Chapter 39: Dave

I woke up scared and heard someone breathing in the room with me. I was a bit panicked until I recognized Thor's panting. Reaching my arm down through the bars, suddenly a wet tongue started licking my hand. I pulled my arm back up and Thor moved around stuck his muzzle up between the bars. I could barely see him, but I started scratching his head.

I lay there scratching Thor, and thinking. It was the middle of the night, and I wasn't tired, of course I had spent a lot of the day sleeping. What was I going to do with Steve, I was sure that he was just saying what he did, because everyone else was there. He'll probably never want to see me again. Thinking about this almost got me crying, but Thor woofed quietly and started licking my hand again. I looked at him and said, "At least you will always be my friend."

He woofed again and sat down looking at me. I smiled and tried to think of cheerful things. It didn't really work, but I eventually fell back asleep.

Sarah woke me up some time later. She got me out of the crib and put me on the changing table. She took off my diaper and set me on the floor. I went down to the bathroom and started to take a shower. While in there I heard the front door open and close.

I finished my shower and went to get dressed, by the time I was dressed I heard Thor bark and the door open and close again. I walked back out and Thor ran up to me and started to nuzzle me, bending down I gave him a big hug and started petting and scratching him, he responded by licking my face and pushing his body into me.

I finally got free and made my way to breakfast, Sarah had made waffles. We sat there in silence eating. When we had finished Sarah looked over at me and asked, "So are you ready for your walk?"

I froze for a moment before answering, "I, um, am not going for my walk today."

She stared at me, "Are you sure, because Thor is all set and waiting."

I glanced over and Thor was over by the door wagging his tail. I turned back to Sarah, "I'm sure, I'm not going for my walk."

Sarah sighed, "Are you afraid?" I nodded. "You know those people are still in jail." I nodded again. "And you'll be perfectly safe." I hesitated, but nodded. "So there is no reason for you to not go out to walk." I nodded. "So you are going for your walk?"

I shook my head no, "I am not."

Sarah sighed again and opened her mouth, when there was a knock at the door and Bob walked in. "Hello Sarah, hi Dave," and he bent down and gave Thor a big hug. Thor responded by licking his face.

"So Bob what brings you here?" Sarah asked.

"Well I figured it was about time for Dave's walk and I thought that I would join him this morning."

"I'm not going on my walk," I said, but Bob ignored me.

Bob and Sarah made some small talk while, they both ignored me. I sat defiantly on the chair, after a couple of minutes Bob turned to me and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

I said again, "I am not going for a walk."

"Yes you are, if I have to carry around," he said as he stepped over to me. Thor looked at both of us and let out a little whine. "It's ok Thor, we're going to be fine."

Bob reached down to pick me up and I looked straight at him and shook my head no. He smiled and said that it would be all right.

He knelt down when Sarah handed him my shoes, and put them on me. I sighed and got up. Thor started wagging his tail as we headed to the door. "We'll be back in a little bit."

We walked until we got near the Park's. Mrs. Parks was out with the twins and we stopped so Thor could play with them. The twins called "Doggie" at Thor and he went over and greeted them. Bob and I sat down with Mrs. Parks making small talk. I kept looking around, and every so often Thor would stop and look around too.

We'd been sitting a while when Mrs. Parks asked me to help her get bottles for the twins. I froze for a moment, and then agreed. We got up and Thor looked at us, and paused. I told him we'd be right back. He relaxed and we went in.

"Dave," she said, "I really didn't need any help. I just thought that you might want to talk about what happened without any one else around."

"I, um… I'm not sure," I answered as she led me over to the couch. We sat down and she looked over at me.

"It's ok Dave, you can tell me about it, and nothing you say will leave here."

I'm not sure how long I talked, but I know that it was quite a while. I cried too. By the time I was done, I both felt better and worse. She had sat next to me and was now holding me.

"Dave, I understand that you are scared, and I would be worried if you weren't scared. But you have to face your fears, just like you did with Thor. Well maybe not just like you did, I don't think a diaper will help you with this."

I started giggling when she said that and she continued. "You do have to face your fear though, otherwise you will just hide in your home and fade away. Besides who will bring Thor around to play with the twins?"

"I'll try," I answered her and started to wipe up my face.

"Here you go wash your face and I'll grab a couple bottles."

I did as she said and washed my face, looking in the mirror my eyes were all red and I doubted that anyone wouldn't guess that I had been crying.

We walked out and Bob gave us a bit of a what took you so long look, then nodded his head and smiled a little. "Well Dave I think it's about time we finished our walk."

I nodded, and said "Come on Thor." He got up, nuzzled the two boys and walked over to us. We waved bye-bye and continued down the street.

A bit farther down, Bob asked if I was ok, I said yes and didn't elaborate. He nodded and we finished our walk.

At Sarah's, she asked us if we wanted coffee or anything, I begged off saying I needed to do some work. As I went to leave Thor followed me, I looked back at Bob, and he said, "Go ahead let him stay with you. If you need anything let me know."

"I will," I said as we went out the door. At home I filled Thor's water dish and took off and put away my shoes. I went to check on my email and see if I could come up with a new set of planes to write about.

Chapter 40: Sarah

I watched as Dave and Bob walked away. Somewhere during their walk Dave had been crying, but neither mentioned where. Thor hadn't looked upset, so whatever happened hadn't bothered him.

Sitting there sipping coffee, thinking about what could have happened, the phone rang. It was Bob, he explained that whatever had gotten Dave crying had happened with Mrs. Parks, while he was inside her home.

I called Mrs. Parks and asked her what happened with Dave. She explained that she had gotten Dave to talk about what had happened to him, but that she didn't think that he would go for his walks on his own yet. She was a little worried, because he seemed scared about being outside.

