training book. Drag, she thought, bending down and gathering him to her in a hug, letting him lick her cheek.
“What a display! I know you’re only greeting the one who feeds you, but it’s a nice welcome anyway. Let’s go outside then for a little bit. Do you have to go for a pinkle?” He cocked his head at the question in her voice as if trying to understand. “Then we’ll think about supper.”
She led him outside and he took a little run on the grass. Then he stopped, began sniffing and circling, and did his business. “What a good boy,” she praised him. “Aren’t you a clever dog?”
She remembered the early days of toilet training, when he wouldn’t go anywhere except on newspaper. The dog training book had said that making the transition to outdoors might be difficult, and to place a newspaper the dog had used, outside on the lawn. The idea was that the dog would smell his urine and use the same spot. But Noodle only seemed to look puzzled, as if he were thinking “What are you doing moving this paper all over the place?”
Without much faith, she continued the routine of taking him outside after each of his meals, play sessions and naps, and praising him on the occasional times he urinated outside. At first, he held it until he was back inside and on the paper. But suddenly one day he seemed to get it, and seemed confident about going outside. From then on, Katherine praised him each time to reinforce his behaviour.
Noodle sat back and rapidly scratched his ear, and then scampered after some leaves that were blowing across the grass. Katherine wondered what she should have for dinner. She wasn’t really hungry, which meant she didn’t want to fuss with cooking, so she’d probably just have her standard, spaghetti with tomato sauce, with some onion and garlic sauteed first, plus some strips of sun-dried tomatoes and dried basil added. The usual. And if she had any Asiago or Camembert cheese left over, she’d throw some in as well. Nothing special, because she didn’t have much of an appetite after Clara’s scones. It had to be that, because it couldn’t be morning sickness. Although wouldn’t it be neat if it was?
She was about to go in and start cooking when a truck pulled into the driveway. Rick’s truck. With Rick in it. What am I wearing, was her first thought. Oh great, work clothes, she realized in relief. He smiled and waved and got out of the truck.
I promised to stop lurking and start commenting, so here goes. Just want you to know that I look forward to each installment of your novel! I’m wondering when Noodle is going to chew the baseboards, as my dog did when left confined to quarters…
Wow, Sue! You weren’t exaggerating when you said you’re following my novel blog! You must be keeping right up to date with this. Thanks so much. It’s very encouraging.
Even a client of mine has told me that he reads my novel. Somehow I never expected that! But that IS the whole point of the exercise. I’d better keep posting. I don’t know who’s out there…