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The ad, unlike many on Craigslist (WTF was up with the six line long run on sentence with no punctuation or caps?), was well written and professional:
“Is your work or school taking so much of your time and energy that your beloved pet isn’t getting the attention or exercise it needs and wants? Are there family or business demands that keep you away from home? Are you looking for someone loving and reliable to care for your friend while you are at work or on vacation? Let FILI’S FUR, FINS AND FEATHERS help!”
There was a full listing of the pets this Fili would care for (pretty much everything), how much each service was (very reasonable), that Fili was bonded and insured, and glory hallelujah, the service was for this end of town! Kili snatched up the phone, dialed the number, and mentally crossed his fingers. Please let the guy/gal (with a name like Fili, who knew, and the ad didn’t really specify) have an opening.
He got an answering machine, waited for the pleasant male voice on the message to finish, then spoke. “Hi, Fili, my name is Kili Durin. I saw your ad on Craigslist, and I’d like to see about hiring you. Your ad said you offer a ‘meet and greet’—would you be available to come one evening this week and meet me and my dog? Let me know as soon as you can, and look forward to hearing from you.”
Kili ended with both his home and his mobile numbers (he didn’t even know why he had a landline anymore; it wasn’t like he ever used it, but he was always afraid there was going to be ‘that’ emergency when he had no charge on his phone). Now all he had to do was wait for the guy to call back. Soon, he hoped.
There was a message waiting when he got home that night, but he couldn’t pick it up right away. Luigi came barreling up from the basement (unfinished, nothing much he could destroy down there), nearly knocking Kili down in his enthusiasm to say hello to Daddy. And there went another shirt, a victim of assault by dog drool. Kili grimaced, trying not to touch the wet spots as he let Luigi out the back door into the fenced yard. The hazards of having a Neapolitan mastiff. He watched the dog rip around the yard—well, perhaps ‘rip’ wasn’t a good word, considering the size of him, but his lumbering clearly was joyful. Kili smiled; this was the reason he had to take Luigi when his coworker was seeking a new home for the dog. The idea of that huge body stuck in a crate for hours every day just broke his heart. At least here he had some freedom, even if he was a menace to the flower beds. Although he never got near the fairy roses after that first time…
Luigi would be a while, he knew—he’d have to sniff every inch of the yard before coming in. So Kili got supper ready for both of them. While the lasagna was heating, Kili took his bowl of salad into the living room and munched it as he played back messages. One from his mom (he had to remember to pick up her present from the jewelry engraver) to see if he was coming by this weekend; one from his boss reminding him about the meeting in the morning (like he could forget that the CEO was going to be there); two recorded messages he erased without even listening to; and finally the one he was really hoping to get.
“Hi, Kili, this is Fili from Fili’s Fur, Fins and Feathers, returning your call. If tomorrow night is all right, I’d love to come by and meet your dog. Any time after about six is good for me. Let me know, and I look forward to meeting you both.”
Kili seemed destined to play telephone tag with the dog walker; he got the answering machine again instead of the man when he called back. He left an address on the message and a time of seven o’clock—that would ensure that Kili got home, got Luigi out and fed, and had his own supper before the dog walker showed up. Now fingers crossed that Luigi wouldn’t scare him off.
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The doorbell rang just as Kili finished the last of the dishes. He dried his hands on a towel, straightened his shirt, checked it one more time for drool, then went to the door.
The man on the other side was shorter than Kili by several inches, a compact blond casually dressed in jeans and sneakers, with a messenger bag over his shoulder. Kili’s first thought was that Luigi probably outweighed this guy by a good ten pounds. His second thought was that, if the set of the shoulders under that white Henley was to be believed, the guy could bench press a Saint Bernard.
“Mr. Durin? Fili Oakes,” he said, holding out a hand. He smiled, revealing deep dimples and sparkling blue eyes.
His third thought was, Well…shit… He was screwed—or at least he’d like to be. Fili was past good looking and well into wet dream territory. Probably married with four kids and a wife who moonlighted as a supermodel. Well, no harm in enjoying the scenery.
“Mr. Durin is my father, I’m Kili. Come on in.” Kili led the way into the living room and gestured toward the sofa. “Have a seat.”
Fili had no sooner settled into the corner than a deep, mournful howl vibrated through the floor. The dog walker’s eyebrows made a concentrated effort to nest in his hairline. “Let me guess—you’ve got a werewolf trapped in your basement.”
Kili grimaced. “That might be easier to deal with, since it would only be a couple nights out of the month. No, that’s my Neapolitan mastiff, Luigi—and for the record, I didn’t name him. His litter mates were Mario and Princess Toadstool.”
