Unleashed

Maisie Evans peeked out her living room window, and smiled happily.

The sun was high up in the sky, shining brightly. A few fluffy white clouds dotted the gorgeous expanse of blue above her head. In short, overhead lay perfection.

She turned back into the living room, and addressed her eager audience. “Okay,” she said solemnly. “We can go.”

Chaos erupted. Nails scrabbled on laminate flooring, trying desperately to make purchase, as each dog took off excitedly. Oh, they needed not direction, nor purpose; they just flew. Walker gave a bark of sheer delight, answered quickly by Dezi, as they tore at top speed through the rooms of the house’s main floor. Panting out their delirium, each dog scrabbled and skidded around corners before taking off again, sending cats scurrying out of their paths before they could be mowed down.

In short, they were keen to go.

Maisie giggled as she went to the cherrywood credenza against the far wall, picking up their harnesses and att hijg the leashes. Turning, she was just in time to witness the two dogs running into the living room again and then into each other. Growling and snorting, they began to wrestle, each dog overcome by the sheer thrill of the adventure that lay before them on that great day.

“Okay, let’s get your harnesses on,” Maisie called, interrupting their games. The dogs froze, mid-action, and waited. Dezi stared up at her, with Walker’s hind leg still dangling from her mouth. Maisie snorted and approached her smaller Pomeranian-Chihuahua cross, or Pomchi, asking her sternly to drop her brother’s appendage from her teeth.

Dezi obeyed, and soon Maisie had both dogs harnessed and leashed. They pranced on the spot at the front door, anxious to make tracks, looking at her pleadingly. Shoving her cell phone into her crossbody purse, Maisie checked that she had poo bags and water, then grabbed her car keys and guided them out the door.

The offleash park was busy that morning. Maisie found a parking spot and pulled in, trying to ignore the cacophony of barking from her two rugrats as she steered in and straightened out her Dodge Journey. Both dogs were losing their minds, though, so she quickly pushed the shifter into park and released her seatbelt. Grabbing Walker’s leash, she picked up Dezi and opened her car door.

Both dogs hit the ground running ~ and barking. Maisie held on tightly as they pulled her towards the entrance, grateful to have her headphones already pressed into her ears to lessen the noise her dogs were creating. Her cheeks flushed with embarassment at the scene being made, and at all of the other pet parents who were now looking her way, but she steadfastly continued towards the gate. She checked quickly around for other dogs before opening the heavy clasp and quickly slipping inside with her two yappers. By this time, they were both trying to run away from her and dive into the groups of other dogs. Maisie tried desperately to bring them back to her, for just long enough to get the leashes off of them so she could release them.

“Walker, stop it!” She said, as the small dog ran to the end of his leash yet again, pulling it taut and making it impossible to unsnap and set him free. With both dogs trying to free themselves in this manner, Maisie was getting more and more frustrated, until she was finally able to grab Walker and hold onto him. She held him in place for a moment, and as the leash slackened, she quickly unsnapped the clasp and set him free.

Walker took off like a rocket, heading towards a small group of much larger dogs, all roughhousing in the centre of the offleash paddock.

As Walker bolted, Dezi tried to follow; when her leash snapped her back, she began to bark in furious protest at his quickly departing form, not wanting to be left behind. Maisie tried desperately to pull Dezi in by her leash and catch her, so she could free her, too, but Dezi did not understand her intention. The little Pomchi kept trying to run after her brother, her FOMO raging. It was an exercise in futility.

“Quite the little squirt,” a voice said loudly over Dezi’s high-picthed yips of protest, as she anxiously watched her brother, running in circles around the group of roughhousing larger dogs.

Maisie glanced over her shoulder in irritation, still trying to catch Dezi. “Pardon me?”

A man stood six feet back from her, his hands in his jeans pockets, watching her calmly. “I said she is quite the little squirt,” he repeated.

“Gee, thanks,” Maisie muttered under her breath, turning away from the guy and back to her madly barking pooch. “That’s very helpful.”

