Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Uninvited Quests

Hick and I are pretty set in our ways. We do our own thing all day, and unofficially check in at night, before supper. Monday evening, I was on the phone with Genius in my dark basement lair when I heard Hick stumping around over my head, as if on ankle bones instead of feet. Nothing new. That's how he walks.

When I ascended from my lair, Hick was suspiciously absent. I set out the leftover chicken pot pie, not wanting to warm it until I knew when to expect him. Just before 7:00, Hick showed up in his orange and white floral print swim trunks. That's odd, because he swims in his blue SpongeBob boxers. Hick said he'd been scrubbing Poolio, with HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) manning the filter thingy and dumping the basket from outside. Funny how now that Poolio is being closed for the winter, Hick decides to clean him up. Anyhoo...that explained the regular swim trunks. Allaying my suspicions that Hick had been entertaining a rural harem (perhaps composed of night-wandering New York heart-broken gals).

I said I was going to warm up supper, and Hick went to take a shower, as he always does after a dip in Poolio. Which seems kind of redundant to me. He came back to the living room a few minutes later, set for the evening, in only his tighty-whities, and reclined in the La-Z-Boy, waiting to be called for supper.

A couple minutes later, I heard a knocking at the front door. Huh. That is very unusual. Nobody belongs up in our labyrinth of gravel roads. We weren't expecting anyone. Hick said, "I don't know if somebody knocked, or if it was one of the dogs wagging their tail."

"Oh, it was a knock." I figured it was probably HOS, back on the 4-wheeler, having forgotten to tell Hick something. I continued dipping out chicken pot pie into bowls for microwaving, separating the top crust to warm in the oven. I assumed that Hick would answer the door, thinking nothing of his tighty-whities, since I'm so used to him running around like that, a scantily-clad king in his castle.

Well, run he did! Hick popped out of the La-Z-Boy and trotted around the short couch and into the bedroom. "Gotta get my pants!" Heh, heh. Never mind that by now, it was 7:30, dusk had fallen, and the inside of the living room was lit up like a department store window, for the viewing pleasure of whoever was at the front door, with its two window panels on each side.

It was some lady on a quest for her lost dog. I heard her voice. Asking Hick if he'd seen a dog. Next thing I know, with chicken pot pie bubbling in the microwave and crust hopefully crisping in the oven, Hick came back inside and said he was driving the Gator down to the creekside cabin, to look for this lady's dog. She had just moved in across the creek from us on Saturday, and she and her husband accidentally backed over their dog's foot. It ran off, and being new here, she was afraid it couldn't find its way home.

Let the record show that our dogs have been barking their fool heads off every night, so they might know something of its whereabouts. Or maybe it came up on the porch to eat their dog food. Anyhoo...Hick didn't find her dog, but we'll keep an eye out for it. Hick said it's black and white, and looks like a collie. So I imagine it's some version of a border collie.

I feel bad for that dog. And maybe a little bit bad for Hick. When he came back in the house, he rang the doorbell. "It works. I don't know why people always knock."

Indeed. I don't know a lot of things. Like why Hick sits around in his tighty-whities.

8 comments:

  1. Border collies are real smart, the dog could easily find it's way home, even to a new home...probably doesn't want his foot run over again.

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    1. Yes, they are one of the smartest breeds. Heh, heh, maybe he's trying to teach them a lesson.

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  2. Would you prefer Hick to sit around without the tighty-whities?
    I don't think a shower after being in the pool is at all redundant. Pool water is often not-quite-clean what with algae and other things that might blow in and there's the chlorine too. A hot shower after dipping into that mix sounds wonderful to me.
    I hope the dog finds his way home, possibly he already has and is just hiding out until his foot and feelings recover. Like joeh said Border Collies are very smart. They're way up in the top three of smartest dogs.

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    1. NOOOO! In fact, Hick's swimming suit used to be his birthday suit! That's before he built the stairs down from the porch, and his route to Poolio was down the basement steps. After a hard day of work, he might take a dip at 9:00 p.m., when I was sitting in my pre-OPC recliner, with a full view of him in all his glory, descending the stairs.

      There is definitely algae in Poolio, so now the shower seems like a good idea. No chlorine, though. Hick uses Baquacil.

      We haven't heard any more about the dog. I hope nobody picked him up and took him.

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  3. Never a good idea for me to don my night shirt until I am about to crawl into bed. Just as sure as I do, a camper will have an "emergency", like needing a bag of ice. HeWho stays clothes, as well. I suppose we have been conditioned by these crazy campers. Poor dog, I wouldn't go home either!

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    1. Yes, you're always on-call! I'd never be able to relax.

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  4. Two neighbor kids are forever knocking on my door for something. It's like they know i am ready to stretch out on the couch. I now have visions of algae hanging from Hick's hips.

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    1. Kids have a sixth sense like that. My apologies for your visions. Let's hope they don't translate into nightmares.

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