Chez Stinky (7 page)

The next morning, Kat drove out to the property to meet Larry. She had finally gotten a good night’s sleep and now she was ready to tackle the changes in her life. Apparently, Murphee had been exhausted by recent events as well. After the trauma of the car trip, she had curled up quietly next to Kat’s head and didn’t move all night.

As Kat drove down the driveway toward Abigail’s house, sunlight streamed through the canopy of evergreens, and Kat was again struck by the peaceful feel of her aunt’s little corner of forest. She got out of her car and inhaled the somewhat sweet damp mossy smell that was unique to this place. The aroma outside the house was certainly far better than the one inside.

She turned toward the sound of a truck rumbling down the driveway. Larry’s salmon-colored Dodge came into view. The truck shook a bit, sputtered, and spit out a few last coughs as Larry killed the engine.

Today Larry looked quite different than he had the last time Kat had seen him. Instead of his conservative drab brown suit, the lawyer was clad in old jeans and a black-and-red-checked flannel shirt. The geeky outdoors look didn’t quite work for him. What did the lawyer do with his weekends, anyway? She hoped he wasn’t going hunting, and peered at the back of the truck cab to see if there was a gun rack. It was undoubtedly the season to hunt something in Alpine Grove. Kat was sure she didn’t want to have a conversation about the best ways to blow away wildlife and prep it for dinner.

Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be any obvious armament in the truck. Maybe flannel was standard weekend wear in Alpine Grove. Kat looked down at the cute, strappy black sandals on her feet. It was possible she might be a bit overdressed for the occasion.

A clattering noise arose from the back of the house, and Linus the gigantic brown dog leaped out from behind the building and raced toward Kat. Although intellectually Kat remembered that Linus was a friendly fellow, that fact didn’t seem to register with the rest of her body, which tensed as the great beast approached her at an alarming speed. Kat squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact. A whoosh of dust hit her sandaled feet. When she opened her eyes, Linus was sitting in front of her wagging and panting at her. She reached out to pat his large brown head. “Hi. It’s nice to see you again, Big Guy.”

Larry smiled and said, “It looks like one member of the welcoming committee has arrived. Do you want to walk around and see if we can find the others while we wait for Cindy? She should be here shortly.”

Linus stood up and looked up at Kat as if to let her know he was ready to go. Kat said, “Okay, let’s look around. I guess there’s a barn over there.” She headed toward one of the outbuildings with Linus trotting along by her side. As she got closer, the term ‘
barn
seemed a bit generous in this case. Even
shed
would be a stretch. Upon further inspection, the three-sided derelict structure appeared to be melding with the forest. Some form of vine was growing up the walls covering the dingy grayish wood that looked likely to collapse under the weight of the dense leaves. Kat approached the front opening and peered into the dark area within.

“I don’t want to go in there. I think this might be a massive spider habitat,” she said. “I’d rather leave them alone to do whatever icky things spiders do.”

The lawyer looked at the rickety structure and nodded. “I think you might want to wait until you’re wearing more suitable shoes.”

“A flak jacket might be good too.” Kat was not fond of spiders. Insects and other many-legged creatures freaked her out.

As if to emphasize the point, a disturbingly large, hairy, monster spider skittered out of the building and ran across Kat’s sandal. As its tiny arachnoid legs touched her bare skin, Kat half-shrieked, half yelped, “Ewww!” and jumped away. She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “Let’s get away from here. I think they’re on the move!”

Larry smiled and said, “Spiders are a fact of life in the forest. They’re good for the garden, too.”

“I’ve seen the garden and it needs a lot more than spiders, Larry.” Kat rubbed her wrists and glanced around her, worried that more insect life could leap out of the forest and attack her. She was overtaken with a serious case of bug paranoia. Every whisper of a breeze on her bare forearms might be a creepy crawly. Kat took a few deep breaths in an effort to calm down. The lawyer probably thought she was a total weenie. How embarrassing.

