Girlie — Part 2 of 4

The second best job I ever had

Babysitting a dog and cleaning a swimming pool? How hard could that be?

A lot of talking occurred during the drive from Palm Springs to Burbank. Walter and his wife asked me endless questions. If they were going to leave their precious doggie under my care for six weeks they wanted to know what kind of person I was.

Although she didn’t speak much at the bar the night before, Walter’s wife did most of the questioning. She had a lovely English accent and was a delight to talk to. I did my best to be as charming as possible. I learned that if I could turn the conversation around to be about her it was like opening the floodgates. She talked about growing up in England and becoming an actress. She was originally a stage actress but now only did occasional commercials.

When we got to their very nice house in Burbank they immediately introduced me to their dog, Girlie. (My first thought was, Seriously? Girlie? Is that as imaginative as they got naming their dog?) Girlie was a mixed breed mutt who looked almost exactly like the dog in the movie Benji. I got down to the floor and petted her and introduced myself to her. She seemed to be okay with me which I think was the sign Walter and his wife were looking for.

We then went out back of the house. There was a big flagstone patio for entertaining that looked out over a rather large swimming pool. We walked past these to the back of the property where there was a little guest house. I would not have access to their home but rather I would be staying in their guest house.

It was quite small but well appointed. There was a tiny bedroom, a living/dining area, a bathroom, and a kitchenette. It was far nicer than the motel room I was staying at in Palm Springs. Walter’s wife gave me the tour, showing me where the toilet paper, soap, shampoo, and other bathroom items were (they were well stocked) then she showed me where everything was in the kitchenette. It was stocked abundantly with everything one might need, including food. She then showed me the cabinet where all the dog food and dog supplies were. There was a paper attached to the wall with instructions on what and when to feed Girlie, how often to brush her, and the phone number of their veterinarian. She also pointed out the leash with which to take her for daily walks.

It was explained that even though I had no access to their home that Girlie did. This is because Girlie had her own special bed where she slept at night. So in the mornings she would exit the house through her little doggie door and come out to the guest house for breakfast and to spend the day with me but then at night she would go back into the house at her bedtime.

I listened very attentively because, as I said, I had never taken care of a dog before. I figured any further instruction would come from Girlie herself.

Walter then showed me everything I needed to do to the swimming pool each day, including PH testing, chemicals and cleaning out leaves and other debris with a net. He said that I didn’t have to bother with the lawn because he had a service come in every Thursday to take care of that. He then pointed out his small orchard of orange and lemon trees and said that I could help myself to all the oranges and lemons I could want.

His wife pointed out that there was an electric juicing machine in the kitchenette.

Walter then handed me a couple hundred bucks and told me that he would give me more when they got back from Spain.

It was nothing like the introduction to any other job I ever had. A roof over my head plus cash; all for minimal work. It was more like an introduction to a vacation. What the hell did I do to deserve this? It was almost too good to be true.

Anyone thinking rationally out of their left brain would conclude that for a writer such as myself a six-week vacation/job would be perfect. I had a roof over my head for six weeks and I had very little work to do so it would be perfect for me to get a lot of writing done.

It did not happen.

I had just burned my manuscript a couple of days before. I needed some space. A novel is like a lover. When you break up you don’t immediately go out looking to get laid. Or at least I didn’t. I needed some recovery time to reconnect with myself. I could not start a new novel until that new novel showed itself; not until I knew with every fiber of my being that I simply must start allowing it to flow through me. Not until it and I were ready.

Having lived in dire poverty for most of my life vacations have been extremely rare. Being gifted a vacation by the Universe in order to re-calibrate myself I was not about to throw the vacation away by working.

Of course there was the work I was being paid for but that only took an hour and a half to two hours a day. I had a huge amount of worry-free time on my hands so I dived head-first into a serious reading binge. Thankfully, the city of Burbank back then had several fantastic used bookstores.

Back then, when I was young and stupid, I went through at least one or two or three reading binges a year. Depending on circumstances, they would last one to two or three weeks at a time, occasionally more. It’s a lot like an alcoholic drinking binge. Every spare moment of every day was spent reading. Everything else was put on hold.

My reading binge in Burbank lasted for six weeks and during that time I read over sixty great classic novels. I only read fiction — and only the good stuff. It was by far my most extensive reading binge of my twenties. I was like a heroin junkie with books. One of the best ways to take a break from writing is to undergo a reading binge. (Nowadays I rarely do reading binges anymore simply because I spend so much time writing that I no longer have the time to binge read.)

But there was something else going on…

I was falling in love.

When I was a child growing up our mother vehemently refused to allow us kids to have any pets — or plants. “Animals and plants belong out-of-doors, NOT inside!” she would scream. “If you want a pet you’ll have to wait until you are out from under my roof because I will not allow it!”

Like so many young boys I desperately wanted a pet dog. Or a pet tiger or lion or wolf or bird or bear or dolphin; any kind of animal that was not imaginary but rather real.

But I was denied that my entire childhood.

And now suddenly I was being paid to take care of a dog! Dreams really can come true!

Because of the chilling absence of animals in my childhood I didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a dog. What I could not discern from the list Walter’s wife left on the kitchenette wall Girlie was more than happy to teach me. She was teaching me as much as I was taking care of her.

We became inseparable partners.

After the first week of my ‘vacation/job’ Girlie stopped going into the ‘big house’ to go to sleep in her special private bed. I would get into bed to read some more before going to sleep and Girlie would sit on the floor next to my bed and bark. I realized that she did not want to go back to the ‘big house’ to sleep. She wanted to sleep with me.

But she had been trained to never jump into a human bed. She wanted her own bed — and she wanted it to be right next to me. So I was hit by a brilliant flash of insight.

I went into the bathroom and grabbed a spare towel (actually it was a used towel that was in the laundry hamper which had my smell all over it). I spread it over the carpeted floor next to my bed. Surprisingly, that is all it took. That towel was her new bed! And that is where she slept every night for the next five weeks. For me, it was supremely awesome to sleep next to an animal!

For the next five weeks Girlie and I were inseparable. Seriously, I could not even go to the bathroom without leaving the door open so that she could watch me. She became attached to my hip, so to speak.

Whenever I was voraciously reading, whether inside or out on a reclining lawn chair in the yard she was there on the ground next to me. When I was cleaning the swimming pool there she was at my feet following my every move.

My cushy job did not provide much work or exercise so after cleaning the pool I started taking daily swims. In my minimalist state I did not own any swimming apparel so I would swim naked. (Since that Burbank vacation/job I came to believe that nude swimming was the only way to go.) Like I said, Walter’s swimming pool was quite large. To get my daily exercise I would swim laps from one end of the pool to the other over and over. With every lap I swam Girlie would walk/run on the side of the pool above the water back and forth with every one of my laps. Not only did I get the exercise I needed but so did she. Although she was on the dry cement outside of the pool and I was in the water we did our laps every day together.

We quickly became inseparable. Like I said, I was falling in love. I was falling in love with a dog who was even more quickly falling in love with me. Life had become more wonderful than I had ever imagined.

Of course Walter and his wife would soon be coming home from Spain. The dream would soon end. I had to figure out what to do next…

Keep reading Girlie: Part 1 of 4: My One and Only Dog-sitting Gig Part 2 of 4: The Second Best Job I Ever Had Part 3 of 4: When My Paradise Vacation Ended Part 4 of 4: The One-word Letter