Renegade

Got home from the art museum last night about 9:10 and was all by myself. (Joey was at that Nerd Cut Pro meeting in Addison.) Henry needed to go outside, so we went and he did his thing quickly, then he raced up the stairs and waited by the door for me to open it, wagging his fluffy little tail rapidly.

I opened the door and we went inside. I sat down on the couch and noticed, quite a few minutes later, that the house was unusually quiet. Far too quiet. Something was going on.

Either Henry had died somewhere, or he was getting into some Serious Trouble.

There was a gentle knock on the door. I jumped a mile; I was home alone and couldn't decide what to do. Open it? Leave it? I always ask who it is before opening the door, but I wasn't sure I even wanted to ask and run the risk of the person outside realizing I was actually home.

I got my phone and walked up to the door. While I was at it, I looked in the study to see where Henry was, and he wasn't there.

Odd, I thought to myself.

Then I heard jingling. My puppy's jingling. I whipped my head around to see where it was coming from and quickly realized that it was coming from outside the door. (Oops.)

Quite without thinking, I whipped open the door (didn't even ask who it was first, not my greatest moment!) and saw our next door neighbor (the bird feeder girl) and Henry.

"Did you know he was outside?" She asked as Henry bounded and leapt with excitement at seeing me.

"NO!" I was so embarrassed. "Did he sneak in your house again?"

"No, no, he was just sitting out here like a good boy, waiting for you to open the door." She said, smiling.

I picked the fiend (aka Henry) up and cuddled him. "He ran in the house ahead of me, but he must have snuck out when I turned to close the door! I was wondering where he was; I thought he was hiding from me. The house was way too quiet!"

I thanked our neighbor and shut and locked the door, holding Henry the entire time. Once I verified that yes, he was in the house with me, I set him down to go play.

Which he did, very happily.