The Gentle While-Chapter 2 "Shelter"

The car ride was brief but exhilarating. Wylie was so content that even the collar put on him with a leash attached could not budge him from his place. He felt that the invitation to his position in the car was reason that he needed to not go anywhere else. The helper and the mom were talking then they laughed. The mom walked over to him, “I cannot take you home buddy.” His heart sank. 

He was not at the home of the mom and her children. He was not home. They finally pried him from the car. They petted him and looked him over. Gently, the helper looked at his teeth, “Oh buddy, you’re an old man.” He heard them say he was fixed. This perplexed him. Before he lost his family he would occasionally hear his man say the tractor needed fixed. He knew he was slow but never in his days had he heard he had been broken.

The women walked him into a small barn where the smell of others of his kind could be sensed. The smells and sounds confused him. They coaxed him into a house with little windows on each side and a fence like door in the front. Wylie was so confused. He was sure he was going home.

The women gave him food and water. Wylie was too heartbroken to eat. He stood in his house with his head toward the ground. The sad look the women returned further puzzled him. They seemed so loving and accepting. Why was he not going home?

The door to the small barn was soon closed and with nothing else to do he curled up on the blanket the helper put down. Wylie wanted to sleep. His thoughts of how the times must have changed since he had his family. He thought of his cat, although they were never close they revered each other with respect. Cat always knew the answers. She would know why he was not home. A wave of sadness swept over him as he wondered if Cat was still with his family. A low desperate sigh and he drifted off to sleep.

Wylie awoke to the sound of a key in the door. He jumped up ready for the mom to walk in and say “Load up,” but it was not her. His head fell. This kind keeper was good to him. She walked him around the property and spoke kindly. She gave him a room all to himself. As nice as it was he missed sharing a room with his kids. They had loved him so and he knew it. Sadness loomed over him.

As the sun began to set he met another two-legger. She walked him around the property and spoke to him in such a tone he was almost sure she would put him in her car. The gentlewoman did many of the activities the others had done. Cleaning and feeding, watering and talking but she never told him to load up.

The next day the helper arrived. She had quite a pep in her step as she mentioned a bath. He remembered the routine. His mother had on many occasions washed off the stink. She always grumbled during the scrubbing but the gentle caress of the towel when he smelled like a flower and her sweet talk always made it all worthwhile. He gladly took a bath.

The bath took a lot longer than he remembered. He enjoyed the touch that he had so long ago felt. The helper brushed and brushed at his coat. He felt so light and free without all the matted blanket on him. The room was cool but the water was so warm as the helper scrubbed away the stink. She used the nicest tone in her voice as she told him how handsome he would look. She used the same gentleness as his mother used when she caressed the flowery water from his fur.

Every day the kind keeper would come in to make sure he had food and water. He always greeted her with the dance. The dance is a special thing he created to tell his family he needed to go outside like a good boy. He made sure to prove he deserved to go home.

  

When the sun was at his highest the helper would stop in and clean. As she did her chores she would let him roam free in the little barn. He followed her around hoping that maybe she had room in her home.

  

Again the gentlewoman would stop to take him outside as the sun set. He saw several sunrises during his stay in his room. Each day his head would drop further. He was not happy. This was not home. Each time one of the women would go to leave they would greet his sad gaze with a sigh. He knew they could not take him home. He did not blame them. No one had wanted him home in a very long time.

   

The next morning was usual. The kind keeper came in and he did his dance. She took him out and he gently led her back to his room. He was giving up hope. In all his years he had never felt this way. He had seen a couple others of his kind get in cars to go home. He knew he was too old and was willing to accept his new life. He would survive off of the little bit of time each of the women could give and rest out his final days in his room.

     

The sun was nearly as hot as it could get when the helper arrived. She had that same spring in her step as the day he had the bath. He couldn’t help but feel maybe a bath would lift his spirits. She walked him outside and around the little barn and brought him back in through the front door. The little room was where he’d first been when he arrived. The space was a reminder to the changes in the way people were. He thought that maybe that bath wouldn’t help much at this point.

    

The door opened up. Wylie couldn’t believe his eyes. It was the mom. He glanced passed her for the children but the door was already closed. “Come on old man, let’s load up.” His nose was to the door thinking of home.

Wylie before and after the bath.