Sunday, February 2, 2020

Understanding Sassie, Ch. 28, Valerie, Ruth, Mary


Understanding Sassie: A Novel of Dog and Human Communication



S
assie was glad to see Valerie back home. She doesn’t have that bad smell anymore, Sassie thought, as she lay at Valerie’s feet.

“Millie will be coming to sit with you while I get Mary from the airport,” Ruth explained to her mother.

Valerie smiled and said, “It has been a long time since Mary has visited. It will be good to see her.”

The doorbell rang, and Sassie raced to the door. I think I smell Millie. Maybe she brought Goldie! Sassie thought. When Ruth opened the door, Sassie began to look for Goldie.

“Sorry, Sassie, I left Goldie at home today.” Millie explained. To Ruth she said, “I was afraid that the dogs might play too rough if I brought Goldie.”

Ruth ushered Millie to the living room with a disappointed Sassie following them. “You’re looking good, Valerie,” Millie said. “I bet it feels good to be
home. I brought you the latest book written by your favorite author. I understand it is the best mystery he has written.”

Millie handed the book to Valerie and turned to Ruth, saying, “You’ll want to get started to the airport. It’s always wise to get there before the flight is scheduled to land. I’ll visit with Valerie and Sassie.”

Valerie had already opened the book and had started to read. Millie laughed and added, “Good thing I brought my own book. It looks like it will be a quiet visit.”

Ruth wasted no time getting to the car and heading toward the airport. The airplane was on time. Ruth waved when she spotted Mary. “Welcome home!” Ruth said as she hugged her sister. After collecting Mary’s baggage, they loaded the car and headed to the farm.

“Now, please tell me again about Mom,” Mary requested as they traveled the familiar road home. Ruth told her all about the problems and threat to their mom. Mary thought about the information and could only say, “Who would want to hurt our Mom?”

Ruth replied, “I don’t know. It is good to have you home. Maybe you can help me find the answer to that question.”

At the Animal Control headquarters, Mike was looking at the latest schedule. He had made a copy for Donald and wanted to explain how this schedule would affect his salary. “I’ll have you continue driving as needed. I will guarantee at least ten hours of pay per week, but any extra work will need to be on an as-needed basis.”

Donald replied, “I understand. I may do some volunteer work to keep me busy. I recently sold some New York City property, so I’m not in need of a full-time job at this time.”

Thinking about the Riverview Animal Shelter and their need for volunteers, Mike asked, “What kind of volunteer work are you looking to do?”

Donald replied, “I’m not sure. I do like working with dogs. Do you have any ideas?”

“Yes, I do,” Mike replied. “I know they need volunteers at the Riverview Animal Shelter.”

Donald thought for a minute and said, “That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I will look into that.”

###

With her permission, I am serializing a chapter a week, on this blog, near-final material from this instructive novel by dog trainer Helen A. Bemis, published by Outskirts Press and available through amazon.com:  UNDERSTANDING SASSIE  

Connect with all Helen A. Bemis books on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=helen+a.+bemis&ref=nb_sb_noss

I coached and edited for Helen through my Write Your Book with Me endeavor.

No comments:

Post a Comment