by A. J. Wells
“They’re fine. Mr. Gustaf’s dogs are better, but I want to examine them again this afternoon. I may need to worm them again and I’d rather clean up the mess before dark than like last night.” I sit down at the counter and Steve hands me a cup of coffee.
“You look tired already. Maybe we can relax the rest of the morning and you can get a nap. Oh, your Mom called and I told her what happened and why we’re not out there today. Grams called and she said things are looking better with Glen’s kids. She’s enjoying her visit, but she wants to come home because she has so much to do for Christmas. She said she’s called in her orders and she has to be here to pick them up by the tenth of December. She asked how you and Maria are faring with the guests and the shelter without her. She said she’s trying to hire some cleaning help. She was distracted by Glen and didn’t get it done before she left. She’s sorry about leaving it all to you girls.”
“It’s fine. We’ll get through the weekend. I’ll be glad when the boarding house is empty for a while. Mr. Gustaf’s dogs have made things difficult, but not impossible. I’m going to call Maria and get some help at lunch and supper. This morning was a bit much for one person.” We eat and go in to watch TV and I fall asleep on the couch, my head on Steve’s chest. Steve wakes me when he gets up to answer the phone.
It’s Maria and she wants to go to Gatesville to do a little shopping. I tell her I was hoping to get her help with the dogs, at lunch. She says she’ll help at supper and at nine, but Shay and Bullet can stay at her sister’s ‘til three and the wagon Shay wants is on sale today. So I tell her to go, but I expect the help she promised later. I ask Maria to ask Bob if he can make a poster to put in the window for the adoption of the Shelties. He says okay.
I stretch out on the couch and go back to sleep. Steve wakes me at eleven and we go to the office. We go to look over the kennels then he starts working on the newsletter again. The sign for the puppies’ adoption is in the window. The litter needs to be cleaned, but the kennels are clean at the boarding house. The adoption puppies are let out with the guest dogs. The kennels in the clinic are cleaned then I check on the shelter dogs.
I check them out and they aren’t completely de-wormed yet. So I give them another light dose of worming medicine. The puppies are about five weeks old and are mixed breed. I can’t tell what the mix is since mama is mixed, too. I don’t know what Mr. Gustaf is going to do with the puppies but I’m going to offer to adopt them out for him. I leave the shelter dogs out in the yard that’s separated from my yard while I clean their kennel and it dries.
I go in to see what Steve has gotten done and he has the newsletter ready to print for the next month. “Look at all the charity events that are coming up. The three churches are asking for donations for the poor. The Senior Citizen’s Center wants food donations for food baskets. Craft clubs are asking for help to make things for gifts for the senior citizens and kids. And they all have requests for good used clothes and coats of all sizes. Maybe this Christmas Grams will have more help than usual. She needs to be here to organize the giftin’. She can get the information to these organizations so each family will have what they need and can use. I’ll have to tell her next time she calls.”
“Does that mean we’ll all be running around half crazy again? The carnival was great but everyone worked their tails off. You and Bob won’t be able to do as much with you’re injuries. Does that mean Maria and I will be the ones working on that with all this, too?” I spread my arms indicating the “all this” around me.
He pulls me into his lap, “Ya sound like you’ll be put out to help.”
“Steve, we have three businesses and the newsletter we’re taking care of now. When will we have time to take on more activities? Miss Lili said the boarding house should be full for about two weeks over Christmas. And I have people calling in for appointments for spaying in December. That will take most of the afternoon and checking the puppies every two hours after the surgery. I don’t know where the time will come from if I’m to spend any time with you and sleep.”
“Okay, I can see you’ll be too busy with everything to be much help with Christmas, but we’ll work things out so ya don’t have to miss your beauty sleep. Besides, I don’t want ya looking haggard for Christmas.” He kisses me and I relax a bit.
He’s ready to go, so I go out to put the shelter animals back in their kennel and we grab a burger for lunch and go home. I do laundry for me and Steve and then it’s back to the office. We take Chaucee this time because I had to clean up after her when we got home. Steve prints out the newsletter for next month and we’ll put them out on the way home. I let the puppies out and check on the guests. Maria arrives and we clean the boarding house and feed the animals.
