Sit..Lay Down...Roll Over...Good Dog

I am a sitter. I have been dog-sitting for the past 10 days. Last night I babysat for a sweet little boy named Silas. Today I am sitting at the head of our department’s desk while his secretary is away. I professionally watch other peoples loved ones and belongings when they are gone. I must confess, I am very eager to return to my dear little apartment and my very comfy bed. I miss my loved ones and my own belongings.

The dog-sitting has gone well. I had only one slight snafu, involving a locked door, a locksmith and a hell of a lot of money. Last Saturday, tiny little Petra the Pomeranian needed to go outside. I was vegging out on the futon, wearing my pj’s, watching the extended version of Return of the King (they don’t have cable) when she came into the den to let me know, in no uncertain terms, that it was time to go outside. So I took her out.

When we returned to the door, we found that the handle was locked. Oh no! I had unlocked the deadbolt, but failed to unlock the handle. Stupid, stupid girl! There I was barefoot, in my pajamas, locked out of a house whose owner was in Alaska. That house was impenetrable. The windows were locked. All of the doors were locked. The garage has a code pad and the door from the garage to the house was locked anyways. So I was basically screwed.

Being the resourceful young lass that I am, I scooped up tiny Petra and unlocked the fence and ventured over to the neighbor’s house. They weren’t home. So I went to the neighbor’s next door. They weren’t home either. I wandered down the street until I found a woman gardening with her daughter. The delightful Julie and young Adelaide came over and tried to help me get in. When our efforts proved fruitless, we gave in and called a locksmith.

At first the locksmith seemed reluctant to come let me in. He wanted verbal permission from the owner of the house before he would even come over. When I explained to him that the owner was in the wilderness of Alaska, he backed off and said he would be there in 30 minutes. So Petra and I ventured over to the neighbor’s house for some much-needed water. Julie and Adelaide were a delight. The locksmith eventually arrived, ascertained that I wasn't a hardened criminal, running a scam to break into Paula's house. He then gave me somewhat of a hard time about locking myself out, took my check for $75 and finally left. The whole ordeal took about an hour.

In the meantime, Sydney the big Portuguese water dog had been hanging out inside. While the locksmith was working on the door handle, Syd would occasionally inquisitively pop up in the window next to the door as if trying to figure out what we were doing. When we finally got in, he looked at me like “Where ya been?” He then proudly brought me the bone he’d been chewing on for the past hour.

I may have locked myself out of the house, but I made some charming new friends. Julie and Adelaide have invited me over for dinner. And, of course, asked me to babysit. I gladly accepted, under the condition that they don’t have self-locking door handles. Thus begins anew my circle of sitting.

Peace and love.