Marie's Path

Chapter 33

Marie had just opened the car door when Chase was out and running.

"Whoa dog! What's the rush?" Marie exclaimed grabbing the car door before she fell.

"He has company," Corey told her nodding his head toward the road.

Marie smiled seeing Jessica coming down the street with Max, whose tail was waving. She watched, as Jessica said something to him and unhooked his leash. He immediately left her side running up to Chase.

Both dogs greeted each other, tails whipping as they did their normal sniff and play bow routine. There had been instant rapport between the two dogs from the moment they met. Kota had made sure time was set aside each week for the dogs to get together.

Jessica wanted to take charge of puppy play dates, as she called it, PPD for short. Kota was uneasy about Jessica coming over to Marie's house. But let her do it with the promise that she was never to go to the door for Chase without phoning Marie ahead of time, and to not ever go inside the house. He used the excuse as being Mrs. Sorenson's illness, and not the true reason, which was her mental state and what she was capable of.

"Hi Marie. Kota says I'm suppose to call first, but I saw you out here so I just came over." Jessica said walking up to the car and leaning against it with Marie and Corey. "I brought two frisbees this time. You want them to play in your yard or should I bring them over to mine?"

"Good thinking with the frisbees," Marie told her smiling. "Let's hope Chase doesn't decide to ruin them like he did your other one. It doesn't matter where you have them, Corey and I will be here."

"Maybe your back yard this time." Jessica laughed. "I swear when he wouldn't let me have the frisbee back, it looked like he was laughing at me the whole time."

"He can be ornery sometimes," Marie added. "But I think he does it all in fun. You've met Corey, haven't you?"

Jessica looked over at him timidly and gave a little wave. "Yeah, hi. I met you a couple times, but I didn't know which twin you were. Sorry."

"No problem." Corey smiled at her. "We get that a lot."

Marie looked up at him perplexed. "It's funny, the first time I met you and Brandon, it was like something clicked and I never had trouble telling you apart."

Corey's face beamed as he nudged her arm. They were lost in each others eyes when Jessica spoke up.

"What's he doing?"

Marie turned to her startled, thinking she was talking about Corey at first, until she noticed Jessica's gaze was fixed on the dogs. Chase to be exact.

Both dogs had been wrestling. But now, Max was laying in the shade. While Chase was walking around, staring hard at the ground.

With his nose pointed straight down, he'd take a few steps, stop, and sniff. Rearing back, he would pounce firmly onto the ground, sniff, and repeat the process over again.

"Oh god, could he be after a snake?" Marie watched in horror as thoughts of Chase getting bit ran through her mind.

"It can't be a snake," Jessica said with confidence as she adjusted her pink rimmed glasses. "Max would have warned us."

Corey straightened, taking a few steps forward he peered out into the grass. "She's right. There's no snake out there." He continued to study Chase before his eyes widened and he burst out laughing. "I don't believe it. He's tracking his own shadow! Watch, he's about to try to get it again."

Marie's jaw dropped. "How can a dog be so smart and attuned to people's feelings one minute, and be a goofball the next?" She recovered quickly, shaking her head chuckling. "Yep! That's my dog!" she said with tongue in cheek humor.