Author Alison McNaulty is half of a celebrated animal training duo specializing in canine behavior...Why Does My Dog Do That is her latest collaboration with her husband Doctor David McNaulty. After traveling all over the US, she returns home, exhau...
Alison walked up the walkway to her back door, carrying two bags of groceries meant for Christmas dinner; the bird, ingredients for her stuffing and cranberries...she'd already started on her collards two days prior...She and David were supposed to travel south to Aunt Lynn's house this year, but since David's accident, she wasn't traveling anywhere and her extended family was more than understanding. Her sister Beth offered to help cook and cart whatever she wanted to the hospital for her..."No way," she had said, "that I'm gonna let you spend Christmas alone!"
She eyed up a parcel on the stoop and stared at the delivery label trying to read who it was for as well as who it was from...It had her name on it, but that was about all she could make out besides the fragile labels all over it.
She slipped her key in the door eyeing up the larger two of the three dogs awaiting her arrival home, knowing that she was about to be accosted by "oh my god, three STARVING and quite vocal doggies!"
She asked them to move toward the kitchen so that she could open the door and two of the three complied.
"Exsqueeze me, Goofball," she said gently...David's German Shepherd Dog was still on the lookout for his beloved and very missed master. David's mentor Mike had suggested that she take the dog to the hospital to visit him, but that since he was fully attack-trained and David's dog, she was afraid that he may forget that she even existed and may go to bite someone...and that, she simply couldn't have.
Placing her bags on the kitchen table, she turned around to retrieve the parcel and brought it inside. Her brows furrowed as she read the return label..."Colorado? Oh Davie, what did you do," she whispered.
She opened her junk drawer and removed the exacto-blade and cut at the tape then opened the box. Removing the excelsior, she saw what looked to be the snout of a dog. Removing the small sculpture completely from the box, she noted that it was hand carved from the native rock of Manitou Springs and saw that the snout didn't belong to a dog at all, but a wolf...and it was snuggled to a Native American girl...Snuggled...That was the only way she could describe what she was looking at. She looked in the box again and saw an envelope, which she withdrew and opened. She looked at the card...it was a Christmas card from a husband to a wife...she read the card as well as what he had hand-written to her:
Happy Anniversary Babe and Merry Christmas! I love you so very much...David
No telling how long the shop had been holding it for him...It was to be their fifteenth wedding anniversary on Christmas-eve day...she looked at the address on the box again and noted the address of the shop that had sent it. She was fairly certain that it was the same shop that was situated right next door to a locally owned sporting goods store that specialized in rock climbing...a favorite pastime of many locals. It happened to be directly across the road from the Garden of the Gods park that she loved so much...she had once told David that it was her Church...She turned the sculpture over and noted the date as well as the sculptor's initials: GM
But it was the sculpture itself that tore at her soul. She placed it near the bookshelves by the windows where her plants and crystals were...
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That night in her dreams, she was walking in the park with her wolf-hybrid dog she nicknamed, Puppy, although he wasn't a puppy at all and never really was. All through out her dream, she continually heard a man's voice whispering on the winds, begging her to come home. She looked up and saw a very out of place black panther staring down at her from atop the Kissing Camels formation as well as an Indian Guide she knew as Indian Dude atop another formation nodding hello to her. He hopped down as someone's loose husky puppy ran up to her and all but pounced on Puppy, invitingly.
"Your heart is heavy, Child."
She nodded as Puppy grumbled at the husky pup. "My husband," she replied.
"Let him go, Alison. You can't save him."
"I can keep on trying though," she said almost in tears. "It's so dark where he is..."
He nodded and looked into her eyes. "Yes, but he will not follow you into the light. His guilt is too great."
"Guilt! What guilt! He's the most honest man I've ever known!"
Puppy nudged at her side and she reached her hand down to scratch at his ears. Indian Dude knelt down and took Puppy's face in his hands and nuzzled him. Then he looked up at her. "Here is your future, Alison. Not where you are in the here and now."
"But..."
He stood up and took her hands in his. "There are no coincidences, Alison. Your husband is making way for something greater than yourselves..."
Alison opened her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her cats were surrounding her, Izzy patting at her cheek, gently waking her.
It was time to start her day and it was going to be a busy one. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed just as she heard Beth's car on the driveway as she rounded the house. The dogs were put on alert and she asked them to quiet down as she slipped her feet into her slippers.
"Happy Anniversary, David," she whispered.
A/N
First off, thank you for choosing to read The Dream Walker!
I've been writing Potteresque fan fiction for well over twenty years and wanted to see if I was able to come up with my own magical universe. Easier said than done lol I now understand how things seem to change (or expand) as I'm always coming up with reasons why things happen (or not) with in my magical universe...at any rate; when I find out, you will too!
I enjoyed writing this book so much that I've expanded on two other characters, Sebastian and James, The Lone Wolf and TomCat, respectively.
I do hope you enjoy reading The Dream Walker!
Please, don't forget to comment, and vote! Also, if you really like it, kindly add it to a reading list and recommend to your friends!
