So now I am on a mission to find Max. But how can I escape? And how can I locate him?
And then both a beautiful and horrible thing happened. One night Owner is very busy with a big bag, putting clothes in it. She seems distracted and certainly not focused on me. Then she organizes my stuff—my food! my fuzzy squirrel toy! my chewable bone! —and puts these items into a bag that she places in the front hall. What the hell is going on?!
Early the next morning, Owner gets up and leaves our home. She says goodbye like she’s just heading out for a bit, but there’s something weird going on. For starters, Owner lugs that big bag with her.
A little while later a neighbor and her dog Sassy with whom we sometimes walk show up. “What’s going on here? Where’s my Owner?!” I ask Sassy.
“I think you’re moving in with us for a bit,” Sassy responds matter of factly.
What?! Why?! How?! NOOO!!!
I start to run around in a panic, not believing that Owner would desert me. How could she? How dare she!
Sassy’s owner looks at me with both amusement and concern. Finally, she manages to leash me, and we head out.
I cannot even begin to tell you how traumatic the next few days are. Sassy is OK but kind of passively aggressively resentful of my presence. We play fight most of the time, much to the chagrin of Sassy’s owner. And her owner is nice but certainly not my Owner (although at this point I am inclined to disown mine).
Worse still, there is a cat at their home. Just to shake things up, I chase the cat around incessantly the first day. He finds a safe spot above the cupboard in the kitchen. I don’t think he comes down for the rest of my visit.
So that was the whole terrible part. Now for the good part. One morning – a few days after Owner forsakes me—Sassy’s owner is trying to leash me. The door is open a bit, so I take a chance and bolt out as fast as possible. Freedom! Max!
Sassy’s owner tries to catch me, but I can be really fast when I want to be. I head for the road and start to walk once I see that Sassy’s owner isn’t trying to get me.
“OK, think,” I tell myself. Where could Max be? The Shelter? How do I get back there? Being outside and unfettered feels great, but I start to have some concerns. Just where am I going? I don’t know what to do with myself. I continue traipsing along the road toward the shopping center where Owner and sometimes walk.
Why shouldn’t I leave? Owner left me. I should just do my own thing. And my thing is reuniting with Max. Suddenly I see Sassy’s owner coming around the corner. How did she get here already? Ugh. I dart into the bushes. Sassy’s owner apparently doesn’t see me. Good. I stay put for a while, trying to plan my next move.
Suddenly I see a moving contraption with a large space—almost like a bed— in back. I could hop up there and get somewhere—far, far away from Sassy’s owner and my missing one. The moving contraption starts to move – if I’m going to get on it, I need to move fast. I zoom out of the bushes and high-tail it on to the empty space in the back of the moving contraption. I roll around as it moves in fits and starts and makes turns. It’s difficult to hold on, but I finally find a secure spot in a rolled-up carpet. I feel excited, exhilarated, alive. This is an adventure! And now, it will be more of an adventure trying to find Max.
He’d better be worth it.
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