“So it definitely could have been worse,” Fili said, smiling and flashing those dimples again.
And I repeat: well…shit… Kili continued before he lost his train of thought. “I thought we should have a chance to talk before I inflicted him on you. He’s a sweetheart, and he tries, but he never really learned much in the line of manners. The woman I got him from didn’t think it through before she brought him home, and she lived in an apartment that got too small really fast. He was crated a lot, and I’m sorry to say I haven’t been able to work with him on behavior as much as I should.”
“Maybe I can give you some tips. When you have several dogs of all sizes on leashes at the same time, you have to know how to get them to behave. Bring him up, let’s get the introductions out of the way.”
“Let me get a leash on him—maybe at least you won’t get flattened or soaked. He could set a world record for the amount of drool one animal can produce.”
“Everything I’m wearing is washable, and if I was afraid of drool I’d have found another way to make money. I’m not worried.”
That makes one of us, Kili thought as he went for the leash. He opened the basement door and slipped through as quickly as he could, closing it behind him. The lights were already on, and he could see Luigi at the bottom of the steps. The big lump starting bouncing up and down when he saw his human, and Kili couldn’t help but smile. No matter what kind of day he’d had, Luigi was always happy to see him, maybe the only being in the universe that was some days. “Okay, big fella,” he told the dog as he clipped the leash onto the collar. “We’re going upstairs to meet the nice man. Please try to behave—I’d like to make a decent impression, just in case he might eventually be interested.”
Luigi’s tail wagged hard enough to make his whole back end and his jowls wiggle, and he seemed to understand, because he took the steps at a sedate pace, pausing at the door to let Kili open it. Kili mentally crossed his fingers and turned the knob, easing the door open.
Everything was fine until Kili tripped on the top step and went sprawling, losing his grip on the leash. At the same moment, Luigi must have caught a whiff of a new person in the house, because he went charging down the hall toward the living room. As he scrambled to his feet, Kili could see Fili standing up from the sofa, and had visions of a blond grease spot on the area rug. He dashed after his dog, prepared to tackle him if necessary.
Instead, he saw the dog walker hold up a hand palm out and say, “No.” He didn’t shout, but the authority was clear in his voice. Luigi skidded to a halt a couple feet in front of Fili. If this had been a cartoon, there would have been neon question marks over the dog’s head as he stood there. “Now is that any way for a gentleman to behave? I don’t think so, and I think you can do better. Sit.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Luigi plopped his oversized butt down, still with the questioning face. Kili was starting to wonder if he’d whacked his head when he hit the floor and was hallucinating when one massive paw came up and extended tentatively toward Fili.
The dog walker smiled and shook the proffered paw. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you? You just need some manners—we can work on that together.”
“What are you, some kind of canine Jedi?” Kili asked as he picked up the dangling leash and wrapped in around his hand for security.
Fili laughed. “Well, the Force does have a strong influence on the weak-minded.”
“Weak-minded maybe; weak-willed, not so much. Seriously, I’ve never really been able to get him to listen to me; how did you do it?”
“You have to mean it, and he has to know you mean it. You don’t have to yell, and you absolutely don’t have to hit or be abusive. Anyone that hurts an animal to make it behave needs a good ass kicking, so they know what it feels like.” The blue eyes flashed in anger for a moment, then went summer sky mild again. He knelt down on the floor. “Come here, big guy, let’s get to know each other.”
Luigi scooted forward and threw himself down next to Fili, and Kili joined them on the floor. If only all job interviews could be conducted like this, he thought, the world would be a happier place. Fili’s fingers found a good scratching spot, and Luigi wiggled like a puppy. “He’s a beauty,” Fili said. “Neos are great dogs, very protective and they take training well. They can be stubborn sometimes, but like I said before, once they know you mean it they’ll listen to you. Isn’t that right, Luigi?” The big tail thumped on the floor and if possible, the dog produced even more drool. Not for the first time, Kili was glad the area rug hadn’t been expensive and was easy to clean with the Spot Bot.
After a few minutes of play and cuddles, Fili suggested, “It’s still light out; do you mind if we take him for a quick walk around the block? I’d like to see how he does on a leash.”
“Yeah, my performance just now probably didn’t give you a very good idea. Let me grab my keys.”
The summer night was warm and there was just enough breeze to waft the scent of his neighbor’s roses toward them. Luigi’s nose twitched as he walked ahead of them, but he didn’t attempt to pull on his leash. Fili praised him when they stopped at corners, and a quiet ‘no’ was all that was needed to keep him out of Mr. Thrain’s yard.
