Genevieve and the Two Scotties by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 9

For the next few days the weather was totally uncooperative. The warm fall showed its downside in a cloud, heat retaining humidity which produced an annoying off and on drizzle. It was just enough for Genevieve to conclude that her mission of finding Billy and Jack was not subject to any schedule or time limit; and that contrary to the way producers of legalese boilerplate put it; “Time was not of the essence.”

Each of the next few days she gave Pablo a morning “smart phone” call cancelling today; and making a tentative date for tomorrow. Pablo didn’t mind for a few reasons. He really never developed an appreciation for prolonged light rain. It was never anything worth speaking of at first. But, it had a way of accumulating on his head, and then would run down his neck and upper back, producing the most unpleasant of chilly feelings; even in the summer. Hats were of no help, only serving as a delay. Besides, his recent outward excursion had taken time away from his old friends; his books.

It was kind of unfair to those who had gotten him through his most difficult years. Now that he was an attractive labby bon vivant with females at his door and on the phone daily, he still had a memory and an appreciation of a quiet day with the

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ones who always had waited patiently on the shelf. He remembered that he had not visited with Winnie for some time.

Portion of original cover of A.A. Milne’s “WINNIE-THE-POOH;” public domain.

“But, his arms were so stiff ... they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off .. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.” – A.A.

Milne.

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Winnie and Rabbit; property of the author.

Pablo had collected quite a few Winnie the Pooh books over the years. Winnie never changed very much. He got some new friends in the Five Hundred Acre Wood of Ashdown Forest, but he remained easily recognizable, whether done by Milne or Disney.

He remained naïve, friendly, thoughtful, steadfast, and especially gifted with common sense, as well as being a substantially undetected artist and poet.

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Winnie’s first book appearance in A.A. Milne’s “When We Were Very Young,” 1924; public domain.

Pablo chose an early one, recalling that he had first seen it when he was a pup. ........ But, since his transformation he was now again a pup. That was quite fine; only a matter of being more careful with his tenses.

That was true insofar as he had been able to check his physical appearance in the mirror and how he thought that others reacted to it. It was still early for him in this apparently altered manifestation. Every test of this “dream” he had devised had been passed; but for some reason there was something still unsettled in him which required a few more. Perhaps most disturbing to him was that what was in his head seemed old; memories generated during the time of that harsh sounding,

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fierce looking dog he never thought that he was; but must have been in other eyes.

To simultaneously consider any reconciliation of the actualities, calculations thereof, and their perceptual inferences was all just too confusing for a little pup. They all led in the same direction; theoretically making things easier to compare; but with information coming from three directions; North, South, and East; he didn’t want to wait around for West to show up.

He thought that he understood this much. It was simpler and nicer for him to just stay in the pleasant beauty of his now.

So, Pablo got his balloon. He held its stick in one paw, which he knew would make page turning more difficult. Then he found another use for his white snout. Once again there was Winnie waiting for him on the page. He still held his balloon and his rabbit.

For the first time, Pablo too seemed ready.

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