The ransom of Red Chief

My parents have kidnapped (dognapped?) my dog!

(That first sentence is heavily influenced by the movie Almost Famous when the mother [a professor] declares in the middle of her lecture that rock stars have kidnapped her son. The class looks stunned, then this one girl scribbles that statement down in her notes. I often wondered if she was mad when a question about that didn’t end up on the test. Or if Cameron Crowe had used me as the pattern for that girl, seeing that I probably would have written it down, too, being the over-achiever, put-pressure-on-yourself person I was in college. And today. Sigh.)

But anyway, Muffin is missing! At least from my house. More than a week ago, I had to travel for work. First, I went to Chattanooga for a convention, then to Dallas for a focus group. My parents had called me a week or more before this and said that they would come down before I left, stay at my house, and then stay for a short visit when I got back from my wanderings. Since them getting to visit for any significant amount of time has been few and far between since I moved to Nashville, I was excited.

Then, life happened. Bad weather was expected. My nephew got really sick and my mom didn’t want to leave. My mom called and said she was sorry, but they couldn’t come. She suggested boarding Muffin at the vet, since she’d been sick, too. But boarding tends to make Muffin so nervous that she gets sick. I said I’d ask some friends to help me out and all would be OK. Mom worried that if the winter weather predictions came true, my friends wouldn’t be able to get to my house. I told her not to worry about it; I’d take care of things. She mused that I was disappointed (which I was), but things couldn’t be helped and I’d be fine.

Not 10 minutes later, my dad called me back. He said they’d come get Muffin on Wednesday and bring her back to me at some point, maybe getting to stay a few days. Yay! So Muffin went home with my dad on Wednesday January 27 and I haven’t seen her since. First they said they’d bring her back the following weekend. Then, things came up that kept them in Missouri. Then they said they’d come Sunday after church and leave today. Didn’t happen. I can’t go to Missouri until March because of Upward basketball, so I’m kind of stuck. It appears I may drive halfway and meet them on Friday (a day off for me because of my traveling last week) and reclaim custody.

I just hope Muffin remembers who I am when I finally get her back.