This chapter may be out of sequence. You'll also note that the character previoiusly known as "Max" is now "Buster"
Time froze for everyone in the Chin and peoples universe the moment that Sophie Chin said “NO” to leaving the Animal Shelter without Buster, her short time long bodied friend. Chris, the Shopper, stared at the oldest Chin ever to live and scratched his head. What was he going to do now? He knew Auntie Sophie couldn’t go back into the shelter… her time was almost up, so that option was never considered.
“Sophie,” he reasoned with the stubborn old dog, “My home is not very large, not large at all in fact. There simply isn’t enough room for me, you, Butch and now this Buster too. There has to be another option… has to be!” Chris looked at her with kind eyes but Auntie Sophie stared straight ahead with a blank look on her face and her indifference turned on full blast.
“NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER” She repeated firmly and slowly.
“SHE IS VERY STUBBORN SOMETIMES,” admitted Butch, whispering at the top of his lungs, “SHE WILL NOT BACK DOWN. NOT EVEN IF YOUR HEAD IS STUCK IN A BOX, YOUR FOOT TRAPPED IN A PLASTIC BAG OR IF YOUR ARE STUCK BETWEEN TWO DOORS BY ACCIDENT ‘CAUSE YOU DIDN’T LISTEN VERY WELL WHEN SHE TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULDN’T REACH THE HANDLE WITH YOUR SHORT LEGS… I KNOW THESE THINGS SINCE THEY MOSTLY HAVE HAPPENED TO ME ONCE IN AWHILE.”
Chris thought for a long moment, considering his options and attempting to figure out how he would gracefully get out of this place with only TWO dogs in tow. “What if I found someone else to take Buster… I could have them come down and get him today?” He questioned, gently.
Sophie continued to stare directly forward with the indifferent smirk still attached firmly to her face. “And you know of such a peoples, someone who can come to get Buster now… while we wait here?” Chris frowned, looked away and shook his head slowly to indicate he did not have that person to come immediately. Sophie rolled her eyes over to quickly glance at him… showing her disapproval of this option, “NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER” she repeated!
This standoff lasted three Chin days (or about 20 peoples minutes), the entire time consisting of Chris the Shopper pleading with Auntie Sophie to be reasonable… and Sophie stating that the only reasonable answer would be to free every dog in the place but she would settle for Buster today. Chris paced the floor, stopped occasionally with a radical idea which he would introduce to the Oldest One… only to have that idea greeted with a blank stare of indifference and those three words repeated over and over “NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER”.
Finally, Chris signed heavily and left the room for what seemed like twice the length of a very long nap. Auntie Sophie and Butch could hear the mumbles of peoples voices just beyond the closed door of their waiting room.
“Auntie,” Butch asked softly and cautiously, “What will we do if Buster cannot come with us?”
Sophie looked at the young Chindren, so wise and so brave, and forced a smile onto her old face, “Then you will go… and I will stay. For you see, Butch, Buster was our friend when we were down and lonely. Buster cared for us when no others seemed to think we mattered. Buster befriended us for no other reason than because he has a warm and loving heart. Deep inside his long frame and needle nose, Buster is CHIN. We leave no Chin behind.”
Butch thought for a moment, his mind racing as it drew a picture of a Japanese Chin dog trapped inside of Busters long body. “But the Round Man is the only one who can make a non-Chin into a Chin, Auntie… you remember the mostly true tale you told us about our Chincestors.” Butch reminded his Auntie.
“For the same reasons that Bitty de la Chihuahua was reborn as a Chin by the Round Man… Buster can ascend to a Chin as well,” reasoned Auntie Sophie. “There is no magic in this feat, one who is strong of heart, spirit and mind is already a Chin.”
The door to the small room opened slowly as Chris appeared with a very long, mostly dark brown and awfully confused Buster under his arm. Chris sat Buster on the table next to Sophie and Buster smile his very toothy grin.
“Nice to see you, Soph,” Buster winked, “Now can you tell me why I’m here?”
“You will come with us” Sophie said with confidence.
Buster scrunched up his long nose and tilted his head to one side, looking confused, “Come… where?” he asked.
Sophie slowly turned her head away from Buster, gazed at the light coming through a window, lifted her paw slowly and said, “Out there… into the Real World. You are now part of the pack of the Old Brown House. You are with us. You… are… Chin!”
