The Adventures of Geo Beane: Day 12 of Renovations

Humphrey had been all a buzz this morning, singing and humming to himself. I thought maybe we were going to the beach? but no.

"Geo Beans, we are finally doing the floors!"

I thought we had been "doing the floors" the whole time, so I turned my head and gave him my most skeptical and bewildered look.

"I'm staining the den, then we're varnishing that and the front hall. First, though I'll be painting the ceiling there gold to cover the brown chips in the ceiling panels. We'll need some rollers and brushes..."

That sounded all very exciting, and I trailed around after him, wagging my tail and giving Wruffs! of encouragement.

"Beanie."

Hmh?

"You know you're going to Mrs. B.'s right? it just won't do to get you, or your hairs, stuck in the finish. And I have to spray the pests in the windows. Too dangerous."

Ah he had noted and remembered. My Humphrey has such an astounding memory and ability to effortlessly pick out details when you think nobody is looking...

When he returned, after 7pm, Humphrey was covered with gold leafing, the splatters of the paint glittering on his forearms and forehead, and smeared a bit on his jeans and T. He was very satisfied. And I was too happy to see him to be annoyed that he had had his fun without me.

"Couple more coats of varnish will do us. And we need to keep at it with the walls. I'll need to pick up more white tomorrow, so we can continue down the hallway upstairs and begin the downstairs... What did you do today, Beanieboo? Mrs. B. says you all went to the store."

We did indeed, we walked. We passed by a few furry pals. One black dog said to me:

"Hiya, did you know Nick?"

"Who's Nick?"

"The Human that used to live in your new place."

"No; with Amber?" ...I had run across that name on some papers in the kitchen. I reckoned the priors were not much esteemed on account of their messiness, as I could judge for myself, and by the faux handmade greeting card I dug up from behind the fridge that read "F-You to the residents at this address #." It gave me the creeps, but Humphrey had laughed it off. Said it couldn't be anything serious, if they had taken the trouble to keep it instead of tossing it out right away.

"Yeah. He was real nice. But their dog, Gunther-- he was mean."

Rrr... that got me second guessing about the front door. I could see that it had been busted. The former owners had done a shabby repair job, and the new flimsy glass wobbled like an invitation to house robbers.

I thought somebody had an ill feeling for the humans... now I was picturing Gunther tearing through the door... glass shattering as he sprung to the neighborhood outside, snarling with blood hounding eyes.