More coffee and more thinking. If Dave wasn't going to go walk alone, then someone would need to walk with him. Bob couldn't keep doing it, he was supposed to be working. I could do it, but I think that he needs more than just me. Having just one person would make him dependant upon that person.

Well, let's start with his friends. I called Joe and Judy. Joe answered and after talking for a bit he said he would be there in the morning to walk with Dave and he would ask Judy if she could another day.

That is three more days, but now I was stuck. I could ask Deputy Wildler, but something seemed wrong about that. I wasn't real sure why, but I don't think having a cop walk with him would help. His friend Steve though, I think that having him go walking with Dave would be good, probably for both of them.

I puttered around for a couple of hours, checking to see who was late with their rent or wasn't keeping their lawn mowed and yard clean. It's always the same people. Oh well, they always catch up by the end of the month.

It was around noon, and I figured that this would be the best time to call Steve. He didn't answer, so I left a message for him to call me back. I hope that he will do it.

As I sat there, a sudden idea came to me. I picked up the phone and called Mrs. Parks again. "Hello, Susan. I, or rather Dave needs a favor."

"What does he need?" She asked.

"Well, when you said that he probably wouldn't go for a walk by himself, I started figuring out who could go with him. Joe and Judy are going to, I am, Bob already did. I am going to ask his old college roommate…"

She interrupted then, "Are you sure about his roommate. I mean, will he understand walking Dave around like he's a little kid?"

I paused for a moment before answering, thinking. "I am pretty sure he will, he nearly knocked my door down trying to find Dave yesterday. He knows a lot about what has been going on here and I think that they need to talk it over alone."

"If you are sure? I'd be happy, do you want me to take the twins with me?"

That was a good question, and I wasn't really sure how to answer it. "Are they up to a long walk? Dave is usually gone for quite a while." I asked stalling for more time.

She chuckled back, "Walking or running around for that long, that won't be a problem. Herding them along a path for that long, probably impossible. I have a stroller for them though."

"Well then I would say take them with. It might help distract him from what he is doing."

"When do you want me to be there?"

"Well, I am going to try to get Dave's friend to be there Friday morning, so is Saturday OK?"

"Saturday will be fine. Let me know if anything changes."

Well now that that was settled, I just needed to wait for Steve to call me back. Back to the office. I went over my records again. I looked at my calendar and noticed that I had an appointment for someone that wanted to move into the park.

The young couple was nice, they had good jobs and had been married for a year or so. I asked about the trailer they were going to put in, and they said they were looking at buying a new one. I showed them which lots were empty and had them pick one out. And once they had purchased a trailer have the manufacturer contact me for installation.

After they had left, Steve called me back, I explained what was going on and asked if he would help. He agreed and said that he would be there Friday morning to walk with Dave. He asked how Dave was doing otherwise, and I did my best to explain how scared he was.

There were enough people to last all week now, and I figured that on Sunday I could walk with him again. I spent the rest of the evening wondering how long we would be walking Dave, and if there was anyone else I could find to walk with him.

In the morning I watched as Joe and Dave left Dave's house. Dave had his head hung a bit, and it looked like Joe was encouraging him. Thor was there and he kept looking back and forth between the two of them.

Curiosity made me want to go out and listen to what was being said. I was about to run out there, when I realized that I couldn't, it wouldn't help Dave and as long as Thor wasn't getting upset, nothing truly bad could be going on.

They finished fairly quickly, I guess that the Park's twins weren't out and they didn't stop to play. I saw Joe give Dave a hug, right before Dave and Thor disappeared into Dave's house. I tried waiting patiently, but there I was sitting next to the phone, trying to guess how long it would be before Joe got home.

The phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my seat. I picked it up and Joe was calling me. "Hello Sarah, I thought I would call and tell you how it went."

"I was wondering, I watched you leave. What were talking about as you walked?" I asked.

Joe sighed, "I was trying to get him to look around, he was slumped over and just staring at the ground. He didn't really want to go with me, but his heart wasn't in fighting about it."

"What do mean, his heart wasn't in fighting about it?"

"I guess he just knew that I would drag him around the park if he didn't come willingly. Did Bob threaten to do that?"

I chuckled, "Actually he said he would carry him around. I think he would have too."

Joe chuckled too, "He would have. Hell, I would have, but I'm not quite big enough to carry him that far. Do you think that you'll have a problem tomorrow?"

I paused for a moment, "No, Dave is too polite to fight with a woman over it. Have Judy call me later in the day, and I let her know how it went. I hope Dave gets over this quick."

"Me too, I don't know how long we can keep this going, our schedules keep changing and eventually a day will come that one us of won't be able to be there."

I sat there the next morning, drinking my coffee going through all the scenarios of Dave arguing why he wasn't going to walk with me. Realizing that I was just working up myself up over nothing, I got up and walked next door.

Dave, after some whining, gave up and we had a pleasant stroll around the park. I waved at a few people, they waved back and a couple said hi also. Dave waved at a couple of them too.

Thor walked with us, and surprised me by wandering around more than I thought he would. He never got out of sight, but was going up near some of the trailers and sniffing around. I had figured that he wouldn't have left Dave's side.

We finished the walk, and Dave mumbled a thanks. I gave him a "You're welcome." and scratched Thor between his ears, before heading home.

Later that day, while I was out inspecting the park, I called and told Judy to just be firm, and Dave would give in. I also saw Thor running around, he seemed to be on an inspection run too. When he noticed me, he took off back towards Dave's.

Judy's walk with Dave seemed to be routine. I talked with Judy about it after they were done, she said that he still seemed down, and that maybe we should get some professional help for Dave.