Skippy, a black and silver Schnauzer, chased after the ball with the boundless energy that only a puppy can exhibit. Rather than returning with the ball, he came back and looked at Carl expectantly.
Gesturing to the ball, Carl said, "Go get the ball, Skippy."
Skippy turned in a circle, and then started to squat down. Carl picked up the puppy and set it down on the newspaper that covered the pee pad while saying, "Time to pee pee."
Once on the pee pad, Skippy resumed his squat and let loose. When the puppy had finished his business, Carl said, "That's a good boy, Skippy."
Carl played with the puppy for fifteen more minutes. He went over to the crate and used a squeak toy to get Skippy's attention. He tossed the toy in the crate and said, "Nappy time, Skippy."
Skippy went up to the cage, but stopped just before going into it. Carl picked the puppy up and placed it inside the cage. Skippy started crying. Carl went over to the newspaper and carefully put it in the trash. He had gotten a diaper pail for the dirty newspaper and pee pads. He laid another piece of newspaper over the pee pad. The training manual had said to use newspapers over a pee pad to keep a little scent in the area and to save a bunch of money on pee pads.
Skippy stopped crying after a minute. Carl looked over and saw that Skippy was sleeping. The puppy was curled around one of Carl's old socks. Rather than disturb the dog's nap, he went around the basement collecting the dog toys and putting them into the puppy's toy box.
He sat down on one of the chairs from his old apartment to wait for the puppy to wake. It seemed to him that training a puppy was a full time job. There were some things that he needed to think about. He had received the strange message from the Landowner and couldn't decipher it. All that he knew was that something horrible was happening. How it would affect him, was a mystery. He hadn't done anything, other than to join the Pfand, which could create a problem for him. Basically, all he had done was to read a couple of the histories of the Pfand. He hadn't even been a member of the Pfand for a week, yet.
The Pfand had done a lot for him, though. He was living in a new house, had a business loan to start his pickle company, and was having his car upgraded. By living within his means, he would be able to last two years on the start-up capital, before the pickle company would have to pay its way, to cover his full cost of living.
He was still thinking about his pickle company when the doorbell rang. Skippy woke and started barking. It barked about five seconds, and then looked around its cage.
Carl opened the cage door and grabbed Skippy. Carrying it over to the newspaper, he put the puppy down and said, "Time to go pee pee."
While Skippy was peeing, Carl said, "That's a good boy, Skippy."
The doorbell rang again. When Skippy finished doing his business, he started barking again. It appeared that puppies couldn't tinkle, and bark, at the same time. Carl picked up Skippy and headed upstairs to answer the door. Skippy wiggled to get loose and kept barking each time the doorbell rang.
Carl opened the door. There was a very healthy woman standing there with a suitcase on the ground, next to her. She looked athletic, similar to some of the women on the soccer team, back in college. Her legs looked like she could run on them for hours without them giving out. She had the upper body strength that was reminiscent of a swimmer. Her short blond hair was cut in a bob cut: straight bangs, with the rest of her hair cut level with the jaw line.
She was wearing a plain dark blue skirt that came almost to her knees with a simple white shirt tucked into it. It almost looked like a Japanese school girl outfit.
"Hello?"
"Carl Plante! You didn't look through the spyhole in the door before opening it."
"Wha?"
"At least you took David's advice and got a Schnauzer."
"Uh ... Who are you?"
"I'm Samantha Strong. I want you back in the house, right now."
The woman ran a finger along her belly in the shape of an upside-down cross. She did it once and then, when he didn't react, she did it a second time. Carl wondered if she was a Satanist or something. He stared at her.
"Why?"
"I need you to go inside the house."
She was wondering if she made a mistake coming here without David. Her principal would have listened to David. Unfortunately, David had to take over her assignment. She was Pfand, and he was not. She was needed, here.
"I was thinking about playing with him out here," Carl said obstinately.
"He looks like he's about to piss all over you. You better get him back in the house, and onto his paper."
Holding the puppy out in front of him, Carl rushed out to the middle of the front lawn. He put Skippy on the grass. The puppy squatted and did its thing. Carl praised the puppy. He didn't give it a chance to wander around. He picked it up as soon as it had finished.
Samantha stood there watching him in disgust.
"Do you want to die?"
"No."
"Then get back in the house."
"Why?"
Samantha, with an irritated expression on her face, stood there trying to decide what to say. She was half temped to slam him against the door, push him into the house, and close the door behind them. The only thing stopping her, was the fact that he was holding a puppy.
