Inga laughed through her friend’s litany of misadventures. “Gosh, Nita, I’m so glad to see you. I hope you brought something with sugar in it. We’ve got plenty of food, but I do miss chocolate.”
“With a ten-month-old around, not to mention my sweet tooth, there are always snacks. Check the outer pocket on my backpack.” Nita hopped back into the boat. “Now let’s get sleeping beauty rousted. She’s so heavy as a seal now, I can barely pick her?—”
At that point, a dark streak shot down the hill. Wherever Luke had been keeping Rogue, he apparently had lost his grip on the dog. Rogue bounded onto the dock, which rocked wildly on its unsteady pilings under an additional 70 kilos or so of very enthusiastic canine.
“Rogue! No!” Inga yelped. Rogue acted as if he had never heard his name in his life. Inga made a lunging grab for him, but she missed as he leaped down into the boat, causing it to rock wildly. Inga made another snatch for his tail as he began slobbering all over Nita as if she was his long-lost best buddy.
“Oh, wow, you made a new friend.” Fortunately Nita liked dogs, and had managed to keep her balance in the boat. She rubbed Rogue’s ears and dealt gracefully with his sloppy greeting, while Inga stared, because the dog had never been that effusive with her or even Luke. “Hi, big fella! Or big gal! Where in the world did you come from? No, not there! No!”
Rogue had started to step on the tarp, which was now stirring. Nita, all business now, shoved Rogue sharply backward, and the dog looked shocked and sat down so suddenly that he nearly tipped himself out of the boat.
Inga had started to scramble into the boat to help, but since Rogue was now sitting down (ears drooping, looking apologeticand woebegone as only a dog could) she decided to stay out. With two adults and one large dog in a fairly small boat, there was way too much chance of capsizing or knocking someone overboard.
Meanwhile, baby Jolene thrashed out of the tarp. Inga had only seen Jo-Jo in her baby seal form a couple of times, and was struck all over again at how utterly adorable she was, a fuzzy blob with huge dark eyes and soft-looking spotted fur. There were few things in life as cute as a baby harbor seal.
Nita was right, though: she looked like she’d doubled in size since the last time Inga saw her a month or so ago.
Rogue was utterly agog at the sight of the baby seal. He flattened his ears, and Inga was fully prepared to go polar bear shaped and jump on him if he tried to threaten the baby. But then she realized that the ears-down posture was the dog equivalent of surprise followed by “Oh no, that’s so cute.” While Nita wrestled with Jo-Jo, Rogue lowered his whole body into the bottom of the boat (which didn’t make Nita’s job any easier, since now the skiff was half full of dog) and licked Jo-Jo’s face.
Jo-Jo squealed and made a sputtering noise, more delighted than alarmed.
“No, bad dog!” Nita exclaimed. “Inga, help, your dog is trying to eat my baby!”
“I think he’s curious. Rogue, come, sit, now!”
Inga wasn’t sure if Rogue would do anything, since the dog apparently suffered from the selective deafness of many dogs when confronted with things they didn’t want to do, but her commanding tone must have gotten through. Rogue slunk back to the dock like a dog who knew he’d done wrong.
“It’s okay, boy,” Inga said, ruffling his ears. “You didn’t know there was a baby. Nita, do you need help?”
“No, of course not,” Nita ground out, both of her arms locked around the fat midsection of a struggling baby seal. She wobbledas the boat rocked wildly under her. “What would make you say that? Jo-Jo, honey, Mommy is going to drop you if you don’t settle down. How about we try being a little girl again, how does that sound?”
The seal set up a caterwauling of squeaky barks. Rogue added his own shockingly loud, deep bark to the din, then shut up as if he’d startled himself. Inga sighed and began climbing into the boat to help Nita, but Jo-Jo abruptly shifted and Nita nearly dropped the squirming, naked baby girl. Jo-Jo began wailing.
Inga had the baby carrier ready by the time Nita had climbed out of the boat, and handed her the little pink dress.
“Thanks. She’s such a handful, and she’s not even walking yet.” As Nita began to dress a sniffling Jo-Jo, the dog moved in to sniff at her. “No, get back. Inga, please get him.”
“Rogue, no,” Inga snapped, and Rogue drooped as if he truly had lost his last friend and skulked ashore.
“How is he with babies?” Nita asked. “He’s just so huge, I don’t like having him that close to her. Did you say his name is Rogue?” On shore, the dog perked up a little at the sound of his name.
“Rogue, yes, and I don’t know. He’s not my dog.” Inga crouched to help, rather awkwardly, holding out items for Nita. “It’s not just me here. I have company.”
“I guess I knew you didn’t have a dog four days ago, so it’s not like you would have spontaneously gotten one in the middle of nowhere.” Nita deftly wrapped up Jo-Jo’s diaper and pulled the dress over her head. “Now let’s see if that’ll stay on this time. Oh, don’t cry, baby. She’s hungry,” she told Inga. “I’ll feed her once I can sit down properly. Did you say you have someone staying with you? At the cabin?”
“Uh, yeah. Is that going to be okay? His name is Luke.”
“Oh—his?” Nita looked very briefly distressed, but her face cleared as she settled Jo-Jo against her shoulder. “Shhh, honey. Remember Inga? Auntie Inga?”
Jo-Jo stuffed a fist in her mouth and blinked tear-matted eyes. Around her own fingers, she said something indistinctly that sounded like “Oggie.”
“Is she saying my name?” Inga’s heart glowed.
“Uh, I think she’s saying ‘doggie.’” Indeed, Jo-Jo was staring at a very hopeful-looking Rogue on shore. The dog was sitting politely, but his ears were up and he stared at the baby as if she were an especially delicious Milk Bone, quivering all over with delight. “Inga, are you sure that dog is all right with babies?”
“I really don’t know. We can keep him outside if you want.”
“I’m not trusting my baby with a strange dog.”
