Fergus can’t find Kristina. She hasn’t come home and he is positive it’s been days. Someone is coming in to check on him daily.
Fergus knows this isn’t right and knows that a persons best friend, their pet, is the best resource to finding a missing person.
Fergus zoom calls book club.
Benjamin in Nebraska pronounced Ben ha meen Maryland Gunther in Iowa Chico in Maine Millie in Bakersfield Oakland Brady in Canada
How do they get together? What brings them together? What is Fergus calll to action?
Personality of each pet. Plot: Kristina goes away, Fergus is concerned. Fergus needs the help of his friends to find Kristina.
Do the pets have separate book club calls? Old yeller, bad guys, Marley and me?
Fergus is a Wheaton terrier, soft light brown, almost blonde fur, with curls surfacing around his collar, along the beds of his feet and under his belly. He is roughly 40 pounds, fit and strong. His brown eyes reveal his thoughts. Wide when concerned, downcast when sad, and lit up when happy. He has strong eyebrows that frame his eyes and give expression to his brown eyes and expression to his thoughts. He walks with purpose, a leader, but also with excitement of what is next.
As gently as I can I place him back, a calm gesture without a calm bone in my body, Calm left my body weeks ago, Not on his birth but the 40 hours leading to his birth, I strive to remember what calm feels like, It’s non existent at this stage, When there is calm, I crash, Sleep when baby sleeps, The crash and sleep aren’t moments of calm but moments of exhaustion and escape, Calm is aloneness Calm is a warms summers day, the sea lapping against the red sand, I crawl back into bed, seeking the refuge of closed eyelids, Moments pass and the cries call me again, Always a mama task, The calm that was my own body is no longer mine, The calm of my sleeping partner no longer exists for me, And yet the woman in the grocery store says the same line to me each time It goes by so fast.
Fergus loved his mom more than anything. He loved her voice, her warm body next to his own on the couch, the way she greeted him each morning and most importantly he loved the moment she walked in the door after being gone for the day. His mom worked for the government and every morning after their daily walk, she poured his food into his dish, gave him a hug, said “I love you buddy, see you later” and out the door she went to her job. It was the see you later part he really loved because he knew that he would in fact see her later. And to Fergus, later meant hugs, cuddles, runs in the dog park, and listening to his mom debrief her day to him.
By now my dear reader I hope you have made the connection that Fergus is indeed a dog and that his mom does not directly debrief her day to him but rather shares her days experiences with a friend on FaceTime, or on a call, or as you will soon learn with her book club friends on Sundays on Zoom.
I didn’t realize she was going to tell me something so personal! Honestly what was she thinking? It was an ice breaker, you know those silly games that we start each zoom meeting with? “If you could be anywhere in the world where would you be? Do you prefer ice cream or cake? Who is your celebrity crush?” We start every meeting with these prompts and today was no different. It was my turn to lead the meeting and I asked “would you rather go to Disneyland or Disneyworld”? When it came to her turn she responded “I dont know, I haven’t been to either. Growing up my family restricted us from going to those places, they said it was spawned by the devil, that evil was among those who went to places like that. I grew up in a religious cult, prohibited to watch tv, listen to the radio, go to a proper school….even dream of places like Disney.” I mean what was I supposed to say to that? How was I supposed to know start talking about our year end budget?
The sea before me is a tapestry of ice, moss, a mixture of the forest, the remnants of the large trunks of trees that hug the seascape. It’s a combination of the rocks that rumble below its floor, the reflection of the cloudless sky. The rocks that line the sea perimeter are slate like a chalkboard, and of a rainy Vancouver sky scape. Driftwood debris sway in and out of the waves, rolling forward and backward, seeking the solace and steadiness of the rockscape. Container ships line the horizon, sturdy on the sea, rusty from years of salty wear. A contrast of dry rust against the cold, wetness of the sea. The tar like seal popping it’s head out of the water, bobs along the sea waves, a small like pupil framed in the backdrop of the icey, mossy, cloudless sky.
Getting lost in a book. What is it like? Love of characters to the point that you want to bring them home with you. You want to sit across the table with them, tea in hand, and ask them a million questions about their reality, the reality you imagine. It’s a comfort. It feels like home to me. The story folds out like a movie in my mind and while I want to know th ending of the book I Dont want it to end.
Descriptive passages lure me in and the scenes created can be as real in my mind as though I were walking into the set of the book. I can taste the tea and welsh cakes, I can feel the fabric of their dress, I can run my hands over the long blades of grass in their field.
It allows me to ignite a part of my brain and my thought patterns that aren’t allowed or able to come out to play in my day to day.
Amelia entered the cabin door and saw all of the bunk beds. The girls in the cabin spoke rapidly and excitedly, they hadn’t seen each other since last summer. She could hear laughter, squeals, and even low whispering. Her daze was broken when her friend Emily wrapped her in a huge hug, the force shifted her weight and she felt uneven. You are finally here, shrieked Emily, I missed you so much, hurry up and get unpacked, I picked a bunk for us. Amelia smiled and followed Emily, saying hi and giving hugs to other girls as she walked through the cabin. She set her duffle bag on the bottom bunk. She always preferred the bottom bunk. It was safer, and closer to the bathroom. Emily showed Amelia her made up bed and that’s when she saw it. Wait, you brought your blankey? Amelia whispered to Emily. Yah of course, I wasn’t going to leave it at home all summer, Emily replied. Amanda knew she made a mistake. Why did she question herself when she was packing? She kept going back and forth, throwing her own blankey in and out of her duffle. The very blankey that had been by her side the last 12 years. In the end she decided to leave it, she didn’t have the confidence to take it with her, she was sure the other girls would laugh at her and call her a baby. She left the blanket behind because she was no longer a baby who needed a blankey, she was turning 13 this summer. Amanda felt sick to her stomach, she knew she should have brought it. Why did she question herself? Why couldn’t she be confident and assured like Emily. Maybe she would call her Mom and ask her to mail it to camp.
