She was warm. A limbic, peaceful warmth that, had she any memory, sensory or tangible, of being cuddled and swaddled as a babe, this would be what it would feel like. But then something changed. Something was moving, something that should be still, was moving. The warmth of her slumber was slipping away as the movement continued to creep into her consciousness.
"Oh Bingo, No, no, no. Go lie down." Bingo, the old, white muzzled, golden retriever was standing on the other side of Eva's bed, looking at her and wagging his tail with far too much vigor for this time of the night or morning. "Bingo Down."
She rolled back over determined to ignore him. Anytime anyone even looked at him that tail went off and didn't stop for at least five solid minutes of ignoring him afterward. Bingo should have been named Happy; it would have been more appropriate for him. Bingo didn't settle down and, instead, became more agitated. Agitated, why was he agitated? Eva thought.
She heard the loud thunderclap at the same time she saw the lightning. The powerful storm from last night was still making its way across the county, or was this a new storm front?
"Am I missing all the pretty lights? Is that why you woke me up?" She got out of bed and, with a glance at the clock and a grimace at what she saw, she headed toward the bathroom. Bingo followed, tail wagging and tongue lolling. She stepped over Sammy, the young golden, in the hallway and as she entered the bathroom she heard water. She stood stock still and cocked her head to locate the source. Not the bathroom, and not her grotto; she could safely eliminate those two places. She used the toilet and then went to investigate.
Making her way down to the kitchen, she could still hear the running water and still didn't know where it was coming from. By now all four dogs were up, escorting her as she checked each window and door. When she opened the door to the basement, all four dogs alerted to something. Ears up, tails up, chests puffed, heads erect, they listened for a second or two before Ruffian charged down the steps first and the other three bounded after him. Eva grabbed Bellyboy, the Rottweiler, by the collar; his job was to stay with her. This was a perk for having her own pack. Send the beasts to flush out the bad guys but keep the fiercest warrior for personal protection.
Eva was not the least bit afraid of the barks and other noises the dogs were making and reacting to, she had her Bellyboy and like all good Rotties, Bellyboy stood in front of Eva, studying and waiting to be released in the fray. The barking tapered off and Ruffian came bounding up the steps, dripping water from his haunches and tail.
"Oh, nooo. You found the water?" At that, Ruffian went right back down the steps.
"Alright, go off." Permission granted, the huge Rottie and his wagging stump of a tail went charging down the steps, no doubt hoping for a piece of the mysterious threat. Eva followed with much less enthusiasm.
The carpet squished, a sodden mess under her feet, as she ventured to the source of the sound.
"Oh No. No. No." Eva muttered running toward the far side of the basement. The rain was slashing against her house, running down the sides and seeping in through cracks in the molding around the window and door.
"Son of a gun. He was right, dog gone it." Mr. Surgie had strongly suggested she forgo some of her fancy renovations and tend to replacing the window and door in the basement. Checking the sash on the window she saw nothing she could fix or fiddle with to make the water stop coming in. She went to the door and opened it, then shut it. Again, it seemed to be working fine, other than the gushing water, as far as she could tell.
She closed her eyes, breathed in and out a few times then stood straighter. There was nothing she could do, and at this hour, no one she could call. When she reached for the door again, there was another lightning burst and for a split second she thought she saw someone outside. Eva quickly pulled her hand back and closed her robe tighter. Heart pounding, she reached for the door again, to make sure it was locked. As her fingers began to turn the lock she heard a whimpering sound.
She glanced at her gang, her great and powerful barometer of any given situation's potential danger, and noticed all was well, but all were curious. It would have been good if the spotlight worked, she thought, but that too was on the list of repairs.
"I will never go against his recommendations again, I promise." She said to the ceiling. She rummaged through a drawer, then went back to the door with the flashlight.
A soaking wet dog stood just outside the door. "Oh, poor thing. Why do people do this? When will they take care of their animals?" Another dog had found her.
"Welcome to Eva's home for unwanted pets." She said through the door's window as she sized up the new dog. This one looked bigger than Ruffian, but smaller than the retrievers and the Rotty. Through the door she spoke to the dog, "Hang on Sweets, gotta calm the beasts first." She turned to her gang and held out her hands, she stood relaxed and calm, and waited while the dogs sniffed her, gazed at her and finally followed her lead. Their ears relaxed as they lost interest in what was behind the door. They walked away to find something interesting; except Bingo who, as usual, stood with his tail ready for takeoff. Bellyboy walked away entirely disinterested and perhaps a little disappointed there was no threat after all.
She opened the door and the poor wet thing came slowly into the basement. It was filthy and smelled horrible. Matted fur all over; it looked like some kind of spaniel type, only bigger. She knelt on the ground to allow the new one to sniff her. Then she went to her dog bathing tub and grabbed a handful of towels. The other dogs were greeting the new one, when she heard another whimper.
"Pain? Just ...get you dried off a little." As she leaned down to wrap a towel around the dog, it began to turn in circles, trying to bite its hind end, panting and circling, then more biting. "Hurt down there? Okay, be still. I won't hurt ..." She stood up in shock, this couldn't be real. No, this wasn't something she could deal with at all. Her gift would be too overwhelming; it would be too much for her.
"No, no, no, that's too much, I can't do puppies. I can't do labor. Huh uh, not for me." As she wrapped the towel around the dog Eva, saw the teats dripping milk, felt the abdomen clench and saw the birth canal swollen and white, pulsing and oozing.
"This night just gets better and better." Resigned to the ordeal ahead, she looked to her gang for support and noticed they all had backed up a good five feet. "Cowards."
Eva circled through the basement grabbing two paper sacs filled with old newspapers, every towel she could carry and an old blanket. She called for her gang to follow her as she bounded up the steps. At the top of the steps she turned around and, sure enough, the new one was trying to get up the steps too. Eva ran up to her grotto and dropped her supplies, then ran back to the basement.
She carefully gathered the new one in her arms and carried her up to the grotto. Placing the new dog on the tile floor, she turned to the pile of blankets and towels. The blanket went down first, then she shredded the newspapers and let them fall all over the blanket, she kept the towels off to the side for future use. She stood in the middle of the heap and called for the Mommy, who slowly sniffed her way to the pile of bedding.