She pulled the leash in, a little at a time, as Dezi tried to run towards Walker. Finally, she had shortened it enough to catch her squirming little girl. She dropped to her knees in the grass and grabbed Dezi, before she could run away again. Dezi danced on the spot, ready to be freed.

Maisie was just reaching for the steel clasp to release her little girl when they guy spoke again. “There are easier ways of doing that, you know?”

Dezi immediately sensed her mum’s tension and danced away from her, starting up a new barking frenzy at the man in earnest. Maisie stared at the ground for a moment, unable to believe that had really just happened.

Without replying or even glancing over her shoulder, Maisie resumed her process of before, shortening Dezi’s leash again, trying to get the dog close enough that she could hold her in place. After a minute of struggling, she finally had a hold of the dog once more; she fought with the clasp for a few more painful seconds, then it finally released. With a deafening series of screeching yips, Dezi tore across the park on wings of angels, ready to join with her brother in terrorizing all of the larger dogs in the park.

Maisie stayed on her knees in the grass for a moment a watched Dezi go, hoping the stranger would take a hint and leave her alone now. She breathed deeply, trying to quell her irritation; she wanted to let her frustration seep out of her body on the streams of her departing breath. This could still be a perfect day, she told herself; she shouldn’t let this rough start spoil the whole thing.

Inhaling deeply once more for good measure, Maisie sat back on her heels and was pushing herself up off of the ground when she saw the guy once more, in her peripheral. He was still just standing there, watching her, his hands in his pockets. Her irritation immediately flooded her once more, which irritated her even further. That’s it, she decided angrily, brushing the dirt from her knees and spinning around to confront him.

“May I help you with something, Sir?” She asked with exgerrated politeness. The guy looked past her to where Dezi and Walker played. Maisie turned and glanced over her shoulder as well, to see what he was seeing. Walker was currently walking around on his two front feet, his hind legs in the air above his head, peeing. Dezi had pinned the world’s smallest dog to the ground and was barking in its face.

“Oh my god,” Maisie moaned, and she took off running towards the group. To her surprise, the guy took off too, running alongside her as she headed for Dezi.

The reached the group of dogs and landed beside Dezi. Calling her name, Maisie quickly commanded her to Drop It. Dezi stopped barking in the little dog’s face and looked up at her mum, but she did not step off of the dog’s chest.

Before she could take another action, the guy swooped in and picked Dezi up. Startled, Dezi meekly allowed him to lift her off of the tiny Japanese Chin, who quickly flipped itself right before running off, barking over its shoulder at Dezi in fury.

Maisie looked back at her charge, now in the arms of the annoying man. He had lifted her little Pomchi up to his face, and dog and man were now eye-level and staring into one another’s eyes.

Maisie watched in fascination as the two just looked at each other. Then Dezi leaned forward and began to lick the guy’s cheek in earnest.

The guy grinned at Dezi, allowing her to continue licking his cheek for a moment, before turning her body away from him and tucking her against his body. Dezi nestled in, then looked out at the world from her new perch beside the guy’s right pec.

A very sculpted pec, Maisie suddenly perceived. Her gaze drew back and she took in the rest of his chest; also muscley and hard-looking. A quick glance at his arms showed ropey veins popping from thick, developed forearms, and biceps bunching as they held Dezi in place. Oh. Shit, she thought, as her gaze traveled back up to his face. There she made eye contact, and found that he had been watching her inspect him, with a detached sort of amusement. Maisie coloured and quickly looked away.

She heard a familiar bark, and latched onto the opportunity. “Walker?” She called. A moment later a black blur shot out of the gaggleof large dogs and a grinning Walker appeared at her feet, panting heavily, his tongue lolling out the sideof his mouth. Grateful for the distraction, Maisie bent down and rubbed his head between his ears.

Walker allowed this for a moment, but was soon enthralled again by the thought of bossing around dogs who were large enough to eat him for breakfast, and a moment later, he was gone again.

And Maisie turned back to the man who held her dog in his arms.