I Among Dogs

Chapter 4: Getting Settled

We finally arrived at where I assumed was where the Heelers lived. After Bluey and Bingo got out of their respective seats, I followed them out and was met with probably the nicest neighbourhood I've ever laid eyes on. A cul-de-sac home to rows of houses, one of which that we had parked into had to at least be two floors high, boarded with sand beige wooden boards and a step ladder that lead to a front balcony where the front door was. A single bay window on the right and a roof tiled in pale red with a single pillar at the top with a frilled dome that matched the colour of the roof. As I followed behind the Heelers, I often glanced around for any watching faces, thankfully, there were no other dogs in the area giving me cautious glares as Chilli unlocked and opened the door and we all stepped inside.

The first room was surprisingly spacious. In front of me, I already saw a staircase leading upstairs, the redwood floor being covered by a few rugs of varying colours, several doors that either lead to another room or outside were noticeable. A red single chair sat next to the window on the left of the doorway with a rectangular picture frame that had two silhouettes, maybe of the Heelers' relatives with a red cross like object in the middle hung above said chair.

"Welcome to the Heeler household, Nathan! Only the finest Queenslander house in the whole neighbourhood!" Bandit smugly announced as Chilli rolled her eyes at her husband. "Now how does a tour of the house sound?" Bandit offered to me as Bluey suddenly chirped up.

"Let's play House Tour!" Bluey held her hands up excitedly before turning to her sister. "Come on, Bingo!" Bluey encouraged the little orange heeler who quickly followed her, but not before giving me another uncertain look. "House tour?" I asked Chilli and Bandit with confusion. "Let's just say the kids love to make a game out of anything that sounds fun to them." Chilli said, smiling at how her daughters seemed to have a big enough imagination to make even mundane events sound fun. I nodded in understanding as Bluey soon returned, wearing a long tie around her neck and a purple pair of lens-less glasses with the outer sides having a trio of bumps on them like flower petals as she suddenly spoke to me, trying to mimic an adult's voice, Bingo standing beside her holding a notepad in one hand and a crayon.

"Oh hello, sir! Are you the one who's come for the grand tour of the Heeler house?" I couldn't help but chuckle a little at Bluey's little roleplay as like an estate agent. It was honestly kind of adorable so I decided to play along. "Ah, yes ma'am! And I have to say the place looks quite nice so far!" I responded, actually being serious about the compliment I gave to their home as Chilli seemed to notice this and smile at me. "Very good, sir! Please follow me!" Bluey gestured me to follow her for emphasis as I did so, tailing the two as we went through one of the doorways and I was met with a pretty large lounge room with a modern looking orange sofa in the middle and a brown short table. Like the entranceway, this room also had a stairway leading to the second floor. There was also a pair of double doors opposite of the stairway side that led to an outside porch. "First we have this room, big and great for lots of games with the family!" Bluey explained as I thoroughly looked around, I meanwhile briefly noticed Bingo scribbling on the notepad before I was lead to another room.

Like the previous room, this room also appeared to be like a living room of sorts only much smaller and with many noticeable differences. The walls were a light beige unlike the last room which had walls of light green. There were also two couches and two coffee tables in the middle, both differing in appearance and a TV set. To the left of the TV was another doorway to likely another room. "And we have this room if you want to watch the game with your mates!" Bluey chimed in before once again I was lead to another room.