Actually, the biggest worry Denise and I had when Abbot first arrived was that he and Tessa wouldn’t get on. Tessa was our pet dog, the golden retriever we’d taken in as a rescue puppy some years before.
Tessa lived on for most of Abbot’s first four years with us and mostly we needn’t have worried. Nevertheless, theirs was a quirky relationship and not without its moments of tension.
Long before Abbot’s arrival, Tessa had established a set of favourite places, all round the house, where she could get some sleep. Sleeping was what Tessa did best. Whenever I remember her face, it always has that ‘just-woken-up’ expression on it – half grumpy, half confused.
Whenever we had to leave Tessa at home alone for a short time she would head straight for the landing to catch a nap.
When Abbot and I returned she’d appear at the top of the stairs, hair all over the place and staring short-sightedly at us. The look on her face clearly said: ‘Do you mind?! I’m trying to sleep up here.’
Her favourite spot for a snooze was always the rug in the hall. Tessa came to regard this rug as exclusively her property. When we purchased a new hall rug the biggest consideration was whether or not Tessa would like it. Both the old and new rugs were always covered in her hair and no matter how many times we ran the Dyson over it, the hair would reappear within what seemed like seconds.
Every morning when I came downstairs I would retrieve the rug from under the radiator, which is where Tessa preferred it, and put it back in the centre of the hall. Moments later, Tessa would follow me down from her nightly watch on the landing... As she passed through the hall she’d shove the rug back to her preferred location, under the radiator.
Abbot sometimes used to get involved in these little territorial disputes. Whenever he was feeling annoyed with Tessa he’d take himself into the hall and plonk himself firmly in the middle of her rug. As she stomped past him, I swear I could hear him laughing.
Abbott also used to assert himself in other ways. For example, sometimes he’d make a hell of a noise with a pink, squeaky ball, which used to get on everyone’s nerves. Still to this day (long after our poor Tessa passed away) he will sit in front of the bookcase where his toys are kept and stare at them. He’ll then look from Denise to me and swivel his head back to where the toys are. He’s got a huge collection of toys but this pink ball has always remained his favourite, mostly I suspect because it annoys us all so much. It used to bug the ‘you-know-what’ out of Tessa. Abbot would sit as close to her as possible and then squeak it as loudly and as fast as he could. This was torture for Tessa and she’d look at us as if to say: ‘Have you never heard of sleep deprivation?’ Eventually, even Abbot wouldn’t be able to stand the noise any longer and he’d wander out of the room in search of some other mischief. Once he’d gone Tessa would grab that ball and set determinedly about removing its squeak. Unbeknown to Abbot, Tessa was very good at this so by the time Tessa left us Abbot was up to his fifth ball, without him ever knowing. One day the shop will stop stocking them and then we really will have a problem.
Getting back to dogs, Abbot and Tessa would both await Denise’s homecoming each evening with great anticipation. One night this caused a slight incident. Abbot was trying to tick Tessa off and had taken up position on her rug in the hall. In retaliation she’d taken up his usual spot at the top of the stairs. He was facing up the stairs sticking his tongue out at her and she was facing down the stairs scowling at him. This had been going on for several hours and the offer of Bonios and several much loved toys could not coax either party away from the impasse. I was just contemplating inviting Boutros Boutros-Ghali – the Egyptian expert in international relations and peace studies – to come in and mediate and I was wondering if I had enough milk to make tea for all those blokes in blue berets when the front door opened and in walked Denise.
Hostilities were at once forgotten. Tessa almost threw herself down the stairs to be the first to greet her mum. At which point Abbot decided to stand up and say hello to his mum too. The two dogs collided and Tessa was sent skidding across the laminate floor. This was only the beginning of the trouble. For two weeks afterwards they spent all their time staring at each other from opposite ends of the room. I was just on the verge of getting old Boutros and the boys round when something curious happened... I went next door to see my neighbours and when I came back I found them snuggled up together on the rug. Dogs, eh!
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