Chapter 23: The Beast and the Granny Also Known as the War of the Worlds

Karen fixed us breakfast at the usual time the next morning and had me join her in scrubbing up the kitchen afterwards. Beast thought that we were hunting for food and joined us in searching for any tidbit he could find before we did. I had a couple of phone calls scheduled for later that morning, and Karen wanted to make sure the house was spotless before Grandma Jorgenson arrived. It would only be Robert meeting her at the airport. I had asked him to call when he had her in the SUV by using his new cell phone. We knew how much time Karen had left to clean that way. I would have helped more, but I was on the phone to Dr. Frisch as I had a question about the legality of something regarding the verification of past treaties. I do have to say that I was glad he agreed to join us, as the man knew his treaties.

I had just ended the call with Dr. Frisch when Robert called to say he was 30 minutes out. That would give Karen enough time to put things away and do a final once over. I ended the call and went to help her. Beast thought we were playing a game and he wanted to play too. He would get in the way or come up to us and demanded to be petted every chance he got. A 120-pound dog is an immovable object when he wants to be.

We found that Beast had a few habits that we would have to work on. The most controversial one occurred when Karen was bent over trying to put things away under the kitchen sink. Beast had come up from behind Karen and goosed her with his nose. I was in the living room doing a quick dusting of the mantle and the wood furniture. I heard a scream from Karen that went from a high pitch to hypersonic that only dogs and supersensitive equipment could hear.

I ran to the kitchen to see what happened. Beast was over on the other side of the kitchen trying to look as innocent as possible, and Karen was glaring back and forth from him to me and back again. Karen ordered me to take my dog outside and keep him there as we would discuss this later. Why was he my dog now? Karen decided he was the one when we went to the pound. I needed an explanation of that line of thought.

We went into the back yard to see what mischief Beast could get into out there. He went over to inspect the work of the security installers and got them to play with him, that is until he grabbed a spool of wire and took off with it streaming cable behind him. He soon found out that they didn’t want to play with him. He then went into the Carriage House to see if he could find anyone to play with him in there. That didn’t go well either as I had a Project Manager asking me to keep him out of the Carriage House. Beast thought it was great fun to play keep away with the workers’ tools and have them chase him around the yard.

I finally had to go get his leash and take him for a walk around the cul-de-sac. We had to stop so Beast could water every tree and hydrant on the street and sniff the grass every so often. It kept him out of trouble, and I got to wave at the neighbors as we walked by. I don’t know what I would have done if Beast would have left a present in one of the neighbors’ yards. Looking at my watch, I saw that it was time to head back to the house so I could be there to greet Grandma Jorgenson.

I had just reached the front door and let Beast in when Robert pulled up in front. The protection detail went over to see who the company was until I waved them away. They could be annoying doing their job at times. Robert opened the door to let Grandma out, and I went over to greet her. I was so glad to see her; I couldn’t put how much I missed her into words. She was part of the family and I missed her terribly. I hugged her and escorted her into the house while Robert unloaded her bags. I opened the door for her, and Beast decided it would be fun to play ball and came bounding up just as she stepped in the front entry. The momentum of his bumping into her would have knocked her flat on the floor if I hadn’t caught her.

Grandma Jorgenson turned and said to me, “What is that?”

“That is Beast, our protector and companion. You will love him once you get to know him,” I said, even I didn’t believe what I said.

“He is one of the changes I wanted to show you.”

Karen appeared at that moment and rushed to her grandmother. This was the first time they had seen each other since Karen had informed me that we were expecting. They were both hugging and crying, and just having a good time weeping. Beast thought it was a group hug and wanted to get in on it, so he went over to lean into Karen and Grandma, almost knocking both of them over.

Karen yelled, “Go lay down and I mean now, Beast.”

Beast must have sensed that he made a poor choice, and did as told. I think that dog would have died if he thought he hurt one of his humans. Karen and her grandmother went into the living room and sat on the couch to talk. I went back out to the front entrance and picked Grandma’s bags from where Robert had left them. It took me a couple of trips, but I carried them from the entrance to her bedroom off the kitchen. I knew she would want to unpack later.

I walked back to the living room and saw that Beast had moved from the hall into the living room, lying at Karen’s feet. Karen was doing her best to fill Grandma on all that had happened since we last seen each other. Grandma looked down at Beast and expressed doubt that he would frighten a chipmunk when Karen told her about the scary incident with the intruder peering over the wall.

Beast just looked up at her, wondering how she fit into the grand scheme of things. He sensed that this new person was also a part of the pack and she was worthy of his protection. I came to Beast’s defense and told her that looks can be deceiving. I told her how he reacted when we were outside and the man had suddenly appeared looking over the wall, and how Beast had lunged at the intruder. Grandma stated that he better stay out of her way, as she had no use for a mangy, stinky, dog. If a dog could look insulted, I would say the look Beast gave her was one.

Grandma went to her room to unpack, and I kept Beast with me for the rest of the morning. I got Beast’s leash off the hook in the front entrance way just before noon. Beast must have heard the jingling the leash made, as he was soon at my side dancing wanting to go out. He liked the earlier walk we did while I was out learning the neighborhood.

I wanted to explore what exactly was on other side of the wall from our property for a walk this time. Beast stood still long enough for me to clip the leash on to his collar, his stubby little tail was almost vibrating from his excitement. It was a good thing that I had a solid hold on his leash or he would left me behind in his enthusiasm to get out the door. He led me along at a trot, only stopping every so often to sniff and water a tree. Beast was marking his territory to let the other dogs know that he was now the master of this domain.