A loud screeching noise came from the direction of the driveway. Kat and Larry looked back down the graveled path, where a rusty silver hatchback was slowly approaching. The whining noise increased in volume as the car got closer. After the vehicle shuddered to a stop, a man and a woman got out. Kat could tell by their body language that they were not happy with one another.

The woman said rather loudly, “Joel, I don’t care what you think; my Hyundai is a great car. Myrtle just needs a little love and then she will be good as new.”

“Myrtle is a piece of junk. It was a piece of junk when you bought it five years ago and it’s an even worse piece of junk now. Riding around in that thing is like being in a rolling tin can,” the tall man proclaimed as he slammed the door shut. The body of the little car swayed from side to side at the impact and a small automotive part clattered to the ground. Kat started to raise her hand to point at the part, but lowered it again. Maybe sharing that information wouldn’t be such a good idea right now.

The woman glared at the man and then turned to walk over to Kat and Larry. She held out her hand and said, “Hi, you must be Kat. I’m Cindy Ross. That loudmouth over there is my brother Joel. It’s nice to meet you.” As Cindy and Joel got closer, Kat could see the family resemblance. They both were tall with short sandy-colored dark-blonde hair and hazel eyes, which currently were squinting at each other in an almost identical fashion. The twin glares made Kat think of the old song, “If Looks Could Kill.” She guessed they’d been arguing the entire way out here.

Cindy was obviously dressed to take on some serious dog walking. She wore old jeans and hiking shoes, along with an oversized green windbreaker with big pockets. Kat noticed that Linus had reappeared and was extremely interested in whatever Cindy had in her pockets. Cindy looked down at Linus and said, “Hey, Linus! Keep your hairy self out of my coat. You know the rules. No T-R-E-A-T-S unless I say so. Let’s go get everyone else.”

As Cindy strode off toward the house, Kat hurried to follow her. She needed more information about the other animals, and Cindy obviously knew what was going on as far as the furry residents were concerned. Kat scuttled after her and the tip of her sandal caught on a rock. Once again, it was obvious that her wardrobe choices were not ideal for Alpine Grove living. She was the only one here who didn’t look like she’d just stepped out of an L.L. Bean catalog. The cute sandals on her feet were already looking ratty, and the dainty calico sundress and her fuzzy 3/4-sleeve cardigan would probably just end up covered in dust, dog hair, and who knew what else. It might be a good idea to stop by the Kmart along the highway on the way back to the motel; the Mart might have some appropriately rustic dog-friendly attire.

Cindy marched over to a beat-up looking structure with a chain link enclosure attached to it. This was the outbuilding where Kat had had the brief encounter with the loud, spastic golden retriever the weekend before. Cindy went inside the door and the sound of frantic barking ensued from within. Apparently the dog was extremely happy to see the dog walker. Kat glanced around to see if everything was okay, but Joel and Larry were just standing around chatting; they looked unconcerned.

The golden retriever leaped out of the entryway with Cindy in tow. Cindy was a 5-foot-10, large-boned woman, so she wasn’t exactly a delicate frail waif, but the golden had energy to spare. The dog walker looked a little distressed as she tried to hold the dog back and keep it from lunging and leaping all over Kat.

Startled by the sudden canine onslaught, Kat jumped out of range. “Which dog is this?” she asked.

“This is Tessa. We’re working on her leash manners.”

“She certainly is happy,” Kat said in an attempt to look at the positive side of the situation, which seemed to be getting more out of control by the second.

Tessa was spinning around on the end of the leash. Most of her feet seemed to be off the ground most of the time. As a cloud of dust arose around the whirling dog, Kat was reminded of the Tasmanian Devil in Saturday-morning cartoons.

“Okay, let’s go, Tessa,” Cindy said. Tessa didn’t need much encouragement and launched off toward the forest.

Kat hustled to catch up with the pair, who were marching swiftly toward a break in the trees. Cindy whistled and Linus reappeared, followed by Lori, the black-and-white dog that had given Kat the wet willy in the basement. The canines bounded toward Cindy and Kat, ears and tongues flopping in time with their strides.

