Camberdoodles episode 17 – part 1
As the first glimmers of light crept through the curtains, DeDe woke up thinking it really has been a funny year, ”I can’t remember when we last had anything to look forward to.” She flipped through the pages in her diary only to find grooming appointments and Dante’s birthday stretching between now and Christmas. It depressed her to think there were no day trips or parties on the horizon. Bucking herself up, she thought, “I’m luckier than so many, I really must put on a smile and carry on.”
When she got downstairs Dante was already in the garden doing his routine security checks. She muttered, “I could set my watch by his routine”. As she finished her breakfast another wave of ‘poor me’ feelings swept over her. The combination of nothing to look forward to and Dante’s military lifestyle filled her with gloom.
As usual, Dante wasn’t ready to leave to catch the train and as usual DeDe had to remind him to hurry up. Walking down the hill she knew exactly where he’d stop to sniff and which passers-by he would say a bright ‘good morning’ to and the others he preferred to hurry on by.
Once they’d settled on Billy train and said hello to Phoebe, DeDe went quiet. So quiet in fact even Dante realized something was wrong. Tentatively he asked what the matter was, but he could see she was not keen to talk. “Never mind, he thought, Lily-Poo will be at the beach and I know they tell each other their secrets, so perhaps she will feel better by lunch time.”
Harley gets a surprise
When they got to the beach Harley was knee deep in a hole. He was concentrating so hard he hadn’t noticed them approaching, so when they all said, “Hello” at the same time, he jumped into the air in surprise.
As normal, Phoebe, Harley and Dante went down to the sea for a paddle, leaving Lily-Poo and DeDe in the dunes. Once they were out of sight DeDe turned to Lily-Poo and with a sigh said, “Do you really think this is all there is to life? Coming to the beach and doing the same things every day?” DeDe went on “Dante doesn’t ever question his lot, he’s always happy whatever he’s doing, but I’d like a bit more from life”. Before she could say more the others were dashing back and were in earshot.
Once the others had shaken the salty water from their fur, Lily-Poo thought it time she broached the subject on DeDe’s behalf. “Has anyone got anything exciting planned? Everyone was quiet before Dante perked up. “We have everything right here in Camber, why would we want to go anywhere else? In fact only yesterday I received a positive thought from my brother BooBoo asking if we’d all like to go and visit him at his holiday villa near Barcelona.
All that foreign food?
“As much as I’d love to see my brother, I didn’t have to think twice, because I knew none of us would want to go all that way, with the hot weather and all that foreign food. Anyway we can see him in London or Camber whenever we want, so I messaged him back with a polite ‘No thank you’”
When Dante finished an awkward silence fell over the group. DeDe took a slow deep breath before quietly, but determinedly saying, “Are you telling us, Dante, we’ve been invited to Spain and you’ve said, ‘No thank you” on our behalf?” Dante knows when DeDe’s being serious because her lip curls to the left when she’s talking. Right now her lip was curling more than it had done in a long while. Not wanting to look directly at her he whispered, “Yes, that’s about the top and bottom of it”.
“Hmmm”, said Lily-Poo, “I’m not sure you’ve made the right collective decision there, Dante. I, for one, would love a week in Spain right now, and I know DeDe would too”. Not wanting to make Dante feel too bad, Harley and Phoebe added that they would have liked to have been asked before he’d replied for them.
By the time everyone had finished talking Dante felt alone and a little vulnerable. He hadn’t wanted to upset anyone, he’d simply thought they were as happy as he was in Camber. Never liking tension, he agreed to message BooBoo saying he’d made a mistake in his last thought. Where he’d sent “No thank you”, he’d meant to say, “Thank you very much, we’d all love to come!” In a flash BooBoo replied “Great, looking forward to seeing everyone soon!” .
DeDe turned to Lily-Poo with a huge smile and said, “It’s funny how things turn out, isn’t it?”.
To be continued next week.
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Image Credits: Vicki Batt .