I was lucky enough to be able to guide Beast in the direction I wanted to go. We quickly made it up to the corner. Beast stopped and seemed apprehensive at first. The noise from the traffic and all the other noises frightened and confused him. He stopped and anxiously looked around, and then back at me for reassurance. I started scratching between his ears and softly talked to him trying to relieve his anxiety. Beast’s reaction told me that he was no city dog. I would say that he came from a rural or suburban setting, where there was no traffic and loud noises to frighten him.

I was able to get Beast to go the direction I wanted to go with a little encouragement. He was a lot calmer as long as I kept him away from traffic, though he would occasionally look over at the traffic when a loud truck went by. The main street we were now walking along had a few open shops, with a mix of empty storefronts as well.

I tried to guess where the end of our property would be. One thing I did notice that there was no alleyway between our property and the buildings, at least from this end of the block. We walked to the end of what I thought was the end of the block and noticed what looked like an alley more than a street. That was when I noticed a street sign almost hidden by the road signs posted in front of it. The side street carried the name ‘Auction Alley’.

What a strange name for a street or an alley. This alley must have led to the slave auctions that made Alexandria infamous. I also suspected that our intruder used this alley to gain access to our property’s back wall. I cautiously followed the alley with Beast sniffing and investigating the junk piled behind several of the stores. We must have gone halfway down the block behind the stores when we came to an open area. It was almost a square in shape by the looks of it. Buildings backed up on two sides of the square, and there was a pile of brick rubble to which people more recently dumped tires, furniture, and washers and dryers on the third side. That was definitely an eyesore as well as a health hazard. I planned to see about getting that cleaned up. The fourth side of the square had an eight-foot high wall that would seem to be my wall.

This was how the intruder had found access to my property. I could see the second story of the Carriage House, but not much more, by looking over the top of the wall from ground level. This would be the perfect access point to penetrate our security at night. It was secluded and dark. I would make sure that there would be bright lights and two video cameras pointing out in this direction. Beast had seen enough to satisfy him, and kept tugging on the leash to head back to the street. I looked over toward the corner of the wall as we were about to leave, and I saw junk stacked up against it. That was how the intruder planned to get over the wall. He had a ready supply of material to stack up and make it easier for him. Eradicating the junk pile should stop any further intrusion from here.

Beast suddenly stopped on the way back out of Auction Alley, and the hair on his neck stood up. I immediately started searching for the threat when Beast did this. I saw Beast looking at an overflowing dumpster that we had passed earlier. He started growling and straining on the leash. There was something over there that he felt was a threat. I was without any defense other than a growling mutt. I mentally kicked myself for my negligence of leaving the house unarmed and without my security detail. I would make carrying the Walther a regular practice if I survived whatever was hiding around the dumpster.

Beast was straining at the leash and doing his best to get at the threat. It was all I could do to hold him and keep him close by. A 120-pound dog is a lot stronger than what most people think they are, and I was losing the battle. Beast kept straining and slowly dragged me closer to the dumpster. I was mentally preparing to defend myself when a feral cat jumped out of the overloaded dumpster and ran off. It was all I could do to hold on to Beast, I kept shouting ‘No’ at him. He finally listened and stopped straining on his leash. He kept breathing like a steam engine and making a guttural sound deep in his throat. It took a while for him to calm down and me to rid myself of the adrenaline dumped into my system. I was still somewhat shaky from Beast’s alerting and the excitement it raised. It was time to head home before the detail became concerned and came looking for me.

I gave the leash a tug and got Beast to stand closer to me. He would occasionally look up at me on the walk back to the house as if he knew I wasn’t happy with him. One thing I knew was that Beast was going to doggy school to learn obedience and basic guard dog skills. I was hoping Scotty or a member of the protection detail knew of a trainer we could hire to work with him.

Beast ran out to the kitchen to get a drink out of his water bowl when I got back home. I heard Grandma hollering for me to come clean up after my dog shortly after that. Thinking that he had an accident in the house. I went to see what happened. I was relieved to find that the offense Beast had committed was to slop water on the kitchen’s brick floor. A simple swipe with a towel mopped up the spilled water. I planned on going to a pet store to inquire about a mat to place under his food and water bowls, anything to keep the peace.

I was heading to the kitchen for the noontime meal, when I heard Beast let out a yelp. Grandma was grumbling that ‘no dog would put its filthy mouth anywhere near her dining room table’. Poor Beast had fallen victim to the wooden spoon and he was cowering in the corner when I entered the kitchen. He must thought he could steal one of her biscuits from the plate she had left near the edge of the table. She caught him and he paid the price for his attempted thievery. I heard him yelp several more times that afternoon and she would be grumbling about that blasted dog. The only time you saw Beast in the kitchen after suppertime, was when Grandma wasn’t there, and then it would for only be for a moment to grab a quick bite or a drink. He would stay in the front entrance lying on the tile floor the rest of the time. You would see him look up at you with sad eyes and show his displeasure with a quick snort if you walked by him, then lay his head back down.

This went on for several days. Grandma would tell me of Beast’s transgressions of the day when I came home from the office. She kept after me to do something about Beast’s bad behavior. It got to the point that I was considering putting her on a plane back to Chicago or Minot. I held off having that conversation with Karen because I knew it would be difficult for both of us to make that decision. We unquestionably loved Grandma, but we have grown to love the big mutt at the same time. I hated to say it, but we were defenseless against night intruders without Beast, as the protection detail had let us down and had yet to regain our confidence. This put both of us in a bad position.