Читать книгу Dark Awakenings: Volume 2 of the Little Girl Lost Trilogy - Cindy Hanna - Страница 7

C HAPTER T WO

An Evening Stroll

Princess, my yellow Lab, greets me at the door, tail wagging, when I get home. You’d think I’d been gone a week, not just an hour. Love her greetings. They make me feel special. Loved. Can’t imagine being without her. She’s been there through everything. Always cheerful. Always accepting. Find myself talking to her a lot. It’s comforting. I swear she understands me. She tilts her head at all the right moments and barks her reply when asked a question.

“Hey, girl!” I shuffle down the hallway to the kitchen where I deposit my bags on the counter, dog at my side. “Been waiting?”

She barks.

“Good girl.” I rummage through the groceries and find what she’s waiting for, a treat. Tearing open the bag, I hand her one. No circus tricks for my gal. Never saw the point in making a dog do tricks for a treat. You either appreciate and reward your pet, or not.

I put away the groceries and set a New York steak on a broiling pan. While I preheat the oven, I gather fixings for a salad: mixed lettuce, glazed walnuts, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, pomegranate seeds and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

While my steak cooks, I make the salad and set Princess’ food out for her. When my steak is done, I serve myself. My knife glides through the fibers of the meat as if it were softened butter. Placing the juicy morsel in my mouth, I lean back and close my eyes. Mmmm, that’s good!

After eating, Princess sits by my side waiting for me to finish washing the dishes. “I know, girl.” Drying my hands, I reach for her leash and clip it to her collar. She nearly pulls me out the door.

You’d think the dog would get bored with this routine. Or at least not act as though it’s her first time on a walk. We take one every evening and hike local trails and mountains when time allows. Used to go more during the week. Not so much any more. I enjoy her enthusiasm. It’s contagious and makes me smile.

Being happy is good. Spent way too much time unhappy. For a while there, my life was nothing more than one long tragedy after another. Never had enough time to come up for air before the next thing would hit. Of course, getting addicted to crack didn’t help. Only added to my troubles. Handing control of my life over to a chemical…. What was I thinking? Oh, yeah, I wasn’t. At the time I was young, naive, hurting and wanted to stop my emotional pain. Using was one of the stupidest things I ever did.

A block into our walk, as always, Princess relaxes and settles into an even stride. She anticipates my moves and reads me so well. We wind our way through the maze of our neighborhood’s tree-lined streets.

Every now and again we come across a car parked at the curb. Most are pulled into driveways or tucked away in garages. Wait. What was that? I slow my pace. Look around. Though it’s dark, the streetlights allow me to scan the area. I don’t see anything. But I feel it. I’m being watched. I look down at Princess. She appears relaxed. I shake off the feeling of unease and resume my pace.