"When a Strong tells you to get in the house, you had better be in it before a Strong finishes giving you the order. Now if you don't get in the house, I'm going to kick your ass, through the door."
"Okay ... Okay ... I'm going."
Carl backed into the house watching Samantha as if she was some kind of crazy person. She followed him into the house before he could shut the door. He stopped, holding the puppy in one arm and holding the other out, palm towards her, to stop her.
"Would you mind staying outside?"
"Jesus, you are stupid."
Samantha swung the door closed behind them. She stepped back so that she was leaning against the door. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Please, leave."
"Put the house into lock-down. We need to talk," she said.
"About what?"
"I can't tell you, until you put the house into lock-down."
Carl stepped over to the alarm system. "Turn away."
Snorting, Samantha turned to face the other way. Carl entered the lock-down code.
"The house is locked-down."
"When a member of the Wache family tells you to do something, you should do it. We are the security arm of the Pfand. Didn't you know that?"
Carl felt a little foolish. He had forgotten that the Strongs were a branch of the Wache family.
"I'm still learning about the families," Carl said defensively.
"Did you get the warning message that the Pfand is under attack?"
"Yes, I did. I know it means something bad, but..."
"Damn!"
Carl started to get angry. He said, "I've only been a member of the Pfand for five days. I'm still reading the books. I'm still learning about the families. I don't know all of the family names outside of the Bauer family. So excuse me for being ignorant."
Samantha took a deep breath. "The Pfand is under attack. I'm here to protect you from anyone who might try to harm you, physically."
"Why me? I haven't done anything."
It was a good question. Why him? Samantha didn't know why she was protecting him outside of the fact that her orders came directly from the Watchman. There were a lot of Bauers and only a few had members of the Wache family protecting them. She was going to assume nothing for the moment.
"The attack is primarily directed against the Bauers. You are a Bauer, so you get protection."
Carl looked down at Skippy. The puppy was really starting to struggle to be put down.
He said, "I've got to let Skippy play a bit. I'm still cage training and paper training him."
"All right," Samantha said.
While walking down the regular stairs to the basement, Carl asked, "Why couldn't you tell me that you were a Wache when we got in the house? Why did I have to put the house into lock-down?"
"When you put the house into lock-down, you activated a number of security features. One of them is a random noise generator hooked up to the window panes. It prevents anyone from being able to listen to what we are saying by detecting the micro-vibrations of the glass pane using a laser. We do not talk about the Pfand where others can hear us."
"I know that. I didn't see anyone out there except for you," Carl said.
He squatted and put the puppy down on the basement floor. It immediately ran over to the toy box, and took out a rubber bone.
"The person who dropped me off was parked down the street."
"He was?"
Samantha said, "She was. You aren't very aware of your surroundings. In the future, listen to me. Do what I say, without a bunch of questions."
Carl looked over at the puppy. It was looking around. Carl carried it over to the newspaper. "Good boy, Skippy."
"They go pee a lot, at that age. They've got small bladders, and very little control."
Skippy went over to the cage. He went in and curled up around the sock.
"Good boy, Skippy."
A few seconds later, the puppy was sound asleep. The interrupted nap had not been sufficient to fully recharge the puppy's batteries. Carl closed the door to the cage.
"How am I supposed to know if a total stranger is a member of the Pfand, or not?" Carl asked beginning to get his feet under him.
Samantha said, "That's a good question. Have you read about signs?"
"No."
Samantha went over to the wall and leaned against it.
"When the Pfand was small, everyone knew everyone. It was just ten families living in a single village. In just a couple of generations, the Pfand had grown in size and spread out over a large area. Now there were aunts, uncles, and cousins, of which only some of them were members of the Pfand. It was quite possible that you would never meet someone in the Pfand who was living just three towns away. Remember, this was in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. You didn't pack up and attend a family reunion every year.
"Basically, the problem was that it was impossible to know who was who. According to the Pfand, you couldn't talk about it. To protect their secrecy, the members of the Pfand adopted a set of signs ... or if you prefer, a set of secret symbols ... that would allow them to identify themselves to each other.
"The sign of the Wache family is an upright sword. It looks like an upside-down cross."
"So you weren't a satanist by making that upside-down cross when you were outside?"
"No. I'm not a Satanist.
"The sign of the Bauer family is the plant. It has a main trunk with two branches. A lot of us joke that it looks more like the foot of a chicken."
"My secret sign is a chicken foot. Oh, great."
