My girl is crying. It makes me sad to see her sad. I creep up to her and lay my head in her lap. She sobs and buries her face in my fur. We sit there comforting each other while the chaos reigns around us. I whimper in confusion. This is nothing I am familiar with.
There are boxes all around. I have nosed into some of them and been scolded for my efforts. The familiar objects in our den are being removed one by one. There are strange people walking all about in our territory. I keep my ears perked and my eyes following each of these interlopers as they pass. I know I cannot attack them because they have been welcomed by my people.
My woman crouches beside us. She puts a comforting hand on my head and speaks to my girl. I angle my head so that the itchy spot behind my ear is under her hand. She doesn’t notice and continues to absently rub my head. She pulls my girl to her feet and begins to lead her away. I jump up and follow.
My girl is led to the kitchen. She sits at the table with my woman. I sniff the air around them. I smell meat. I lay down on the floor beside my girl’s chair. I watch her feet kick back and forth in front of my face. She suddenly jumps up and rushes to a cabinet I know well. I jump up to follow her.
To my delight she pulls out a familiar bag. She dumps the kibble into my dish and smiles at me as she pats my head. I sniff the kibble. It is the familiar smell of my food. I don’t feel like eating and return to her chair at the table. She slips me a tidbit from her sandwich. I gobble it down even though I have no desire for food.
I can hear that the chaos continues in the other room. My ears are perked to pick up every sound that might threaten my people. Something crashes, causing me to jump in surprise. I growl lowly and my girl shushes me. My woman leaves us to go investigate. My girl sits and picks apart her sandwich, not eating it. I sense her distress and whine in sympathy. I wag my tail when I see her look at me. She makes reassuring noises at me, but I can tell she is not reassured either. She gives me another tidbit from her sandwich and throws the rest away.
We follow our woman into the other room, and see our man struggling to lift one end of the couch where we laid while she watched tv. I remembered snuggling my head into her lap and being scratched and rubbed in all the places that feel so wonderful. I associated a feeling of love and contentment with that couch. While I watched my man carrying the couch out of the house, my girl went off to another room.
I followed the man out the door. I crouched and walked silently, trying to make myself invisible. I knew I wasn’t allowed out this door with the leash attached to my collar, but unusual things were happening all around me. I watched as my man helped carry the couch up a ramp and into a truck. When he was at the top, I ran quickly to join him.
This was where all of our belongings were! I raced around, smelling all the familiar smells. I was excited. Everything was here. There, behind those boxes, I could smell my girl’s scent strongly. I sniffed in excitement. I did not understand why our things were in this small space. They didn’t belong here, they belonged in our home. I whined and my man noticed me at last.
He made angry noises at me, and I cowered. I didn’t want my man to be angry. He snatched my collar, and pulled me out of the truck. I was pulled back into the house. My girl was surprised to see me being pulled through the door. She made scolding noises while my man pulled me toward my girl’s room. I was shut alone in this space.
I looked around at my girl’s space. The bed where we had slept was gone. I whined at the loss. I sniffed all around the empty space, looking for some sign of my girl’s belongings. Nothing was there. I nosed into the closet, where I sometimes hid my toys. I smelled my girl’s scent, but the space was empty.
I lay on the floor and pressed my nose to the crack under the door. I could smell my people out there. I could smell the strangers that my people had welcomed into our house. I heard noises that made me perk my ears. I whined in frustration and scratched at the carpet. I needed to be out there with my people. Anything could happen to them without me to protect them.
Finally, my girl came and let me out of the empty room. I was overjoyed to see her, and showed my pleasure by jumping and wagging my tail. She made happy noises to me and scratched my ears vigorously. I moaned in pleasure as I pressed my body against her. She laughed and gave me a last pat before standing again.
She led me into the room I had last seem my people in. The room was empty now. I sniffed all around, trying to search out the location of our belongings. I followed the trail of scents to the door I was forbidden to go out. My girl was already there. She attached my leash to my collar. I quivered in excitement. She led me outside and brought me to a stop behind the big truck. The ramp was no longer there and the door to the truck was closed.
My girl stopped and told me to sit. I obediently plopped my rear down on the gravel drive. She patted me in approval. She told me to stay and placed my leash on the ground beside me. I watched as she walked away. I quivered with the need to follow her, but I was forbidden. I watched my family moving around the vehicles parked around the big truck, doing things I didn’t understand.
I watched as my girl climbed into the car. I wanted to go and jump in with her, but I was forbidden to move. I lay down on the gravel and placed my head on my paws. I whined in misery as I watched my people getting into the cars and closing the doors. I heard the roar of the engines.
The truck rolled slowly down the hill toward the street. The car followed slowly behind it. I was being left alone. I sat up and perked my ears toward them. I barked to get their attention. I couldn’t chase them. I was forbidden to move. I barked frantically for my girl to come and get me.
Suddenly the car stopped and began to roll back toward me. I stopped barking and watched it closely. My girl was in that car. My tail began to wag as I saw her face looking back at me from the rear window. I knew she would never leave me behind. When the car stopped, her door opened and she jumped out of the car.
My girl ran toward me and fell to the ground to give me a big hug. I licked her face to show her that I loved her. I tasted the salt of her tears. She picked up my leash and led me toward the car. I jumped in and she crowded in with me. I licked her face and wagged my tail. She laughed at my antics.
My woman smiled at me from the front seat. The car began to move again, and we were following the big truck containing my man. I poked my nose out the crack of the window and sniffed all the exciting smells racing past on the wind.
The car follows the truck through the busy streets. I swivel my head around, trying to watch everything that flies past. I try to get to the other window but the seat is too full. I am crowded in the seat with my girl. I lean against her in contentment.
I brace myself as the car turns into a drive. I can sense the excitement my girl feels. She has her face pressed to the window and I poke my nose out the window again to smell the unfamiliar smells. The car stops and my girl opens her door. She takes up my leash and allows me to jump out of the car.
The first thing I notice is grass. I try to pull my girl toward the grass but she refuses, and scolds me. She leads me past the big truck. We are following our man and woman. The door before us is not familiar, but I know it to be like the door that I am forbidden to go out. The man opens the door and we enter the house.
My girl takes me through the spaces and into a smaller one. She twirls around in the center of the room and then plops down on the floor. I snuggle up beside her. I still don’t understand what is happening, but I am reassured that my girl is not sad any longer.
My woman brings a box into the room. She opens the top and pulls out my bed. I am relieved to see it, and rush over to sniff the familiar smells. I lay down on my bed to reassure myself that it is mine. My woman pats me on the head and scratches behind my ear.
I am shut into this room again, while I can hear the chaos from other rooms. I am reassured as I press my nose under the door. I can smell my people, and I can hear their voices. I am alone in this room and I don’t like it, but I know that my girl will come soon to release me. I relax and close my eyes to rest while I wait.