Charlie (Draft)

Charlene Simpson was less than thrilled when her parents told her they were moving to a new town six hours away from all her friends. She knew it was important for her father’s job and that it would mean more money and more stability for the family and… blah blah blah. She actually did care about all that but it was almost completely over-shadowed by having to leave her friends and her skating behind. Her mom’s promise that they would try to make it back out there every month or so for a weekend to visit was of little comfort to her.

Charlie, as she preferred to be called, was in tears after her parents sat her down to chat after dinner one evening in late February. Two months! They were moving in two months! She was in shock for the first month, angry and disbelieving, moping around preoccupied with her thoughts and feeling doomed as if she were being put to death for a crime she didn’t commit. She spent all the time with her friends that she could and her parents went along with all her time away from home willingly. They drove she and her friends to the movies, the skating rink, they even splurged so they could all go horseback riding in the mountains. The closer the move came, the more grateful Charlie was for her parents and all the effort they were going to for her, and the less angry she became. She just got very sad. She didn’t want to leave her friends. But she was resigned- her parents had worked so hard to make her last couple of months with her friends so great that she felt she owed it to them to whine as little as possible. She succeeded… most of the time.

She still had bad days, especially during the last week. Her best friend, Sherry, was so strong for her and helped Charlie pack while jabbering about boys and general gossip to keep her giggling. It helped that Sherry’s mom already agreed to bring Sherry out to see her whenever they could. The two of them did a lot of travelling together because Sherry was home-schooled so there was a good chance for lots of visits.

Then the girls came up with a brilliant plan. After a lot of begging and pleading and promising to do ALL her school work EVERY day, Charlie and Sherry convinced Anna, Sherry’s mom, and Charlie’s parents to let Sherry drive up with Charlie when they moved into their new house. She was allowed to stay for a week to help Charlie unpack and fix her room up. The two could not have been happier and were perfectly behaved for the last couple of days, packing, cleaning and jumping in to help out when they weren’t asked just for good measure. Sherry was extra-diligent in her studies (which was laughable since thought of her shirking her school responsibilities was almost unheard of) so her mom couldn’t change her mind.

The morning of the move was very emotional for Charlie. Sherry was going to be with her for a little while longer but she wasn’t allowed to keep her for good. Sherry would have to leave her in a week. But she kept reminding herself that it could be worse. She could be completely alone and not have Sherry there at all. As it was, Sherry would help her stay distracted- or focused depending on how she chose to look at it. She kept reminding herself to be grateful for that.

All of her friends came to her house to see her off around nine o’clock. They had all agreed to make a different dessert so the girls could munch all the way to North Grange, Charlie’s new “home”, and still have junk food left over for a couple days afterward. Cookies, brownies, scones, pralines, chocolate-covered pretzels- Gretchen, who doesn’t bake, bought a huge pack of sugar-free gum to “keep all your teeth from falling out of your heads after eating all that junk”. Charlie actually wrestled a kiss onto Sally’s cheek (Sally was one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people on the planet but not really one for the friendly affections) for the bite-sized, car-friendly raspberry cheesecake bites she had made. Raspberry cheesecake was Charlie’s absolute favorite dessert!

The girls all said their goodbyes- several times- they cried a little and laughed a lot and finally it was time to leave. Charlie called Pablo’s name and the milkshake mutt that she and her parents rescued three years ago from the shelter came trotting around the corner of their now-empty house never taking his eyes off Charlie the whole time despite all the hands that reached out and stroked his short curly fur as he passed them. He scooted up to her side and looked up at her. Charlie thought he looked sad too. “It’s gonna be okay Pablo. We’ll be together so we’ll be just fine, okay?” Pablo whimpered once then gently reached up and licked her pinky. She reached out and gave him a quick scratch behind an ear and without another word, Pablo jumped in the back seat of the SUV. Charlie looked after him and glanced into the windows of the vehicle that was now packed so full it reminded her of the old Disney cartoons where the car was busting at the seams with fishing poles and suitcases. But she didn’t really feel like smiling about it just now.
“Okay, ladies.” Allen, Charlie’s dad, said tapping his watch. “It’s time to get on the road. Everyone get in your ‘one more hug’ and then we really need to get going.”