Auntie Sophie could see the long doggy’s expression change from confused to amazed. His round eyes became moist and his tail began to wag, first very slowly and then picked up pace, “You are taking me with you… out there?” Buster was almost breathless with excitement.
Chris, who had been watching their interaction from the doorway, interjected, pointing at Buster, “So I take it you can understand Mr. Stubby legs.”
Sophie confirmed, “Yes… I can understand Buster. He speaks very clearly to me. Can you not hear him?”
Chris shook his head to confirm her thought. “Nope, all I hear is growls, whimpers and barks. Can he understand me?”
Buster nodded his head to show that he did understand the peoples. “Clear as a bell, Captain!”
“I hear everybody,” added Butch, “but I don’t understand a bunch of what any of you are saying cause your words don’t make sense in my brain.”
“Well can you ask everyone if we can all get out of here now?” requested Chris, who was ready to exit before he was asked to take anyone else along for the ride.
“NOW… We leave,” Sophie said with a grin.
“Thank goodness,” exclaimed Butch. “I’m very hungry.”
Chris loaded all three dogs into his glass box on wheels, closed the door up tight, crossed around in front and pulled his jingling keys out of his front pocket. He opened his door, slid into the seat, put a belt across his lap to keep his pants from falling down and put the keys into the pointing stick so he could direct them down the long black sidewalk. Although this was the first time she had been inside this glass box on wheels and the first time she had been outside of the shelter with Chris, Sophie felt as though she had lived these very moments one hundred times before.
She glanced over at the Shopper and saw him in a different light, for the first time. She took a moment to really see this peoples man. He was a stranger to her but somehow every familiar. Sophie thought that he was rather humble in appearance, not bad looking for a peoples, with hair on his face. He was not tall but not short… his brown hair had slight streaks of white and gray flowing through it. He wore simple clothing and his legs appeared to be shorter, while his body seemed longer towards the top. He was not thin but he was also not heavy… except for a portion around his middle which was rounder than any peoples man she had witnessed.
Just then wave of memories and images flowed through Sophie’s head and caused her to gasp. She thought to herself, afraid to speak aloud, afraid she would sound crazy “not tall but not short… brown hair with white and gray streaks… short legs and a long body… rounder in the middle… round for peoples man… ROUND… MAN… ROUND MAN… OH MY… ROUND MAN???!!!!” None of this made sense, none of it at all. This Chris… the Shopper… he was able to hear and understand Chin, speak to Chin. He had kind eyes and a big open heart. He cared deeply for Butch the moment he saw him, he had rescued her from cage when her time was nearly up.
How familiar these scenes were to the Mostly True Tales of her past, or was she only imagining it all? It all was becoming clear to her… she had lived all of this before, only not really… not exactly. He wasn’t THE Round Man… she had seen the Round Man… and this Chris peoples was not the Round Man of her past. And she was not Auntie May… she was Sophie Chin of the Old Brown House, the Oldest One. So this was NOT the same… but it was the same… only different.
The Oldest One settled her mind and calmed herself. “Auntie May,” she spoke in her brain, “How can any of this be true? Am I somewhere looking at the back of my eyelids? Will I wake up and be back at the Old Brown House with Bitty, Dingus and Finn waiting for you to tell us another story? I don’t understand any of this. If this peoples is not the Round Man… how can he seem to be so much like him?” The noises of the glass box on wheels and the voices of her companions pulled Sophie out of her brain and back into the moment.
As the glass box on wheels began to roll down the long black sidewalk, Buster pawed at the glass in the door. “Ask him if he can open this up a bit,” requested Buster, “I like to feel the wind in my face when I ride!”
Before Sophie could ask, Chris looked over at Buster… reached across the seat and scratched his head, which made his long ears flop to and fro. The glass slowly lowered in the door and Buster put his head out into the wind. His ears were instantly pulled straight back and his cheeks puffed out like a balloon as the wind blew into his mouth and up his nose.
Buster, who was sitting on Chris’ lap, looked at Butch, horrified by the changes in his appearance. “That looks like it hurts,” he said with a pained look on his face.
“No, kiddo… THIS IS THE BEST!” corrected Buster, “It’s WIND surfing. There is nothing better than the wind in your face, the bugs in your teeth and the smell of the air!! You should try it sometime!”
