Getting Free

My dad visited me for the first time in the beginning of October. Not only was it the first time he’d ever been to New York City, but it was the first time he’d ever been east of Colorado (he lives in a log house he built himself on acres of land in Southern Oregon). I wanted his visit to be relatively stress free, and because he was staying with us (Sadie still isn’t great around men she doesn’t know), I knew I couldn’t also have Brenda in the mix. Belisa was still in transition between apartments and had not yet lined up a new sublet, though did commit to caring for Brenda. Since Belisa was currently couch hopping in Seattle, though, her reservoir of accommodating friends in NYC was running out.

I set out to find them a place to stay. Luckily, a few weeks before my dad’s visit, our neighbors in one of the second floor apartments moved out and we were able to rent the space for the week, since it wouldn’t be renovated for another month. (Stay tuned for “Renting an Apartment for Brenda” post). Though they now had their own space, we saw them often. It was an unfurnished apartment and Belisa couldn’t even make coffee for herself. I got morning texts “from Brenda” asking for some “warm brown liquid for aunt Belisa.” It was communal living at its most dysfunctional.

On the last night of my dad’s visit, Belsa, Ben and I had a meeting with Stacy to discuss the next step of Brenda’s rehabilitation and so instead of leaving Brenda in the downstairs apartment alone, we put her upstairs in our office with Sadie. My dad could therefore hang out free in the main room with Porter, who he had come to affectionately call “Splittin’ Maul Goofball” because of the size of his head and the weirdness of his personality.

Our meeting ran long and almost into a swimming lesson scheduled for Brenda, so Belisa ran upstairs to get her. As I later found out, Brenda got free and ran straight into the main room where my dad was lying on the bed watching TV. Since he had heard so much about this aggressive pit bull who hated men, he just laid still. Brenda apparently looked very pleased with herself as she jumped onto him and plopped down by his side with a big huge grin on her face. Belisa immediately grabbed her and left!