In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Day 11, the Space Port -Merle

11 days. We'd been together 11 days. As much as I'd like to say I held strong during the few hours I spent away from her that day, I'd be lying. I missed her horrendously, far more than I had expected. I hoped she wasn't too bored, I hadn't left her alone like this before. Was she lonely? Bored? Humans can get irrational when bored. I'd read somewhere 80% of accidents resulting in injured humans occurred when the human was bored and unsupervised.

This paranoia is what went through my head the whole way to the Space port. It was a good hour, hour and a half drive. Any of you who have had pets know my struggle. I hoped Grene would be able to distract me from this when I picked him up.

"Hey Merlin" Grene was waiting for me at the pickup area. My family was never great at greetings. It was almost a tradition to act as if we had just spoken to each other just hours before.

"Don't call me Merlin, Grene." I hated when he called me that, but it was all in good fun. He teased me all the time, and I feigned "annoying baby brother". I was eager to get back to Holli, so we headed back immediately.

"So how goes Holli?"

"She's doing well, but I need to warn you..."

" Oh? "

"I haven't had time to socialize her. She's making strides with me, but she's terrified of strangers."

"Eh. It happens. We can work on that while I'm here."

We chatted casually most of the rest of the way, discussing how his human (Lyndsey) was doing, the ride here, my separation anxiety, and the like. He did manage to keep me busy most of the way, he is a great brother.

He opted to wait just outside the front door while I brought Holli down. This would be a great opportunity to teach her that not all strangers are bad. If he were already inside when she came down, she would expect only dog-men who were already in the house to be friendly.

When I came into her room, it was a disaster. Every single toy was on the floor. She was sitting in the pile, shocked to see me. I wasn't upset in the slightest, she was just playing, but it was one hell of a mess. She quickly stumbled through the pile, showing me a few toys she must have liked. She mumbled my name as she came over, did she know how cute that was? I let her keep the toys as I took her downstairs to meet my brother.

Published 12/14/18