Chris pointed the glass box on wheels down another long black sidewalk that lead into a group of tall buildings, each building looked exactly like the one beside it.
“Here we are!” he said to his new pack. “Let’s get you all inside and figure out exactly how all of this is going to work!” He looked down at the trio of dogs to his right, all of them wide eyed and obviously concerned about what the future held. “Listen, we need to be very quiet. My lease said that I cannot have more than one dog… so we need to keep a low profile while we work this all out. You guys… follow me.”
With that he took the keys out of the pointing stick, unbuckled the belt keeping his pants up, opened his door, moved around the front of the glass box on wheels and opened the door to the seat where Sophie, Butch and Buster sat waiting. All four of them, in a tight bunch, walked down stairs and up to a large red door. Chris placed a key in the lock and turned it slowly to the right causing the door to begin to open. The three dogs, two Chin and a recently promoted “almost Chin”, peered around the edge of the door and into the rooms beyond… almost afraid of what they might see.
“Welcome to my home… well… I guess it’s our home now,” stated Chris as he pushed the red door wide open and walked inside. “This is where we live… my place! I hope you’re not disappointed.”
As the three furry travelers walked into a small hallway and towards the opened area directly in front, the red door closed behind them. The rooms were small in comparison to the Old Brown House. There was a couch to sit and watch a glass picture box, a place where the dinner was prepared, the pooping room that peoples use but Chin were not allowed in, a room where they would stare at the back of their eyelids and a very long and tall window next to the couch where you could look out into the Real World anytime you chose. This window was wide and, magically, Chris pulled a handle that made it open. A cool breeze blew in through the glass door and across their faces.
Butch looked slowly around the room with his mouth wide open. He spoke slowly to his Aunt in a loud whisper, “Magic glass door… a small couch… a glass picture box… a small room to make the dinner… a room to stare at the back of our eyelids… Auntie Sophie, it’s a ‘PARTMINT!! This really, really is the REAL WORLD!”
Chris smiled, “I take it you approve, little man. It’s definitely an apartment… not very fancy but it is home and you are all welcome here. I hope to get a bigger place, maybe even a house, someday.”
The Oldest Ones ears perked up at his words. She jumped on the ‘partmint couch of this new and different home and she stared out the magic door into the woods beyond. “SOMEDAY,” she said to herself, “SOMEDAY!”
Time froze for everyone in the Chin and peoples universe the moment that Sophie Chin said “NO” to leaving the Animal Shelter without Buster, her short time long bodied friend. Chris, the Shopper, stared at the oldest Chin ever to live and scratched his head. What was he going to do now? He knew Auntie Sophie couldn’t go back into the shelter… her time was almost up, so that option was never considered.
“Sophie,” he reasoned with the stubborn old dog, “My home is not very large, not large at all in fact. There simply isn’t enough room for me, you, Butch and now this Buster too. There has to be another option… has to be!” Chris looked at her with kind eyes but Auntie Sophie stared straight ahead with a blank look on her face and her indifference turned on full blast.
“NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER” She repeated firmly and slowly.
“SHE IS VERY STUBBORN SOMETIMES,” admitted Butch, whispering at the top of his lungs, “SHE WILL NOT BACK DOWN. NOT EVEN IF YOUR HEAD IS STUCK IN A BOX, YOUR FOOT TRAPPED IN A PLASTIC BAG OR IF YOUR ARE STUCK BETWEEN TWO DOORS BY ACCIDENT ‘CAUSE YOU DIDN’T LISTEN VERY WELL WHEN SHE TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULDN’T REACH THE HANDLE WITH YOUR SHORT LEGS… I KNOW THESE THINGS SINCE THEY MOSTLY HAVE HAPPENED TO ME ONCE IN AWHILE.”
Chris thought for a long moment, considering his options and attempting to figure out how he would gracefully get out of this place with only TWO dogs in tow. “What if I found someone else to take Buster… I could have them come down and get him today?” He questioned, gently.
Sophie continued to stare directly forward with the indifferent smirk still attached firmly to her face. “And you know of such a peoples, someone who can come to get Buster now… while we wait here?” Chris frowned, looked away and shook his head slowly to indicate he did not have that person to come immediately. Sophie rolled her eyes over to quickly glance at him… showing her disapproval of this option, “NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER” she repeated!
