I was taking a nap when something told me to wake up. I opened my eyes and saw him in the act of running away.
Successfully bobbing and weaving, he artfully slipped through my grasp, saying that he did not want to leave Portugal. This was, after all, where I had found him and he insisted that he wasn’t ready to go to America. He had heard and seen enough on CNN.
Did he really think he could get away with this, that I couldn’t catch him?
Did he think he actually had a choice; that this was some kind of a game?
Well, I wasn’t in the mood, but ran after him as he dashed into beds of bright yellow wildflowers.
He tried to hide behind tall grasses. But the wind wasn’t in his favor.
I followed him as he climbed fragrant orange trees. It smelled good, but he managed to slip away, AGAIN!
He said that he absolutely refused to go back with us, and surprised me when he actually began to cry out for help.
At one point he even threatened to jump!
But just as I was about to loose him entirely, he ran into a construction site, and got tangled up in caution tape. He was trapped and couldn’t continue his attempt to escape.
So, I picked him up, untangled him, dusted him off and took him back inside.
It turns out that he didn’t hear me clearly when I said that we were leaving for Malaysia. He thought I said America. (He doesn’t yet know we will get there eventually.)
Although it will probably take months before we can see an audiologist in the States, we’re going to schedule a hearing test for him as soon as we get back to Santa Fe. I just knew something was wrong.
In the meantime, I think I’ll just leave him in the suitcase to avoid a repeat of this madness in Asia.
He’s really quite sweet. I can’t wait for you to meet him.