A couple of years ago, our dog Skoshi followed me and Riley to Riley's school, and made a brief appearance in a fifth grade classroom. Apparently the place must have made a favorable impression, because she went for an encore this morning.
February is Brian't usual month for an Air Force Reserves tour. This year, he had the unique opportunity to go to India (with stops in Nova Scotia, Spain, Crete, Thailand and Japan along the way). We figured that since the kids are getting older, we would try this month without a family member in town to help out AND without a temporary nanny. I was simply going to cut back on my work hours so that I could start a little later and be home a little earlier. Unfortunately, this just happened to coincide with a whopper of an influenza season. Not only have I been crazy busy at work, but both of my kids came down with influenza - in spite of recieving the vaccine. Yesterday evening, I found Jax laying in the middle of the floor, coat still on and that flushed-cheek, glassy-eyed febrile look of influenza. His temperature was 103... hence, preschool was out of the question for the following day, and Jax has a way of preventing me from getting ANY work done when he is in clinic with me. He just needs constant input from me ("MOMMY CAN I HOWD YOURW PHONE? PWEASE? JUST FOR A WITTLE BIT? I WON'T WATCH A SHOW. .... MOMMY CAN I WATCH A SHOW ON YOURW PHONE? PWEASE? JUST ONE? MOMMY I'M HUNGWY. DO YOU HAVE ANY COOKIES? YES YOU DO. YES YOU DO. YES YOU DO. BUT I'M SOOOO HUNGWY! PWEASE? THANK YOU FOR THE COOKIE MOMMY. ACTUALLY THAT WASNT WEALLY A COOKIE, IT WAS MOWE WIKE A SANDWICH. CAN I HAVE SOME CHOCOWATE MIWLK?" You get the idea. Any possiblity of holding a conversation or completing a thought is utterly shattered. So, after scrambling a bit, I managed to find someone who could help watch him for the day. The next morning I was getting Riley ready for school, putting the dogs outside for a potty break and trying to convince Jax that even though he wasn't going to school, he still had to change out of his pajamas to go to clinic with me for a strep and flu swab. I shooed Riley out the front door, convinced Jax to take a potty break before we left for my clinic and went to let the two dogs back in. Dozer was waiting by the back door, but Skoshi was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, Cr@p." I thought. She'd escaped again. For some reason, her goal in life is to find some other, better, family. On more than one occasion she has found her way to some neighbor's doorstep and pleaded to be taken in. Usually I have to chase after her in the car. If I just go after her on foot, there is no way she's coming back to me. But if she can get a car ride out of it, she's all in. She and Dozer managed to escape 2 days ago as well, they slipped past me as I was ushering Riley out the front door. Fortunately though, it was raining that morning, and although I still had to fetch Skoshi with the car, Dozer came back as soon as he realized 1)it was cold and wet outside and 2)I was holding a bag of lunch meat. Hence I wasn't too worried this morning when Skoshi was discovered to be missing. She always comes back, so I wasn't too worried about her. I checked in on Jax, still heading for the potty, warned him I was going outside to look for Skoshi and headed out the door. As I shut the door behind me I could hear Jax's protests "MOMMY! WAIT FOR ME! NO! MOMMY! I WANT TO GO TOO!! WAIT FOR ME! I GOTTA GO POTTY, WAIT FOR ME!"
"Of course I'll wait, but I 'll just look down the street for her and reassure the other mom's that are in the process of escorting their children down the street to school that I'm on top of the situation, and there's no need to panic.
Fortunately, Skoshi was right outside the gate, sniffing around the sago palms and looking totally unhurried. Unfortunately, as soon as she saw me, she took off trotting down the street. She made it about 20 yards, when she seemed to remember there might be something better to do, and first made a u-turn, and then a bee line for the neighborhood's back gate. The one that takes her right to the school yard. I started to head back in to the house, to gather Jax up from the potty and go in search of the dog, when I began to recall the last time she escaped at this time of morning (see other blog entry). I figured Jax was at least safe inside the house, and sprinted for the back gate. I'd no sooner made it through the gate and the break of trees when I realized I was far too late. All the cars in sight had that warily-driving-so-as-not-to-hit-the-errant-dog look about them, and all the pedestrians were turned and staring perplexedly after what I can only assume must have been Skoshi's trail. I ran across the street (impressive running in a straight skirt and heels, I must add) looking all the while for any sign of my dog. Another mom from my neighborhood saw me and casually commented "She went that way", waving towards the carpool line. (Yes, as you may have gathered from above, dog escapees from the Gwinnup house hold are only too common.) As I trotted towards the carpool line, another mom yelled from a passing car "OH! Is that yours?! She went back towards the school."
Great. Back towards the school. I've (literally as well as figuatively) been down this road before, and so has Skoshi. The rest of the school has doors closed and inaccessible to those of the canine persuasion, but not the carpool line. Doors there are wide open for anyone to saunter through. As I ran along the side of the school, following the laughing hand gestures of one teacher and then another, I thought I was home free. I was almost to the playground. If Skoshi made it this far, then odds are she's running about the play equipment, and not actually INSIDE the school. But just then, one helpful teacher called after me the words I was dreading "No, not that way, she went in through there."
"Where?" I asked, my eyes scanning for ANY OTHER OPTION.
"Those doors right there!"
Great.
Last time, Skoshi had gotten so lucky with one open door, that she tried the second open door she came to, and wound up trapped in Mrs. Lofe's fifth grade classroom. She is unfortunately for me, way too smart, because this time she bypassed all the classrooms and headed straight down the halls and towards the cafeteria - thus maximizing the chaos wrought. Every classroom door had a teacher and some kids standing outside, apparently it's not quite everyday that a dog decides to traipse through the school. I made it to the main hallway of the school, and paused to figure out which way to go, only to be instantly recognized by just about everyone I saw. Last time this happened I was lucky enough to be in shorts and flip-flops, with my hair in my face. Not so lucky this time. I turned around to come face to face with a big man grouchily toting my errant blonde dog (okay, okay, I may have been projecting my own fear of reprisal at this point. Other sources have since confirmed he was not actually grouchy.) I penetantly collected my canine, profusely appologized to anyone within 20 feet of us and proceeded to escort Skoshi out the front door. In retrospect, she might have been a little overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of exuberantly loud small people that populated the school, but there was something of a jubilant bounce in her step as we walked home - with me grumbling the whole way.
I pushed her through the doorway to find a very tearful Jax looking at me accusingly. "YOU DIDN'T WAIT FOW ME!"
So, now I have to either take Skosh out on a leash or figure out how she's managed to escape again. And I am waiting with utter trepidation for the letter that's sure to arrive home from Dr. Norris, the school principal, regarding Skoshi's unacceptable and clearly recidivist behavior. I suppose I should just get used to such letters home, though. After all, Jax does start kindergarten next fall.
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