Now that Kat had (mostly) gotten over her fear of being toppled over by the gigantic dog, she was somewhat relieved to see Linus. He seemed like a nice, calm example for the golden to follow. However, undaunted by the presence of the other dogs, Tessa continued to haul Cindy toward the trees.

“Tessa never gets tired,” Cindy said with a note of exasperation in her voice. “Never. I can’t believe the stamina of this dog. By the end of the walk, I’m completely wiped out, and Tessa is still like this. She’s
always
like this. I’m not sure if she ever sleeps.”

Kat looked at Cindy and raised her eyebrows. “What should I do? You look like you’re in a lot better shape than I am. Couldn’t Tessa just run around like Linus and Lori?”

“Not if you ever want to see her again. This dog has an amazing nose and the attention span of a termite. She’d be gone off in the forest after some scent. With her energy level, she’d end up in the next county.”

Kat shook her head. How was she supposed to respond to this information? “Is that why she spends so much time outside in her kennel?”

Cindy waved her hand toward the dog. “Not exactly. You probably didn’t notice, but I didn’t pet her. If I touch her, she pees.”

“Really? So she’s not housebroken? Isn’t she a little old for that?” No wonder the dog had her own special enclosure outside.

“Yes. Since we’re outside, I can show you.” Cindy gathered up the leash tighter, reeling in Tessa, who turned and tried to jump on the dog walker.

“Tessa, NO!” she said. Tessa looked chastised for approximately one-tenth of a second and then leaped up again. “NO! Tessa, SIT!”

The dog planted her rear end on the ground for another tenth of a second, then leaped up again. Kat sensed a theme here.

“Tessa, SIT!” Cindy reached out to touch Tessa’s head. The dog paused long enough to relieve herself then leaped in the air again.

As Kat witnessed the pee performance, she cringed mentally. Would she be able to walk the dog at all? At 5-foot-3, she was a lot less burly than Cindy, who was an Amazon by comparison. She and Cindy started walking again and Kat looked down at Tessa. The odd thing about the dog was that she never looked at anything. Unlike Linus who stared up at Kat with those big brown soulful eyes, Tessa never seemed to be still long enough to notice people or her surroundings.

They entered the forest and started down the trail. As twigs wedged themselves into her sandals, Kat again wished she had other footwear. After this walk, her toes were going to smell like she’d dipped them in Pine-Sol.

“Where is the other dog?” Kat asked.

“Chelsey is inside. She’s kinda weird, so I walk her separately.”

“Weird?” Could a dog be more weird than Tessa?

Cindy paused on her march through the forest to haul Tessa to a stop, so she could rearrange the leash in her large hands. “Larry said that you’ll be staying here. That would be so great for me. I’d like to take a break from this job. Coming out here messes up my schedule. All my other clients are in town near my house, so I get them all walked pretty fast. When the clients live close together, I can make more money and get back home, so I’m there when my kid gets home from school.”

If the dog walker quit permanently, it would be a major problem. Keeping Cindy happy seemed like a good long-range plan. Kat paused and said, “There’s a problem with the house, but I’m staying out at the Enchanted Moose, so I can come out and walk everybody tomorrow.”

“Great! She whipped a paper out of her coat pocket. Everything you need to do is written down right here.”

Kat took the paper, looked down at Linus and sighed. Linus shook his big head, and Kat watched as the shake rippled down his large body, ending with a final flip of his tail. The big dog sat and wagged slowly as if to say, “Lady, you totally walked into that one.”

After Tessa was reinstalled in her enclosure, Kat and Cindy returned to the front of the house to where the lawyer and Joel had been. Neither man was visible and Kat wondered where they had wandered off to while she was out with the dogs. The hood of the Hyundai slammed. Joel stood in front of the car with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. As Cindy walked up toward her brother, he said, “I can’t do anything about this thing. I don’t know what’s wrong. You need to take it to a real mechanic.”