Taste of the Wild

A/N: A good piece into NaNoWrimo now and I realize I am missing a sizeable chunk of productivity from my writing. I'll be doing my hardest to churn out a few more chapters faster (as in 2 a week) to hopefully rectify this. Thank you all again for those who took time to review; you have no idea how much that means to me. On to the story.

Alexia didn't return home. Her mind was on auto-pilot as she drove subconsciously to Joan’s house. The neighborhood was full of multi-story brick houses all with professionally landscaped, manicured front lawns. Flowers and statues dotted the yards of all the houses making it all the more obvious that this was the wealthy end of town.

No one answered the door when she knocked on Joan’s door. Alexia noted that perhaps she knocked too lightly on doors. Walking around to the back she found Joan in the pool. Eyes closed she was knocked out on a pool recliner with some sort of pink drink resting in a cozy.

“Aren’t you cold?” Alexia asked as she opened the wrought iron fencing that separated the pool from the rest of the yard.

Joan stirred a little before turning her head. A large brimmed hat bobbed on her head with the motion.

"Hey Darling! Cold? No, not at all, the pool’s heated so I can enjoy it at all times of the year. Come closer so I can get a good look at what you have.” Joan slid without a splash into the water before swimming over to the side to meet Alexia. "Oh, what is this we have here? A dog? Is this the one you were asking me about earlier?”

"The dog dragged Alexia to the edge of the pool half pulling and half choking itself.  "No, the dog I asked about is in my bathroom. This one I picked up today." Alexia retold the events leading up to now carefully excluding the part about kidnapping the dog.

Joan looked at her confused, "So you go from no dogs to rescuing any loose dog you see, huh? I'm just glad you're sister isn't coming to visit any time soon. I'm sure she wouldn't be too thrilled about all that dog hair you're going to have." The dog whined a little before pacing the edge of the pool. "I think it wants to get in."

"The pool? Can it swim?"

"Only one way to find out"

A splash sent water everywhere. Joan laughed, "Indeed, the dog can swim."

Alexia watched the dog paddle around the pool complete with a chorus of laughs and encouragement from Joan.

“I have a favor to ask.” Alexia stated

“Go ahead.”

“Can you watch the dog for me?”

Joan stopped playing with the dog and looked at Alexia.

“I know this a lot to ask,” she continued “but it’s only temporary. I don’t think I can handle two dogs. I don’t even know how to handle one honestly. I’ll post something online and if no one answers I’ll take them to the pound at the end of the week. But this way at least they get a fair shot.”

Joan nodded silently taking in all the information.

“Besides I can’t craft items for the craft fair if I’m overwhelmed with dogs.” Alexia added hoping to win her over.

“I guess you do have a point. Speaking of items for the fair, I made this zucchini crepe I want you to try!” Exiting the pool she quickly dried off motioning for Alexia to follow her inside.

“What about the dog?” Alexia asked “Won’t it get your things all wet and nasty?” hoping she could use this as an excuse to not try another Joan vegetable creation.

“Oh nonsense, you’ll dry the dog off before we head inside.” She stated before handing Alexia a towel.

*******************

Surprisingly the crepes weren’t that bad. With a little powdered sugar, some wine and the assistance of Joan’s intense stare they went down smoothly.

“What are you going to name this one?” Joan asked.

Twirling the last piece in the remnants of powdered sugar she took one last bite before carrying the plate to the sink. “I don’t even know if it’s a girl or a boy” Alexia replied.

Joan whistled and the dog was up with a start. It ran over towards her before flopping over for a belly rub. “She’s a girl.”

Alexia shook her head, “Could you be any more blunt?” The dog’s legs kicked wildly with happiness so much so that Alexia had to dodge to miss a few misplaced leg swings. Smiling she reached down and rubbed the dog as well on her stomach. Flipping over the dog was on Alexia’s face in an instant placing sloppy wet kisses all over her.

“Okay, okay I like you too!” she stated laughing. Running her fingers scratching wherever she felt. “What’s this?” she asked

“Hmm?” replied Joan.

“I felt something, like a lump.”

“Like a flea bite? Bogey gets those a lot with all that dense hair he has. This time of year they are so many it’s as if they see him as a travelling hotel.”

Probing deeper Alexia pulled the neck hair back. The dog wiggled away from her a bit whining while trying to nip her hand. “Come here, I want to see.”

Alexia managed to get a steady grip on the dog and push the hair back “What the….”

“What is it?” Joan asked. Pushing her hands aside she moved beside Alexia. Pink scared flesh with raised letters F,E,R and A circled the dogs neck.

“It’s like they branded her. Poor baby.” Alexia cooed over the dog pulling it into a deep hug.