“You’re really good with him. How long have you been doing the pet care thing?”
“Since high school. I’ve never been that great with kids, so babysitting was out, but I’ve always gotten on well with animals,” Fili said. “When I’m done with school, I might have to give it up, but right now I can make my own hours, and the money’s pretty good. Certainly better than working retail or being a barista, and I don’t have to deal with idiot customers.”
“No, just idiot pet owners like me.”
“Oh, you’re all right. You’re like him in a way—you just need some training. Let’s try something.” Fili handed the leash to Kili. “Tell him to sit, and mean it.”
Kili gave the command, trying to match the authority he’d heard in Fili’s voice earlier. Luigi looked up, head cocked to one side. Kili repeated, “Luigi, sit,” deepening his voice a bit. And the dog sat, plumping down on the sidewalk. “Good boy!”
“See, it’s not all that hard. Dogs think we’re gods – it’s their one failing. They want to please us, and damn if I know why,” Fili said. “Practice with him every day, getting him to sit first, then work on stay and lie down. ‘Drop it’ is also a good one to teach him because you never know when he’s going to grab something he shouldn’t. Once you two have those down, you can get fancy with ‘roll over’ or ‘play dead’ or whatever.”
“I’ve never been big on dogs doing tricks, but if I can get him listening to me, both our lives will be easier. Thanks.”
They arrived back at Kili’s house a few minutes later, during which time Kili tried twice more getting Luigi to sit. The dog did very well and loved the praise from both men. As Kili fitted the key into the lock, he said, “Well, I’m convinced you know your stuff, and Luigi likes you. Let’s talk business.”
Luigi was given a big bully stick to keep him out of trouble for a while, and over sodas the men worked out times and days when Fili would come over to care for Luigi. Kili showed him where all the dog paraphernalia was, and handed him the spare back door key. Fili took a key cap out of a pocket in his messenger bag, fitted it on the top of the key, and fed the key onto his key ring. The ring already held several keys with different colored caps on them. “Looks like business is pretty good,” Kili commented.
“I can’t complain. I get paid for what I love doing, and not many people can really say that.”
“So what are you going to be when you grow up and are all done with school?”
“Veterinarian. My dream job is zoo vet, someplace like Brookfield or Columbus. I think I can trace my love of animals back to watching Jack Hanna on TV as a kid.”
“Well, here’s to making your dream come true,” Kili said, clicking the rim of his can against Fili’s. “You’re going to be great at it.”
“Thanks. I probably should finish up and let you get back to whatever you had planned for the rest of the evening. I’ll start tomorrow morning and I’ll leave you progress reports when I don’t see you.”
“That’d be great. And I promise I’ll work on the obedience thing with him.”
Fili hesitated a moment, then asked, “Would it be all right with you if I swung by in the evening now and then to see how you two are getting on?”
Mentally, Kili was punching the air and doing a happy dance, but he kept his voice even as he answered, “Sure, we’d both love that. Will your…other half mind you coming by?”
“Well, he probably would if he was still in the picture, but he’s not anymore. That’s actually why he’s not—he started complaining about me spending too much time away from home and not enough with him. He really didn’t like when I did overnights at other people’s homes. He gave me the ‘them or me’ ultimatum one day, and by that time there was no contest.”
“I don’t see what he was complaining about,” Kili said. “At least if you weren’t home, he knew the good looking stud you were shacking up with was a golden retriever. Which is way more than I could ever say about my ex.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
Kili shrugged. “By the time I found out, I was ready for it to be over. And Luigi didn’t like him, anyway.”
Fili laughed. “Always trust the dog. So, tomorrow morning, then?”
Kili nodded. “Let yourself in, and I’ll be looking for your note. And…if you’ve got an evening free this week, maybe you can come for dinner one night? See if I’ve managed to get the big lug to behave a bit better?”
Fili smiled, and Kili’s heart did a roll over at the sight of those dimples. “Are you busy on Saturday? I’ll bring dessert. Do you have a preference?”
“Chocolate anything is always good. About six, then?”
“I’ll look forward to it. See you later.”
Kili walked Fili to the door, locked it after him, and watched him get into his car, a rust-brown Civic. “Well, Luigi, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” The dog thumped his tail in agreement. “You and I are going to work hard and impress him on Saturday, aren’t we?” The tail thumped even harder. “You’re a good boy. How about a game before it gets dark?”
Luigi levered himself to his feet, bully stick forgotten as Kili got his favorite ball out of the closet. This toy would be sodden and frankly disgusting by the time they were done, but the sparkle in Luigi’s eyes was worth the yuck factor. After all, Cupid should be rewarded from time to time…