Then we go to the shelter. Once again the medicine has worked. Maria bathes the dogs and I clean the kennel. I finish first and help Maria dry them. Then we feed and water mama and leave them out while the kennel dries.
I grab Chaucee on the way to check on the guys. They aren’t here. Bob’s truck is gone, too. So we sit down to wait for them. We talk about the shelter dogs, Miss Lili and the newsletter of events. I tell her about my talk with Steve and she’s almost mad that we’ll be expected to take on more things because we’re engaged to them. “I need to shop for Christmas and so do you. The hotel, the surgeries, the newsletter and the shelter are going to be about all we can handle. I have a son I’d like to see sometime during the month. Are they trying to kill us?”
“Steve said they’d work something out so we have time to rest and sleep. I guess we’ll have to say something when it gets to be too much.” We go out to put the dogs into their kennel and when we get back the guys are back.
“Where’d y’all go?” Maria asks.
“We put the wagon in the garage at Miss Lili’s, like we talked about and went after Shay,” Bob says. “We want Chinese tonight and y’all are working too hard to cook, even, leftovers tonight. Are ya ready for supper?” We answer “yes” and we’re off to Kim’s.
After supper we go to Miss Lili’s and hang out for a while talking about Miss Lili’s call. At seven, Shay reminds Bob that he needs to get home to take Bullet out. I ask how Bullet’s doing and Shay tells us how Bullet peed on the floor last night and he cleaned it up before Maria got up. I asked if he had scolded Bullet for it and he said “yes.” “I told him he was bad to go in the house and took him outside and told him he’s s’posed to go in the grass, and he did.” Shay shrugged. “So I told him good boy and petted his head, just like ya said to. But now we need to go home, I don’t want to clean up poop, too.” We laugh and they go home.
Maria and I check on the dogs at the office at nine and everything’s fine. No kennels to clean so we give them fresh water and put the rain shield down, just in case, and go home. Tomorrow’ll be the same ol’ thing.
Sunday at noon Miss Lili calls and wants us to arrange for all the donated clothes and gifts to be gathered in one central location, that we arrange. She wants a flyer and three mailbox type drop boxes for people to drop names of people who need help for Christmas. Then she wants a mailbox for letters to Santa. The boxes need to say the last day for drops is to be the eighteenth of Dec ember and a calendar showing how many days are left should be on the boxes. They’ll be home in a few days and she wants these boxes up. Steve calls Maria’s to ask Bob and Maria to come over for an organizational meeting.
The three of them come over to hear what Miss Lili wants done. Maria and I are looking at each other like we’d like to kill someone. Bob and Steve are partially incapacitated and Maria and I are over worked as it is, and we tell the guys so. They agree, but they need to get this project done for Miss Lili. Now they tell us how important it is for them to keep the town trust with Steve, the heir apparent. They have to stay involved and partially prove they can handle it.
They’ve both been trained to watch for and help those in town that need help, just as Miss Lili was trained. The three of them are, pretty much, chained to the
town by pride, the trust and lineage of inheritance. None of the other relatives have proven reliable enough to turn the trust over to them, for decades. That’s why this branch of the family was chosen as the heirs to administer the trust. But they have to live up to the job. They start to tell us what it means to the town, but Maria and I stop them.
We know from the few months we’ve been involved what it means. And we’ve seen the difference something as small as the newsletter has made. So now we need to decide where to find help with this project. We suggest we hire some of the unemployed people, or needy school kids. Miss Lili must have a list or something that will help us find someone to get the job done. But who’s gonna be available to watch over the project? Both of the guys have work or sleep with little time to run this project. Steve’s gonna have to spend tomorrow morning finding these people and Bob’ll take over when he gets off work, unless they can find someone to do it for them. But not us!
“Call Miss Lili back and ask her for any names, lists or anything else we can start with. Or…you two can hobble around looking for someone to do this.” The guys aren’t happy with me, but Maria’s standing beside me with her hands on her hips, backing me up. Steve picks up the phone.
Thirty minutes later and a lotta rummaging around in drawers in the dinning room, Miss Lili’s office and her bedroom we find her list of hires and volunteers. She says to be sure the boxes aren’t exactly the same as the postal drop boxes and we say goodbye.