Joan’s face clouded over in something that resembled anger. Smoothing the hair back into place she looked at the dog again. Their eyes met. Icy blue eyes stared deeply into Joan’s with a hidden message. “I think it’s best the dog stays with me, Alexia. I mean if someone is crazy enough to injure a dog like that then there’s no telling what kind of person you’re dealing with. You wouldn’t want them coming after you or the dog. At least here she’ll be hidden behind a fence and not out in the open here.”

“Ferrah” she stated with a head nod as she stood to exit.

“Ferrah?” Joan replied confusion evident on her aged face.

“Yes, you asked me earlier what I wanted to name her. I want to name her Ferrah. That’s what’s on her neck; I just will spell it a little differently.”

“Ferrah,” Joan repeated a dreamy look in her eyes as she played with the word mentally. “I think that’s a very nice name, Alexia.”

********

The cabin stood dark and empty when Alexia returned home. Placing her keys on the table by the front door she kicked off her shoes before heading to the bathroom to check on the other dog. At some point he has to wake up, preferably before the end of the week. Would the pound even take an unconscious dog? She realized how silly that sounded as the pound has never been known to be selective about dogs. Sick and healthy dogs alike were all welcome to meet the same fate. Kneeling over she parted the soft fur around his neck to see if the same odd branding was present. Relief swept over her when there wasn’t. It was still odd though that whoever owned them only branded one. Perhaps one was worth more than the other. Or maybe Fera was the name of the breeder who previously owned it. They branded dogs right, they did with horses and cows. With a sigh she pushed the thoughts from her head and showered before changing into her night gown. Settling into bed she turned on the tv before flipping it to a nature show on animals in Antarctica. Dreamily she stared into the tv imagining how nice it would be to be someplace other than the middle of the woods. She hadn’t travelled before anywhere other than to the current town but it was always a dream of hers.

A scratching sound from the bathroom stirred her from her daydreaming. Upon investigating she found the golden colored dog kicking and twisting around as if having a nightmare.

“Careful now” She whispered forgetting that he couldn’t hear her. Bending down she stroked his head softly murmuring comforting words. After a few moments it settled back down and lay still. Sighing deeply the dog opened its eyes for the first time in almost a week. A pair of golden eyes with black specks starred at Alexia for a moment before slowly closing again.

“Hey, hey don’t go back to sleep now! You might not wake up again!” Alexia exclaimed softly shaking the dog. The dog growled low, in the way of something that doesn’t want to be bothered, before opening its eyes again. Licking its mouth slowly it gave a loud yawn.

It’s probably thirsty. Alexia rushed to the kitchen and dialed Joan’s number. Placing a tupperware bowl in the sink she turned on the facet. After a few rings Joan answered.

“Joan, the dog woke up finally!”

“Wow, that’s great news! To be honest I was worried he wouldn’t pull through”

“What do I do now?”

“Feed it something light. Do you have any rice or chicken broth available? You are basically trying to reintroduce his stomach to food. I’ll drop by in the morning with something else. Give him as much water as he wants but limit food.”

Alexia thanked Joan and hung up, looking in the sink she noticed the forgotten and now overflowing bowl of water.

It didn’t take long to make the rice as it was instant and some rummaging in the medicine cabinet revealed aspirin. Staring into the bowl she couldn’t help but think rice slathered with chicken broth didn’t look at all appeasing. The dog hungrily gulped it all down including the two little pills hidden under the rice before starring at Alexia. Apparently to a dog it was a delicacy. She wasn’t’ completely sure but she thought animals were supposed to show some sort of emotion on their face. Happiness, anger, sadness, something or at least the ones on tv did. But the dog seemed stoic, regal, and almost stone like in his gaze. He’s not even wagging his tail.

“Well I guess I’ll give you some privacy, doggy.” The dog made her feel weird. It wasn’t friendly like Ferrah and it always seemed like it was trying to bore a hole in her retina with that intense stare. Exiting the bathroom Alexia crawled back in bed. The show about penguins had changed to one about dolphins. Pulling her laptop towards her she began flipping through the local classifieds looking for lost dogs. A missing calico and 4 stolen cows were all that were listed locally. Figures, leave it to this town to consider 4 missing steak patties newsworthy. Amused with her little joke she began a post about the two missing dogs. How to word it? Two very furry dogs found along side of Hwy 790. No, too detailed. Missing golden dog, no tags. Too vague. A frown settled over her face. This was a lot harder then she had initially expected. What if that creepy old man sees the ad online? Odds were slim he’d have a computer or at least one that even had an internet connection. But who was to say he didn’t have a tech savvy grandson and a lawsuit happy lawyer son. No, she didn’t want too much attention drawn to her over the dogs. Glancing over her shoulder to the bathroom she noticed the dog was laying back down sleep again. Maybe I can switch with Joan and she can keep the male and I can hold Ferrah here. Closing her laptop she burrowed into the sheets and fell asleep.