It's a doggy dog world

It all started with a french poodle. Well not really, but he became the symbol, that transitional object, who was the pivotal point in starting a chain of events, which brought the whole affair to light.

His name was Noemi and Freddie’s friend back from

school was moving to a new apartment over Eastside, and the wouldn’t take him. He pleaded with them, but to no avail, they just wouldn’t listen to his pitiful ,
increasingly, almost hysterical entireties After all he was with her since puppyhood, and it was unbearable, even to think about letting go. The dog
must have felt something was up, he seemed edgy
and unlike his usual self.

It all started to unravel after they came back from
Europe, and she kept telling him she was no longer

happy and she wanted to be happy. Shirley was her name, a petite, filigrans woman not at all showing her 58 years. Elack, almost ten years her senior, showed the strain of these past few years, and as age caught up with him, with their 45th wedding anniversary in sight, felt cheated, by what appeared to be a calculated machine, trapped like an animal.

On Christmas Day, after the usual unwrapping , the 4 kids impatiently almost greedily, practically throwing one toy, only to hurriedly seeking to find something even better in the next carefully, bluish red, gold braided paper box, glimmering, as the colors off the ribbons revealed careful, and thoughtfully time consuming effort. But non such was visible on the children’s faces, they asked for more, much more, from Santa, and their obvious attempt to suppress their disappointment was very appearent.

After all, no one really knows Santa’s situation, one guest chided in, perhaps he ran out, but surely he will make up for it next year, that is, if you’re good.
That appeared no balm unto the fragile egos, but it was the best which could be gathered.

They were sitting around, Elack, Carmen, Freddy, Addie, Freddie’s sister and her companion, Noami, with Melony, Freddie’s wife preparing the last remaining garnishes to a rich table of various scrumptious edibles, the four children running around the tree, the scent of pine permitting the the now almost ominous and pregnant atmosphere.

There was not much talk, only gestures and signs of
Some sort of mixture of both, an attempt to decode
With seeking alliances and looking for the weak link.

The poodle rested on Addie’s knees, alternatively, with her companion to take turns.

“I have a friend, who may be able to take him, but not until after new year” , addressed to no one in particular, but it was obvious that the recipient knew it was meant for her ears only. Or was it?

“He is such a darling little dog”, Elanck , with an obvious effort to qualify some remote recognition, that sought to define, the meaning behind this mysterious execution. “After all, the kids really adore him”.

Carmen, Melony’s aunt, whom the kids called grandma, even though her rare appearances she tried to mask by the giving of the most expensive gifts, which she demanded to be opened in front of every one, focused mostly on Elanck, who tried to avert his eyes. Elanck was over the hill, but tried to take good care of himself, going to the gym, and watching his diet. Carmen worked to gamble. That’s all she did, and really disliked the kids. She disliked Elanck, for the kids naturally preferred him over her. What could be expected, when he took care of them even in the hospital, right after they were borne, for tha last 10 years.

They submitted to Melony, who was totally under Carmen’s spell, and as the years went by, she too became a gambler, doing nothin other then toting Carmen to various gambling places, dragging underweight Freddie and the children with them.

Where is Shirley, Carmen quizzed Elanck, who pretended to try to ignore her as much as possible.
He told her of her frequent overseas business related travels, and of the her telling him that this time, her stay may be indefinite. He wondered how much in the room knew about what went down between them, and suspected that most everyone knew, what was supposed to be a guarded understanding between them.

“Yes, this time she has a lot to do, in addition, she needs to attend 2 funerals there, her oldest aunt on her fathers’ side, and another close friend of the family.”

“That’s too bad, Addie, Elanck’s oldest daughter exclaimed”. She was a lawyer, and also thought at the university. She was the brightest of his four children, practically putting herself through college. After law proved not to her liking, she got another degree, and became a of counsel to a medical center, utilizing her medical degree , as well. She was unassuming, her only Achilles heel being that no man was good enough for her. At thirty seven with long brown stresses cascading her shoulders.

“Well if she doesn’t take the dog I will, the only thing is, I have the chihuahua and the cats. I don’t know how they would get along.”

