Fiction: Chapter 4: The Josephine St. House

Chapter 4: The Josephine Street House

Beau jumped out onto the sidewalk and peed on a palm tree. Georgia and Lainey had jumped over the backseat and were waiting for Flowers to open the back passenger door. She did. They jumped out too and looked around. They didn’t smell the river anymore, but there was still a breeze. There were trees lined up the sidewalk. Georgia could hear music down the way. The house directly in front of them was pink and had two doors. Little kids were riding bikes down the street. Lainey let out a bark and started to run after the tires. Georgia almost knocked her over with a nudge and stern look.

Flowers closed the car doors and walked up a couple of stairs. She unlocked her door and opened it. She looked back at them. All three dogs walked up the stairs into her house. She didn’t seem to understand but she let them anyway. “ok guys . . . and girls? Do you want some water?” Georgia gave a little bark. 

The woman walked to the back of the house and they could hear the water running into a bowl. Georgia walked around smelling books stacked up on the floor. Lainey jumped on the couch and smelled the pillows. She started digging into the couch and then laid down. Beau was smelling a dead plant. 

The woman came back with a big bowl of water and put it on the floor. All three dogs started lapping it up. Before sitting down she turned on the radio, then sat down on the couch and looked at them. When the dogs were finished drinking, they jumped on the couch and sat down. She petted them. 

“Georgia! Oh Georgia!” sang loudly while Flowers was looking in the dogs direction. Upon hearing her name, Georgia stood up on the couch and tilted her head. She looked at the radio and couldn’t believe someone was calling her from that little box. “Georgia?” Flowers asked. “Is that your name?” Georgia looked at the woman and tilted her head left, right, left, right. The Flowers woman started calling her by the right name from then on. Georgia barked, “Flowers!” in the woman’s direction and the woman smiled and said, “Yes” with a big smile. Georgia was happy to know her name too. 

“Georgia, do you and your friends want to go outside?” Flowers asked. “YAP. YAP. YAP.” Beau exclaimed. The three dogs jumped off the couch. Flowers led the dogs through the house. Lainey stopped in one room that seemed to only have a desk, more books stacked on the floor, and a couple of photos taped to the wall. Lainey stared up at one of the photos. Her head tilted as she realized it was a photo of the Smoking Stick man. 

The next morning Beau popped his head up when the sunbeam that had been crossing the room stayed on his eyes making it difficult to watch Flowers sleep. He looked around the room and saw Georgia snuggled tight with her butt against their new friend’s chest and Lainey in a pile of sheets on the floor. The room had white walls, the large bed they were sleeping in, and a chest of drawers with photos on top. There were framed paintings hanging on the wall and the window had pretty blue curtains on the side. 

Beau kept his gaze on Flowers’ head studying her face. She had light skin, a few freckles, high cheekbones and big pink lips. It looked like she had some extra color on her lips but he didn’t think so, it just looked like it. Her hair was dark brown and long. She kept her hair up on top of her head while she slept. Her neck was long and she made little noises while she slept. She still smelled like flowers even when she was sleeping. Beau was resting on a little pillow she put out for him on the other side of Georgia. Georgia always slept tightly against whatever human was around for the night. Beau would like to sleep next to her too, maybe tonight. 

Georgia started making little noises. She must be dreaming. She was giving out little muffled quiet barks and kicking her legs. She kicked really hard and it woke up the woman slightly. Beau looked to see if she would get up, but she didn’t. Georgia turned over so her belly was facing the ceiling and moved the covers away. The woman still didn’t wake up. She moved her arm that had been holding onto Georgia under her head and faced her head away from the window and the moving sunbeam. 

Lainey farted and almost woke herself up. 

Beau put his head back down and closed his eyes. He curled his head and legs into tight ball. Tucking his nose under the hair on his tail. He let out a long deep exhale and drifted back to sleep. 

As soon as the woman opened her eyes and moved her arm, Beau jumped up and looked at her. Georgia started pushing away the covers from her head that was now close to the woman’s knees. Flowers moved the covers away from her and put her feet on to the ground. She moved the covers off Georgia. 

“Hey, sweet girl! Time to wake up. You really are a snuggler, huh?”

Georgia peeked her head up and yawned really big and then put her head down on her paw and watched the woman get up. The sun from the window was bright and full. The woman pulled a robe off the back of the door and put it on. 

“Ok puppies, do you want to go outside?” The woman’s voice was high and slow. She was still sleepy. Beau, Georgia, and Lainey popped up and started heading to the back of the house. The next room past the sleeping room was the kitchen and then a small bathroom and then an outside room that was inside. It had machines and a bunch of stuff that smelled like dirt and the woman’s hands. 

The woman opened the back door and then went back into the kitchen. She came back outside with a cup and sat down in one of the chairs near the back of the house. They all went outside. The woman was watching them and drinking from the cup. The backyard was small but had a lot in it to smell. There was some tall grass that tasted really good along the fence and then a bunch of big squares on the ground around the yard that had food and flowers growing in them. 

Big branches hung down from a tree in the next backyard. There were concrete steps next to one of the fences that had pots of more plants on it. The steps were just there and you could sit on the part that didn’t have pots. Beau was smelling a square when he saw a butterfly come down and land on a yellow flower inside the square. He watched it as its wings flapped and then it flew off. He could hear a dog barking in the distance. Georgia looked up from smelling the grass and barked. Then she listened and the dog barked again. She answered and then listened. The dog didn’t bark back. Lainey was smelling something through the fence. She took her right paw and dug into the dirt a little. The woman watched her and sat up a little. Lainey put her face right into the dirt and was taking big inhales. 

Flowers took a sip of her cup and then closed her eyes.  Her face was up a little bit like she was feeling the touches of the sun. She took a big breath and adjusted herself in her seat. Her eyes still closed. 

Georgia sat down to pee near the fence and looked at the woman. Beau’s head was deep into the grass over a side of a square. Lainey used her big eyes to look into the neighbors yard through the fence. Georgia stood up and walked over to Beau. 

“Beau, I like it here.”  Beau kept smelling the grass and gave a little sneeze. “Do you think we can stay here? Do you think she will let us stay?” 

Beau moved his head up and looked at Georgia. “I don’t know. We should just stay close to her and try to be quiet. I think she likes us.” “I think so too Beau.” 

Georgia walked over to Lainey and put her nose to the ground and took a bite of the grass. The woman stood up and walked inside the house. Beau quickly followed her. Lainey didn’t notice. Georgia watched.