Genevieve and the Two Scotties by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 5

Genevieve did more quicksteps than she could count as she walked past her house to the other side of the block and knocked at Pablo’s door. He had been reticent to do much anything after his pleasant experiences of the recent past, as he thought that any change had to be for the worse. Pablo had spent his early morning looking at himself in the faux-antique, rocking cheval mirror on hidden gear turnstiles, between glances at some of his best loved books.

Pablo; property of the author.

He had trouble in deciding whether his appearance to others would be that of a cuddly lab pup or a fierce, intimidating, and

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gruff monster, as he saw both. His experiences suggested that others had difficulties with fine gradations, and consequently found it easier to avoid them.

Stylized cover of “All Creatures Great and Small”; property of the author.

He turned away from the two-faced mirror and went to his library companion. Instinctively he took out and held the book he had read so often. He didn’t have to look inside as he knew it by heart. He looked at the well-worn cover, the title now faded into nonsensical word fragments. Pablo recalled the wonderful, loving doctor who had written the book based on his experiences as a vet, and wished he was still here.

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Pablo was jolted by the knock. It had to be bad news. He put his precious book back in its place. Hoping whatever was at the door would go away; he remained near his library and tried to take the entirety in. This was now impossible as he had accumulated so many over the years. He couldn’t escape the irrational thought that this was evidence that he could not be a cuddly lab pup. He was undoubtedly an old monster.

The knock came again. Pablo went near the door, expecting to see a squadron of “police.” Instead he saw little Genevieve, pacing around in tight circles; like any cold, four-legged creature would do if they had only three good legs.

Somewhat relieved, Pablo opened his door and said;

“Genevieve. So glad to see you. Don’t tell me that another crime has been committed.”

Genevieve said; “I don’t think so. Unless you know of one I’m not aware of.”

Probably sounding as if Genevieve’s joke might mean more than was intended, Pablo said an overly serious; “No, of course not.”

Genevieve smiled and said; “Can I come in? It’s cold out here. I’d like to talk to you about something weird I discovered this morning.”

Pablo said; “Sure. Please excuse my poor manners.” His mind was still on his prior experience of being shunned, and more so

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his appearance. It was only very recently that he had seemed to have transformed from a dark, scary, growling dog to a cuddly, white Lab pup; and he was still not certain of how others saw him. As they walked to the living room Pablo nervously said;

“Does everything look all right to you?”

A bit flustered, Genevieve said; “Of course. Did I miss something?” She sat on the sofa.

Pablo sat on the nearby plushy chair and said; “I guess not. Sometimes I leave books all over the place and forget where they are.” He briefly glanced at his white paws and concluded that he appeared to be a Lab, and that that was not unusual to Genevieve.

Genevieve and Pablo; property of the author.

Genevieve said; “This morning the Rapidtown Police Department informed me that Billy and Jack are not in their employ.”

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Pablo was puzzled, but also didn’t consider it to be an important discovery; certainly not one which would warrant Genevieve’s first visit to his house. He wasn’t sure what to respond, so said; “Please forgive my manners. Can I get you something?”

Genevieve said; “No. No, thank you. I’m looking for a travelling companion to go look for them.”

“Well, where would you even start something like that? They could be anywhere.”

“Not really. They must have been reasonably close to have gotten here that quickly. They were on Pacific Lane before 7AM, and they came on foot using those little legs.”

Getting into the spirit, Pablo said; “They could have found out about it with a scanner when Clara called the police.”

“Yes.”

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