Dad climbed up into the cab of the big moving truck while Charlie, Sherry and Beth, Charlie’s mom, all piled into the SUV with Pablo. As they pulled away from the house, Charlie lost sight of her friends behind the pillow and suitcases overflowing the cargo area of the truck. As they made the turn off her street two blocks down, Charlie saw her waving friends disappear behind a bright blue house on the corner through blurry, watery eyes. Charlie settled down into her seat, her best friend’s arm around her shoulder. A single tear tickled her cheek before wiping it away with her sweatshirt sleeve. As they hit the highway, she was filled with a deep sadness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the SUV pulled down the long dirt drive the girls were finally getting over being terribly giggly, having eaten almost half of the sugary baked goods their friends had made for them. Pulling around the last bend, the house came into view. It was a square, classic looking two story building with a lightly sloped, pointed roof. It was much bigger than their other house. There appeared to be wrap-around porches on both the bottom and top levels. That was certainly a perk. Wow! Charlie had never considered whether she would like the house or not. She hadn’t thought about how big her room would be or where she might put all her furniture. In fact, she realized now, she had been so caught up in her own emotions over leaving that she hadn’t thought about the house at all. She hadn’t even seen a picture- probably because she hadn’t asked.

Looking at it now, it reminded her of a postcard. It was really quite idyllic. The thick woods pressed in from all sides but the front. Without even realizing she was doing it, Charlie decided that there was enough room in the front “yard” to throw the ball around and to play Frisbee tag with Pablo. Frisbee tag was basically being chased down and pounced upon by the knee high mutt if she didn’t throw the disc fast enough. There was so much green. It was pretty but Charlie wondered if it would still be so pretty to her in a week when she was alone.

The girls helped unpack the suitcases, pillows and sleeping bags from the SUV and took them into the living room, dumping them into neat piles so the pillows weren’t lying on the floor. They got Pablo’s bed, food and water and set up all of it in the kitchen for the time being. Then they started taking boxes to the appropriate rooms of the house as Charlie’s dad brought them in off the moving truck instructing them where each went.

It was nearing seven o’clock when Charlie’s mom pulled back into the driveway from her trip out for supplies. At the sound of gravel under the tires, all work stopped cold as everyone ran towards the driveway. Even her dad looked relieved for the break. Mom came bearing three pizzas from the local pizza shop as well as several bottles of various sodas and a tub of chocolate ice cream. Charlie made a face at the latter as her mom was putting it into the cooler that held all their food from the other house while the refrigerator and freezer cooled enough to use. Her mom laughed. With a flourish of her hand to rival the best magician her mom produced one more item. The last thing in the bag was a smaller tub of strawberry ice cream. Charlie squealed and she leapt at her mom, wrapping her in a bear hug and thanking her repeatedly. Everyone joined in the laughter. Charlie hated chocolate and everyone knew it.

Sitting on the living room floor using as-yet-unpacked boxes as their tables, they all ate in silence for the first five minutes. Then slowly but surely conversation picked up a little more. Sherry jumped up halfway through her third piece of pizza “I know what’s missing here!”

She ran out the front door and grabbed the portable radio they were listening to as they had been unloading boxes out of the moving van earlier as well as her big bulky CD case off the front porch banister. As she walked back into the living room she tossed the case of music onto the floor next to Charlie and asked if there were any requests. Sherry plucked several CD’s from the sleeves as requests were called out to her and she put the first one in to play setting the other four inside the cover of the case for easy access when it was time to swap them out. The rest of the evening rolled along casually if not fairly quietly until Charlie’s dad made the announcement that the day had been long enough and they were all well deserving of a good night’s sleep. He stood to go shut and lock the rest of their belongings in the back of the moving van.

“You are aware we are in the middle of nowhere, right? You don’t really need to lock it.”

“Better safe than sorry, honey- even if we are in the middle of nowhere- smart-alec!”

Charlie grinned a small lopsided grin at him as he passed by her then she took another bite of pizza.

“So what do guys think?” Charlie’s mom said as she swept her eyes across the room, “Not too shabby, huh?”

“It’s okay I guess.” Charlie answered in a flat tone. She kept her gaze on the piece of pepperoni she was picking at.

“Look, honey, I know you didn’t have a say in this. A move is a really big deal and there is so much that changes when you are someplace new. But that doesn’t mean the changes have to be bad changes. This is a new place with new opportunities- not just for your father and me but for you, too.”

“I don’t want new opportunities. I liked my old opportunities. They were just fine. I don’t want to go to a new school mom. I don’t know how to talk to these kids out here. ”

“Out… here. What is ‘out here’ exactly? ‘Out here’ someplace new? Or ‘out here’ in the “sticks” where you MUST be superior to anyone who lives someplace rural? You have been ‘out here’ for approximately four hours! You haven’t even MET anyone yet! Don’t be so quick to judge, Charlie.”