Samantha laughed. "When you're introduced to someone with a Pfand family name and they give you the symbol of that family, then you know that you're dealing with a member of the Pfand. It's pretty old-fashioned, and stupidly simple, but it works."
Carl said, "Let me get this straight. When you told me your name and made the upside-down cross, then I should have known you were a member of the Wache family and gotten inside the house when you said so."
"Exactly," Samantha answered.
"So, what now?" Carl asked.
Samantha answered, "I get my luggage and move into your guest room."
"I haven't really got a guest room yet," Carl said.
"I'll order a bed," Samantha said wondering for the hundredth time why she was there.
Carl said, "Let me call my sister."
Several hours later, the doorbell rang. His sister Donna had arrived, along with a dozen people. They started hauling boxes of furniture into the house. The guest room was soon set up. He had most of a study although the chairs he wanted had not arrived yet. There was a stack of boxes in the basement containing the furniture for the rooms in the hidden part of the house.
After the movers left, Donna and Carl unpacked the boxes for the two hidden rooms. Samantha helped move the furniture into the room for the security staff. She then proceeded to unpack her luggage.
Carl was playing with Skippy amongst the discarded boxes. The puppy thought all of the boxes had been provided for his entertainment. It was busy sniffing everything and checking out all kinds of nooks and crannies. Carl was glad someone was enjoying the disruption to his life.
While Samantha was occupied with unpacking, Donna pulled Carl aside and whispered, "What's she doing here?"
"She says she's here to protect me," Carl answered.
"Why you?"
"I have no clue," Carl answered.
Donna was confused. She knew there was a threat against the Pfand, but Carl hadn't done anything deserving the level of protection that having a Wache in the house, provided.
She understood how things worked with the Wache almost as well as a Wache. Of all families of the Pfand, the Damensterns lived the most dangerous lifestyle. They had more occasions to need the services of the Wache than all of the other families combined.
"This is strange," Donna said. "I'm worried for you."
"Don't be. I haven't done anything," Carl said.
"You've got a Wache living in your house for protection. That isn't a good sign."
The siblings returned to their work. Carl organized the empty boxes for removal, while playing with his puppy. Donna arranged furniture in the guest room, and in the shelter.
Samantha came out from the hidden tunnel.
"You've got a Damenstern visitor walking up the steps. You should let her in."
"I wonder who that could be," Carl muttered while heading up the stairs. "Maybe Mom has come by for a visit."
After removing the house from lock-down, he opened the door.
"Jennifer!"
He staggered back when she jumped onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. He was surprised to find his high school sweetheart kissing him, and clinging to him like that. She was lucky that he hadn't dropped her.
"Hi, lover!"
"What are you doing here?" Carl asked when he managed to untangled from her.
"I heard that you had moved into a new house. I thought you might want some help decorating it," Jennifer said brightly.
"My sister is doing the decorating," Carl said.
He hadn't come to grips with Jennifer's occupation, and he didn't know how to react. He stepped back a pace. Once again he was struck by her beauty.
He said, "God. You are still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
Jennifer had seen the flicker of unease flash across his face. She knew what it meant. He was disturbed by her occupation as an escort. She could understand that. It took people time to understand the full implications of the work performed by a member of the Damenstern family.
"You found out about my career."
"Is it really a career?"
"Yes."
Making an oblique reference to the Pfand, Carl said, "I'm still getting used to the whole idea of all of this."
"I should have thought about that, before coming here."
"I'm happy to see you."
"No you're not."
"I'm sorry. I'm ... I don't know ... lost," Carl said.
"Lock-down the house," she said while picking up two suitcases.
Carl stared at the suitcases wondering if she was expecting to move in with him. Jennifer eased around him, and then made her way to his living room. She took a seat. When he had finished dealing with the alarm system, she pointed at a chair across from her.
She said, "Carl Plante, I love you. I have loved you ever since we were sixteen. Every night before I go to bed, I kiss the stuffed rabbit that you gave me, the night you took my virginity. I dream of the day when I will be able to kiss you good night, every night."
"You still have that stuffed rabbit?" Carl asked.
At the Cura Private School, the boys and girls were kept apart outside of the classroom beginning at the age of thirteen. Then, at fifteen, they were allowed to mingle freely on school grounds under the watchful eyes of the school faculty. Then one day, a boy would be given permission to start taking girls out on dates away from the school and its prying eyes.