Maria and I leave to take care of the dogs and take our time. Let the guys take care of this as much as possible is our thoughts on the subject. It’s time to put a little extra on the guys, maybe then they’ll understand the strain Miss Lili’s new project is putting on us. And tomorrow I hope people interested in adopting the Shelties will adopt them and take them home.
Maria and I return late, but not too late. We don’t want the guys to become suspicious. They’re watching TV and having a beer. “Looks like y’all have everything ready to go tomorrow.”
“Huh? Hi honey. What’d ya say?” Steve’s about to be crowned…with the bottle he’s busy emptying. I repeat what I’d said. “Oh, no. Grams called back for the numbers and she’s handling it. We’ll get a call tomorrow to let us know what we’re expected to do.” I look at Maria and she’s looking at me with the “Curses, foiled again” look.
We go out to the kitchen and sit there whispering our disgust with the turn of events. Steve comes in to ask us why we aren’t joining them and Shay and to get two more beers. We say we’ll be in in a few minutes. He notices Chaucee sitting at my feet and plays with her for a minute then returns to the game on TV. Chaucee acts like she needs to go out so Maria and I take her out. She goes and then bounds around the yard. As we’re about to go in Shay lets Chief and José out and the three dogs play a while. Shay comes out and complains that they’ve done nothing but watch the game since we left for the office. Okay, it’s time for talking and maybe, some rethinking.
We go in to find the guys hadn’t noticed anything but the game for the last hour. Maria and I get our purses, plop Chaucee in Steve’s lap and we go to dinner with Shay, and without them. I drop Maria and Shay off at home, go let the dogs out and go home, to my home. I get a call about ten.
Steve’s mad that I’d left without saying something. I tell him I didn’t want to interfere with his game. He apologizes for ignoring me. I get mad. “I’m not mad about being ignored. I’m mad because you ignored everybody, but the game and Bob. Shay had to let the dogs out and you’re only just noticing we’re gone. What happened, did you get hungry and go looking for us to feed ya? Did ya even notice Shay didn’t come back with the dogs? What is wrong with you guys? You’ve passed the Christmas box project back to Miss Lili when she asked you two to handle it for a few days. Ya knew Maria and I couldn’t be much help. Yet, what was done was due to our thinking, not yours. Now, you two need to start showing some responsibility for the town, if you’re gonna inherit the trust. Maria and I love you two, but we want to be your wives, not your mothers. We’ll help as much as we can, but it’s your job to decide, organize and man the projects. With babies and kids and four enterprises of our own, we won’t always be there to help. Now if ya want to keep all the good things for yourselves while we work to give those times to ya, including having babies, I think you’ll have to find other women.”
“Is that what ya think we’re doin’? We’re waiting for Miss Lili to give us our instructions, as always. And the game was a playoff. That means it’ll determine who plays in the finals. And we didn’t know Shay had let the dogs out. So ya see…we’re guilty as charged. I’m sorry, honey. I’m new at this engaged thing and…that’s all the more reason I should have acted better. But as for the boxes, only Grams knows who she hired last and whose turn it is to work for pay. She, also, knows who’s good at the different jobs. I guess we need to start keeping a couple of logs on these things, so it’ll be easier to get things done now that Grams’ll be between two families. Honey, Bob and I know you and Maria are busy and tired and we want to help y’all and take care of y’all. We were distracted today with the game and that wasn’t good.”
“Steve, we didn’t mind y’all being involved in the game. We objected to y’alls passing the work off to someone else. And we got the distinct impression that we would have to cover y’alls parts in this Christmas box thing while we’re already buried in work. And y’all didn’t watch Shay while we were gone, working. Chaucee wasn’t noticed ‘til there was a break in the game. I swear the house coulda burned down and ‘til the TV went off y’all wouldn’t have noticed. Ordinarily, Maria and I would have joined ya, but the way things went we were too disappointed to. You guys weren’t there for anything but the game, or so it seemed, and we were supposed to take care of everything else, even your supper. If ya knew we were tired, the least ya could have done was watch Shay and, maybe, arrange supper, however or whatever that was. Now it’s getting late and I need to get some sleep. I’ll see ya tomorrow, goodnight.”
“Sher, I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow, goodnight.”
