Loosing Lothar

Michael came into my room. “There’s some guy on the phone calling about Lothar.”

I frowned. “What’s he like?”

“He sounds nice, do you want to take it?”

“What’s his name?”

“Mike”.

“Hello....?”

The voice at the other was that of a young man in his late twenties or early thirties and sounded pleasant enough. He and his wife Vicki were looking for a child-friendly, outdoors, family dog. I related how we had found Lothar and said that he was a full Lab or nearly so. I described what Lothar was like and what we had done with him. I told Mike that although we were sure he had been given his vaccinations, we ultimately decided to to run him through the full set of puppy shots just to be sure.

Mike said that Lothar sounded pretty good and he wanted to know when he could arrange to see him. I replied that I had been driving Lothar around for placement interviews, that I liked to check out prospective takers and that I would be happy to drive him over to their place. Mike replied that he and Vicki lived all the way down in Cupertino, which was a long way for me to drive. He added, though, that he worked up in Woodside and we could meet at his place of work for a preview check out. We arranged to meet on Tuesday.

“So...?” Michael asked.

“He sounds nice,” I replied, “I’m meeting him Tuesday after work at his place of work for a check out.” Michael said he felt this was it. A part of me resented that this might be it.

“How do you know? I said I wasn’t going to commit to anything on Tuesday without seeing how they lived. “Fine” Michael said “but we can’t keep him forever.”

oOo

Late Tuesday, I piled the doggies into the truck and drove down to Woodside. Mike worked in an industrial park and by the time I got there most everyone else had left and the parking lot was pretty much empty. I pulled in and looked for someone who fit Mike’s self-description -- guy in his late 20’s, 5’ 11” brown hair, slim-to-medium build wearing a brown jacket.

“Hi.” We shook hands.

Mike did not look like a jock, but he did look like a reasonably fit outdoor kind of guy. + 1 point. He was easy going with me and relaxed with the dog; + 2 points. He gave a humorous snort when he saw Fips (well... what could I expect?) but I could see that Lothar was what he had had in mind. I let Lothar out of the car and let him and Mike check eachother out. +1 and +1.

Mike and I chatted it up a bit while Lothar tangled around our legs. Mike was at ease with my desire to check him out as well. He said they had a large yard, and that he and his wife liked to go on weekend outings and camping trips. Either he or his wife had owned a Lab before and knew what the breed was like and how water loving and energetic they were.

So....? Mike said that Lothar looked like a great dog, but he needed to describe him to Vicki and he would give me a call in a day or two.

oOo

The following evening, Mike called back and said that Vicki wanted to check out Lothar herself but otherwise they were willing to take the dog if we were willing to part with him.

Gulp.

I said we had one more check up at the vet on Thursday and that it would probably be best to make arrangements for Sunday. Mike said that sounded fine.

I hung up the kitchen phone and looked at Michael. “Looks like it’s a done deal.” Michael was relieved -- not at loosing Lothar but that the whole placement hassle was finally over with.

I started to hypotho-worry. “Suppose it turns out that the place is awful?”

“What do you mean?”

“I donno. I mean suppose it’s just obviously not the place for Lothar?”

“Then bring him back.”

“Even if I’ve agreed...?”

“Yes.”

For Michael it was obvious either way. If it worked, it worked. If it looked bad, then cut the losses and bring him back. Or leave him where he will be unhappy and mistreated?

oOo

It was mild and sunny as I drove Fips and Lothar down to Cupertino early in the afternoon, along with Lothar’new set of papers and doggie-kit. As always the dogs stared out the window, with no inkling of what was in store. After a while, both dogs slumped into long-distance mode until they felt the car slow down as I turned onto the city streets. Back up to the window! both sniffing the air for what was up.

The directions to Mike and Vicki’s place were fairly complicated and had me manouevering left and right and left through strange city streets. “You’ll cross some railways tracks....” And when I did, I realized that I had indeed gone over to the “other side of the tracks”. This was not Hayward’s going-upscale neighborhood but a part of town that was rather on the scrappy side. The area was not a slum, but it could turn into one without too many steps in between. I turned into a cul-de-sac of small single family homes behind waist-high cyclone fences, and pulled up to the address.

Mike and Vicki were waiting and came out to greet us. Vicki was as friendly as Mike, only more talkative. Mike understood that I wanted to check his place out and invited me inside, as I made excuse-noises about going over the paperwork with them while the fuzzy butts waited in the truck.

There certainly were no porcelain wash-basin pitchers here. In fact, “decor” of any sort was not a word one would use, unless Eclectic Functional is a new post modern style. The house was definitely actively lived in.

Mike showed me to the back yard past a cluttered back porch. “Yard” was also not a word one would use, unless DustBowl is a new landscape design. There was a swing set on one side, a large fenced-in dog run on the other, some barrels of something here and there, and some patches of grass here and there between dusty track trails. My heart sank.

Mike hadn’t mentioned anything about a fenced-in dog run, and I interrogated him on it. He explained that they had had a Rottweiler whom they kept inside the kennel when they both had to leave, as they hadn’t felt comfortable letting a Rottweiler be loose.

“Well, are you planning on putting Lothar in there?”

“No.” In fact he was planning on taking him to work most of the time.

I believed him. Some people smell of lies and others don’t.

My eyes scanned the hard scrabble back yard, as I turned around and looked at the back porch and house. And Then it hit me.

“Why am I looking at this through human eyes!? What would Lothar see?”

What Lothar would see is: Oh goody a big space to galumph around and around and around in without ever having to worry about digging up the flower bed.

I looked at Mike, took a deep breath and smiled. “Well, lets bring him in.”

We all walked to the front fence. I walked over to the truck and brought Lothar over. He Vicki and Mike got acquainted and after a short while, I walked back to the truck, and drove away waving out the window, as Lothar, Mike and Vicki stood by the fence looking and waving back.

Fips looked at me quizzically. “No Fipsie; no more Lothar.”

=====0O0=====

Letter to Mike and Vicki

=====0O0=====

EPILOGUE

.