The week after losing his virginity, Carl was given permission to start dating. The first girl he asked was Jennifer. They had gone to a little fair, and he had won a little pink stuffed rabbit in one of those games of skill. She had told him that she would kiss it goodnight, and think of him.
Later that evening, their kisses turned to petting which then became making love. Carl, wanting to impress his date, had done all that woman who had taken his virginity had taught him. It was the most intense and memorable experience of his entire life. He smiled remembering that time.
"It's my greatest treasure," Jennifer said.
"I'm glad," Carl said.
Jennifer said, "Don't let my occupation get in the way of something beautiful."
"I'll try," Carl said.
Knowing that was the best that she would get at the moment, she said, "I've been sent here to ... uh ... well ... provide moral support for you."
"Moral support?"
"Yes..."
The conversation was cut short by an excited scream from Donna, "Jennifer!"
"Donna!" Jennifer shouted jumping out the chair.
The two women hugged, and exchanged small talk about mutual acquaintances. Carl watched the pair, wondering how he had come to have three women in his house all of a sudden. Suddenly, the two women broke apart and Jennifer returned to her chair.
Donna went to the stairs to the basement and shouted, "Samantha, get up here. We need to talk."
It took a minute for Samantha to come out of the basement. She had to put Skippy into his cage. They could hear him whining.
As soon as Samantha entered the room, Donna said, "The Whore sent Jennifer here, to stay with Carl."
Carl knew that Donna was making reference to the head of the Damenstern family. First a Wache showed up with orders from the head of her family and now a Damenstern. From their reactions, he knew this wasn't normal.
"Really?" Samantha asked looking puzzled.
"I'm here for moral support," Jennifer said.
Samantha said, "My cover story is that I am his live-in girlfriend."
"Sweetie, that ain't going to happen," Jennifer said.
Samantha looked at Jennifer for a second. "Okay. I guess we'll need some other cover story for me."
"Why don't you three work out the details? I'm going to play with my dog," Carl said tired of being ignored in his own home.
He went down to the basement and let Skippy out of his cage. Petting the dog, he said, "Well, Skippy, I've got no idea what's going on. This time last week I was looking forward to a meeting, to get some funding for my pickle factory.
"Now, I belong to some secret organization and everyone says that I'm in danger. I've got an ex-girlfriend moving in. Another woman who carries a gun up her skirt is living here. I'm not in danger, I'm in trouble.
"What happened? All that I really want to do is make pickles. What's so dangerous about that?"
Skippy didn't take notice of Carl's problems. There were toys to drag out of the toy box. That was much more import to him.
"I think you've got the right idea, Skippy."
With the door to the basement open, Carl could hear the conversation taking place in the kitchen. He couldn't tell who was talking.
"His refrigerator is loaded with jars of pickles."
"Pickles?"
"Oh! Hey, these are good!"
"He wants to open a pickle factory."
"These are really good. Here, try one."
"You're right. These are good."
"Has he got any of those sweet pickles in there?"
"Yes."
"Oh! These are sooo good. They're even better than I remember."
Carl muttered, "You know you're in trouble when you've got three women going through your refrigerator."
"We're going to need some yogurt ... juices ... eggs ... milk ... diet soda..."
"His cabinets are empty. We might as well buy everything."
"He's got lots of spices."
Carl shouted, "Leave my pickle spices alone!"
"Oops. Scratch the spices. We'll need to pick up some spices."
"I'll head to the store. You need to finish setting up the shelter bedroom. You need to move into his room."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Carl stormed up the stairs shouting, "No one is moving into my bedroom, without me inviting them!"
Three women turned to stare at him.
Angrily, Carl said, "I woke up this morning, the Master of My House. I plan to go to bed tonight as the Master of My House. If someone is shooting at me, you can yell 'Duck'. Outside of that, no one is telling me how to live in my house!" He glared at the three women, as he asked, "Got it?"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"I'm just visiting," Donna said meekly.
"Good!"
Carl turned around and went back down to the basement. He could hear them talking.
"I guess he told us."
"I've never seen him so forceful."
"Your nipples are sticking straight out."
"My panties are wet, too."
"You've got it bad for him."
"He was my first, and my best."
"Your best?"
"Oh yeah."
"You're a Damenstern."
"That's right."
"And he was your best?"
"Yep."
"Damn. I'm gonna have to try me some of that."
Carl said, "Hey, Skippy, what would you say to moving out of this joint?"
Skippy looked over at him, then carried the chew toy over to Carl.
Edited By TeNderLoin