Charlie sighed. She really was tired, she just realized. She stood and asked if anyone else was done with their dinner. After collecting paper plates and cups, plastic silverware, dirty napkins and piling it all inside an empty pizza box, she carried the trash over to the big black trash bag they had been using all afternoon and shoved it in. They had opened and unpacked essential boxes that held the necessities they would need to make it to tomorrow as they unloaded the massive moving truck. Charlie’s mom and dad then divided up a few simple chores to finish so they could all turn in for the night. Mom swept the floors of the main rooms they were using including the bedrooms then damp mopped to pick up the dust, Charlie wiped out cupboards and put a few dishes, bowls and sets of flatware away, Sherry unpacked groceries out of the cooler into the refrigerator and freezer and dad set about laying mouse traps, ant bait and roach motels in corners of cupboards, behind closed doors, in closets and in window sills making sure none of them were accessible to Pablo, just in case the silly mutt wanted to play with something in the middle of the night.

Pablo had been following Charlie around all day. It was something he had done since they brought him home from the rescue when he was five months old so she was used to it, but today with all the running in and out of the house and up and down the stairs he had been tripped over more than a few times and one of those times almost shattered her mom’s fine china. Charlie had to tie him up in the kitchen with his food, water and bed. Pablo was very unhappy when Charlie wasn’t around but being able to see her and not be next to her seemed to drive him mad. He had barked and barked until everyone thought they’d go insane. Finally Charlie had to yell at him, which she very rarely did. He had shrunk down to the floor and stayed laying down for most of the rest of the afternoon. But he whimpered every time she walked by so she would jog over to him every couple trips to give him some good scratches and kisses and tell him how proud she was of him. He would wag his tail and try to lick her face as he happily whimpered his love back to her. After she stood and started to walk off again for her next load of boxes, the low whimpering would start all over again.

Charlie and Pablo had been inseparable since she brought him home when she was nine years old. She ate with the puppy, slept with the puppy (against mom’s constant instruction not to!) and dreamed about the puppy. About two weeks after Pablo came home Charlie’s dad suggested they enroll him in an obedience class. He was Charlie’s dog so she would take him to the classes and they could learn together. Of course Charlie was ecstatic and agreed with bear hugs and a face full of kisses before the words were fully out of his mouth.

As the classes went on Charlie and Pablo’s relationship grew stronger and stronger. Their progress seemed effortless. She asked him to do something and as if he were just another person, he seemed to know exactly what she wanted exactly when she wanted it. The instructor had thought the little girl and the rambunctious little dog were going to be a challenge but eventually she didn’t even ask if they needed help anymore. They were an amazing team. At one point, the instructor pulled Charlie’s mom aside and asked if they ever quit practicing at home because they were so impressive to watch together. Her mom’s response was a bewildered “They never practice! I asked if she should be practicing the things she learned in class at home too, and she told me she didn’t need to because Pablo already knew it all. She thought it was because he is ‘the smartest dog on the planet’ and she only has to tell him how to do it once.” The instructor, puzzled but not wanting to cause a scene, accepted this answer quietly and went back into her class.

After that day Charlie’s mom watched the two of them a little closer. She started noticing little things that she hadn’t before. She was right about one thing- they never practiced at home. But somehow the puppy did everything she asked every time- unless he was eating. But even then you could see it was a decision to not answer her. And as soon as he was done eating he would run to find her, happy to do her bidding. Pretty soon, summer came to a close and it was time to go back to school. Charlie’s first day back was one of her parent’s hardest day’s ever with the new puppy. The two hadn’t been apart since Pablo had come home and he was obviously not prepared to be without her now.

“Grab his leg!”

“I’m trying! He keeps biting me!”

“Move over- let me try.”

“I can’t. He’ll get by me if I do. Ouch!”

Pablo’s sharp little puppy teeth punctured Beth’s hand again but deeper this time and he took the opportunity of her recoil to shoot out of the corner from under the couch. Charlie’s dad yelled in surprise and started to go after him again but was caught by his wife’s hand. “Let him go. He needs a break. He needs to know we aren’t hunting him.” She stood up next to Allen and turned around to look at the carnage that was their living room. “And we have some cleaning to do.”

After they picked up the stuffing from the three throw pillows that were now in the trash, cleaned up the dirt from the houseplants that were no longer among the living and put a temporary patch over the large hole in the screen door they plopped down on the couch together. “What was that all about?” Allen asked.

“Give him time. They’ve never been apart.”

“But I have never in my life of owning dogs seen a dog go nuts like that just because the master left the house. We are here! We take care of him and pet him and walk him with Charlie too. He KNOWS us. He acted like he’d never even SEEN us before!”

“Let’s give him another couple of minutes, then one of us will go find him with some treats and see if we can coax him out of whatever hole he’s hiding in now.”

They can’t find Pablo. They search the house top and bottom. They search the neighborhood. Charlie get’s home from school and is panic stricken. She calls his name and starts to run upstairs then they hear scratching on the back door. They find a puppy covered head-to-toe in dirt and mud.