This standoff lasted three Chin days (or about 20 peoples minutes), the entire time consisting of Chris the Shopper pleading with Auntie Sophie to be reasonable… and Sophie stating that the only reasonable answer would be to free every dog in the place but she would settle for Buster today. Chris paced the floor, stopped occasionally with a radical idea which he would introduce to the Oldest One… only to have that idea greeted with a blank stare of indifference and those three words repeated over and over “NOT… WITHOUT… BUSTER”.
Finally, Chris signed heavily and left the room for what seemed like twice the length of a very long nap. Auntie Sophie and Butch could hear the mumbles of peoples voices just beyond the closed door of their waiting room.
“Auntie,” Butch asked softly and cautiously, “What will we do if Buster cannot come with us?”
Sophie looked at the young Chindren, so wise and so brave, and forced a smile onto her old face, “Then you will go… and I will stay. For you see, Butch, Buster was our friend when we were down and lonely. Buster cared for us when no others seemed to think we mattered. Buster befriended us for no other reason than because he has a warm and loving heart. Deep inside his long frame and needle nose, Buster is CHIN. We leave no Chin behind.”
Butch thought for a moment, his mind racing as it drew a picture of a Japanese Chin dog trapped inside of Busters long body. “But the Round Man is the only one who can make a non-Chin into a Chin, Auntie… you remember the mostly true tale you told us about our Chincestors.” Butch reminded his Auntie.
“For the same reasons that Bitty de la Chihuahua was reborn as a Chin by the Round Man… Buster can ascend to a Chin as well,” reasoned Auntie Sophie. “There is no magic in this feat, one who is strong of heart, spirit and mind is already a Chin.”
The door to the small room opened slowly as Chris appeared with a very long, mostly dark brown and awfully confused Buster under his arm. Chris sat Buster on the table next to Sophie and Buster smile his very toothy grin.
“Nice to see you, Soph,” Buster winked, “Now can you tell me why I’m here?”
“You will come with us” Sophie said with confidence.
Buster scrunched up his long nose and tilted his head to one side, looking confused, “Come… where?” he asked.
Sophie slowly turned her head away from Buster, gazed at the light coming through a window, lifted her paw slowly and said, “Out there… into the Real World. You are now part of the pack of the Old Brown House. You are with us. You… are… Chin!”
Auntie Sophie could see the long doggy’s expression change from confused to amazed. His round eyes became moist and his tail began to wag, first very slowly and then picked up pace, “You are taking me with you… out there?” Buster was almost breathless with excitement.
Chris, who had been watching their interaction from the doorway, interjected, pointing at Buster, “So I take it you can understand Mr. Stubby legs.”
Sophie confirmed, “Yes… I can understand Buster. He speaks very clearly to me. Can you not hear him?”
Chris shook his head to confirm her thought. “Nope, all I hear is growls, whimpers and barks. Can he understand me?”
Buster nodded his head to show that he did understand the peoples. “Clear as a bell, Captain!”
“I hear everybody,” added Butch, “but I don’t understand a bunch of what any of you are saying cause your words don’t make sense in my brain.”
“Well can you ask everyone if we can all get out of here now?” requested Chris, who was ready to exit before he was asked to take anyone else along for the ride.
“NOW… We leave,” Sophie said with a grin.
“Thank goodness,” exclaimed Butch. “I’m very hungry.”
Chris loaded all three dogs into his glass box on wheels, closed the door up tight, crossed around in front and pulled his jingling keys out of his front pocket. He opened his door, slid into the seat, put a belt across his lap to keep his pants from falling down and put the keys into the pointing stick so he could direct them down the long black sidewalk. Although this was the first time she had been inside this glass box on wheels and the first time she had been outside of the shelter with Chris, Sophie felt as though she had lived these very moments one hundred times before.
She glanced over at the Shopper and saw him in a different light, for the first time. She took a moment to really see this peoples man. He was a stranger to her but somehow every familiar. Sophie thought that he was rather humble in appearance, not bad looking for a peoples, with hair on his face. He was not tall but not short… his brown hair had slight streaks of white and gray flowing through it. He wore simple clothing and his legs appeared to be shorter, while his body seemed longer towards the top. He was not thin but he was also not heavy… except for a portion around his middle which was rounder than any peoples man she had witnessed.