I don’t sleep well, but I do sleep. I can’t believe those two men acted like boys today. I need to talk to Mom tomorrow.
Maria and I talk about the guys while we get the day started. She’s still mad that Bob hadn’t watched Shay. “Shay wasn’t upset, he’d stay with Bob and if he wanted something Bob had gotten it for him. Maybe, it was that they didn’t know we were gone for an hour after we’d left. I had Shay in the tub before Bob noticed we were gone and called. I told him I didn’t know if I could trust him to watch Shay again. If we could be gone for an hour, how far could Shay have gotten had he wandered off in that time. He thought I was making a big deal outta nothin’ ‘til then. He apologized, but I’m not so sure I want to forgive him yet. I will, but I’m still upset at what could have happened to the dogs or Shay. I’m upset that the guys are waiting for Miss Lili to line things up for them. I know that’s the way it’s always happened, but what happens when she’s not here? Are we supposed to fill in for her? And when will we have the time for that?”
Steve’s been listening and about scared us to death when he spoke. “I realize we acted irresponsibly last night, but it was only once in several months. And, no, we don’t expect y’all to fill in for Grams. We work too, ya know, and we know y’all work more hours than we do and, unless there’s a fire, y’all work harder than we do. We just got involved in the playoffs and reverted back to being single. We’re sorry and we’ll try to do better, but what’s the big fuss about? Shay’s fine, the dogs are fine and, except for being mad, the rest of us are fine. Why’d y’all run out like that, without a word?”
“We felt we were in the way and y’all were busy. We didn’t want to interrupt the game and we didn’t want to argue in front of Shay. There were several reasons and I gave you most of them last night when we talked. It’s time to open the office. We have six appointments this morning and this afternoon is open to take care of check outs, t
he shelter dogs and the adoption of the Shelties. Once all that’s done we’ll have more free time. By the way, did you leave Chaucee in the house?”
“No. Chaucee’s with me and so is José. He’s been having accidents since Grams has been gone. But I’m going to have to go to a meetin’ soon and I’d hoped you’d take care of them for a few hours. Grams said she’d be home Thursday or Friday. We, Bob and I, will need a little help ‘til then.”
“I suggest ya keep them with you ‘til ya drive Bob home and leave them with him then.” Maria’s not giving in on this. “He gets around well enough to take care of them for a while. I think you guys need a little family therapy so we’ll use the dogs.” I nod.
Steve’s eyes show anger. “Fine. See you ladies.” He turns and hobbles away.
We finish the day and I go to Maria’s for supper. We’re glad the shelter animals are home and three more puppies were adopted. We have two puppies left. After supper I let the dogs out and one of them stays with me. She pawed at my leg to get picked up. When I pick her up, she wiggles around and nibbles at my ear, causing me to laugh. She licks my chin and my hand. She’s a little calmer than Chaucee. I may keep her, but for tonight she’ll stay here.
I go home to my place. Maria calls, Bob hasn’t called all evening and Shay’s upset that Bob’s not around. Between the two of us, we don’t know what’s going to happen. The engagements haven’t been broken, but we don’t know what the guys’ll do. We have no intention of breaking it off with them, so I guess we’ll have to wait it out. We hang up and go to bed.
The next two days are slow and there’s no word from the guys. I name my puppies Barney and Betty from the Flintstones. I decided to keep both of them when no one adopted them. They come to work with me every day and go home with me, now I can go home at five.
Miss Lili comes in Thursday afternoon. We’re glad to see her, but she’s mad at us. “I’ve heard the story and I understand why ya acted the way ya did. The boys apologized and yet y’all haven’t spoken for three days. I don’t understand that. The boys aren’t sleeping well, except at the station. I dare say you girls aren’t sleeping well either.” We both nod. “Then what’s the problem? They’ve seen how hard it is to take care of the dogs without help, get the boxes done and work. Is that what ya wanted?” We nod again. “Well, they’re about wore out. I’m home now, so that’ll help, but what are we gonna do to fix this?” We shrug. “I want you four to figure this out. When I release the town trust to the boys I want them to have help mates and you girls are perfect for them. I expect to release the trust to the four of ya, ya know. The boys will need organization to do what they’ll have to do and I hope you girls will attend to that end of things for them.”