Twelve Days (It takes two) : Day 1

Day 1
The waves lapped against his face as he floated on the Indian Ocean with not a care in the world, the warm breeze blowing through his hair, the distinct smell of the sea licking at his nostrils, Ryan inhaled deeply.
“Aargh! That’s not the smell of the sea!” Ryan began spluttering as Amber’s toxic gas emanated from her rear to his face and she licked him avidly. That dog sure knew how to ruin a man’s dream.

He sat up in the bed and gently shoved Amber aside, wrinkling his nose as he did so and fighting back the smile that was starting to form on his lips, he really loved that dog even if he wasn’t always convinced, like when he was picking up her poo in the park, but all in all he loved her to bits.

Ryan held her head in his hands and looked into her big brown eyes and sighed, “Not long to go now Amber, you’ll love the baby and the baby will love you, I promise” Sarah had read, and made Ryan read, every book in Waterstones was on getting your dog ready for a new baby, yet he wasn’t sure how Amber would cope and In all honesty, he wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to cope.
Sarah was over brimming with confidence and he envied her assuredness slightly, but with only twelve days until the baby would be arriving, he had been tasked (by Sarah) with taking Amber on a dog obedience course. The pamphlet said that you would ‘learn how to teach any dog, big or small, to accept a new member to the pack in just an hour a day’.

Today was the first day of the course and he was already running late. The training was to take place in a local park; it was one of the areas biggest and one that was popular with the local dog walkers. The confirmation email he had said that the first session was to take place on the 17^th December at 10.30am and that everyone should meet by the band stand. As he approached he noticed that the band stand was occupied with of all things a band, they were playing Christmas hymns and carols and a crowd had gathered around. Ryan thought the band might be a distraction and that maybe the woman running the training should have planned better or at least arranged for them to meet somewhere away from the event. The band was good and Ryan stood for a while, listening to the carols and waiting for the other people to turn up, he looked around at the crowd that were milling about, were these going to be his new classmates?

It took a few minutes for Ryan to realise that they didn’t have any dogs. He checked his watch, it was 10.45am, and he looked about for someone who might be an elite dog trainer. Ryan wasn’t exactly sure what one would look like but assumed that she would be wearing a company T-shirt or at least have a whistle hanging around their neck. He stayed there until 11, and decided to ring Sarah to find out if it had been cancelled, and when he realised he hadn’t got his phone with him he headed back to the car. It was lying on the passenger seat and Ryan could make out through the glass that he had missed some calls, he could also make out through the glass that he had left his keys in the ignition. Ryan looked up to the sky, “Really God? Really? You know this isn’t funny, right?” and with that the clouds opened up and rain poured down on him. Amber gave him a look that said, “You had to ask” and crawled under the car to keep dry.

Sarah opened the door to a very wet and very disgruntled Ryan. He had found a payphone and tried to call her to ask if she could bring him the spare set of keys but she hadn’t answered, and he had walked home and been standing outside the door for the last 30 minutes trying to get in.
“Ryan! You’re soaked! Where have you been? Why didn’t you answer your phone? I must have left you a hundred messages. The trainer called, she wanted to know why you missed the class yesterday. I told her you must have got your days mixed up, so she has put you in the class that starts tomorrow, is that ok?”

Ryan just stayed on the doorstep. He slowly processed the information. He was there at 10.30am on the 17^th December…he looked at his watch and only then noticed the date was the 18^th.
“Where were you?” he asked.
“I took a bath, my back has been total agony today, I was listening to Christmas songs, and sorry I didn’t hear you…are you…are you ok?”
Ryan managed a smile, “sure thing, honey. Can you do me a favour? Amber is at the park underneath my car; would you go and pick her up?” he didn’t want to worry her with his stupidity. How was he going to cope with a baby when he couldn’t even remember a mobile phone?