"I’m sure they would get along’, Freddie added.

The dog was asleep now, and Manessa picked him up gently, placing him on his mat.

The guests broke up, and the good by’s were said. It was very cold in California these past weeks, the temperature plummeting from Thanksgiving on, when 100 degrees were recorded in the various valleys. The scent of summer was waning , the chirping and the buzzing, all those familiar sounds outside subsided. They would resume on the warm sun of the noon time, but when the shade grew to out space the light, they stopped all communication, as if the whole world had only the low keyed hibernation in mind, rest, oh, so longing for rest.

Shirley emailed that she forgot to pack her meds, or, that maybe she didn’t have them at all, maybe she didn’t really pack them. “Would You be a darling and go order them again. I need them immediately”
Elanck was used to this kind of thing.

He asked her when her business would end and she could come back, to which she replied, that she would let him know. He asked her why she took his passport, and opera tickets to the ring at Bayreuth next June, to which she replied, that because of the rush, she missed that too. He couldn’t help thinking that this too was set up, secretely , with all that thought about her unhappiness, she still wanted an insurance policy. What if, the English guy whom she met in London, on a trip made on whim, after she told him she was only going to a medical convention of hospice related issues, may not work out? After all, he thought, 45 years is not yesterday, and with someone new, it may not be possible to acquaint all the subtle and perhaps even , forgotten nuances involving a persons life. Elanck took it more philosophically, he told her of his happiness, if she could just find her own. Did she believe this utterance? Did he believe whether ever in their long relationship , she ever really loved him?

Starra, his youngest daughter, went to the mountains over the holidays, took their young son of one year with them, who caught a bad virus, and almost passed away, at one point turning blue with eyes upturned into their sockets, his tiny body in a frozen
rigor. She came back and seemed visibly shaken , but a little accusatory, about his lack of communication. He promised to come over, the same
day, and as he was preparing to leave, heard
someone come in through the door. The alarm
system said, ‘front door open’, and he called out in his usual, who is that? No one answered. He grabbed
a knife, and went out toward the door through the

foyer, catching glimpse of a tall, youngish bestackled
man. “Hey, who are You”, he asked, becoming agitated at the thought of another criminal intrusion.

“Oh, I am Farshid’s friend, remember me?” Elanck was flabbergasted in the change in the appearance , guessing the glasses threw him.

“I am going upstairs to check”, he explained, Farshid’s gave me the key.

Upstairs, where Elanck’s youngest son used to live, Star, and their friends sometimes crashed, when they were too tired to drive home.

He did not go there, ever, in order to negate the pain, which still pressed his heart against his rib cage.

He thought, got to get this down, Journal writing is good, and gib note, if deciphering can ever become an art of the mysteries behind journal writing.

I have nothing to hide, but the explicitness can never be too telling, no telling who may or may not know, the real goings on in constructing a symbolic effect out of a mere dog. For those uninterested in pets, this may not be for you, but here, an opportunity taken to try to gain some kind of relief in exorcising the devil himself, is an opportunity not to be missed to people of his kind.

Before Christmas, when things between him and Freddie were still relatively on an even keel, casual conversation had no ominous overtones, and his complex attempt to relieve his situation made some sense, and felt Melony’s attempts to declaw him seemed a fruitless attempt to her. That’s why she brings in Carmen ,when all else fails, Carmen whose children aren’t her children. One was an adopted now gay man, the other Melony, who ran away from her own parents, in order to get away from their cruel approach to child rearing. Carmen, who with the unscrupulous use of vile and shrewdness, has only one motive in her life. That is, to empower herself at the cost of everyone around her, to become the puppet master, silently and unnoticeably , artfully weaving a web. She had done a great job with Freddie, but with Elanck, her arte is of much more of a challenge. Christmas night may be her ultimate triumph, and it is that, which Elanck has either to concede, or to re-engage with. Her cauldron is full of a receptive well known a subtle mixture of pitiful good and victimization, of unforgivable transgrattion,
With a defiant pay back, a force of evil, never to be relieved, except by the application of absolute force, to enslave those around so as to guarantee the forever presence of thus ensalaved, by virtue of never having to be alone.