Just then wave of memories and images flowed through Sophie’s head and caused her to gasp. She thought to herself, afraid to speak aloud, afraid she would sound crazy “not tall but not short… brown hair with white and gray streaks… short legs and a long body… rounder in the middle… round for peoples man… ROUND… MAN… ROUND MAN… OH MY… ROUND MAN???!!!!” None of this made sense, none of it at all. This Chris… the Shopper… he was able to hear and understand Chin, speak to Chin. He had kind eyes and a big open heart. He cared deeply for Butch the moment he saw him, he had rescued her from cage when her time was nearly up.
How familiar these scenes were to the Mostly True Tales of her past, or was she only imagining it all? It all was becoming clear to her… she had lived all of this before, only not really… not exactly. He wasn’t THE Round Man… she had seen the Round Man… and this Chris peoples was not the Round Man of her past. And she was not Auntie May… she was Sophie Chin of the Old Brown House, the Oldest One. So this was NOT the same… but it was the same… only different.
The Oldest One settled her mind and calmed herself. “Auntie May,” she spoke in her brain, “How can any of this be true? Am I somewhere looking at the back of my eyelids? Will I wake up and be back at the Old Brown House with Bitty, Dingus and Finn waiting for you to tell us another story? I don’t understand any of this. If this peoples is not the Round Man… how can he seem to be so much like him?” The noises of the glass box on wheels and the voices of her companions pulled Sophie out of her brain and back into the moment.
As the glass box on wheels began to roll down the long black sidewalk, Buster pawed at the glass in the door. “Ask him if he can open this up a bit,” requested Buster, “I like to feel the wind in my face when I ride!”
Before Sophie could ask, Chris looked over at Buster… reached across the seat and scratched his head, which made his long ears flop to and fro. The glass slowly lowered in the door and Buster put his head out into the wind. His ears were instantly pulled straight back and his cheeks puffed out like a balloon as the wind blew into his mouth and up his nose.
Buster, who was sitting on Chris’ lap, looked at Butch, horrified by the changes in his appearance. “That looks like it hurts,” he said with a pained look on his face.
“No, kiddo… THIS IS THE BEST!” corrected Buster, “It’s WIND surfing. There is nothing better than the wind in your face, the bugs in your teeth and the smell of the air!! You should try it sometime!”
Chris pointed the glass box on wheels down another long black sidewalk that lead into a group of tall buildings, each building looked exactly like the one beside it.
“Here we are!” he said to his new pack. “Let’s get you all inside and figure out exactly how all of this is going to work!” He looked down at the trio of dogs to his right, all of them wide eyed and obviously concerned about what the future held. “Listen, we need to be very quiet. My lease said that I cannot have more than one dog… so we need to keep a low profile while we work this all out. You guys… follow me.”
With that he took the keys out of the pointing stick, unbuckled the belt keeping his pants up, opened his door, moved around the front of the glass box on wheels and opened the door to the seat where Sophie, Butch and Buster sat waiting. All four of them, in a tight bunch, walked down stairs and up to a large red door. Chris placed a key in the lock and turned it slowly to the right causing the door to begin to open. The three dogs, two Chin and a recently promoted “almost Chin”, peered around the edge of the door and into the rooms beyond… almost afraid of what they might see.
“Welcome to my home… well… I guess it’s our home now,” stated Chris as he pushed the red door wide open and walked inside. “This is where we live… my place! I hope you’re not disappointed.”
As the three furry travelers walked into a small hallway and towards the opened area directly in front, the red door closed behind them. The rooms were small in comparison to the Old Brown House. There was a couch to sit and watch a glass picture box, a place where the dinner was prepared, the pooping room that peoples use but Chin were not allowed in, a room where they would stare at the back of their eyelids and a very long and tall window next to the couch where you could look out into the Real World anytime you chose. This window was wide and, magically, Chris pulled a handle that made it open. A cool breeze blew in through the glass door and across their faces.
Butch looked slowly around the room with his mouth wide open. He spoke slowly to his Aunt in a loud whisper, “Magic glass door… a small couch… a glass picture box… a small room to make the dinner… a room to stare at the back of our eyelids… Auntie Sophie, it’s a ‘PARTMINT!! This really, really is the REAL WORLD!”
Chris smiled, “I take it you approve, little man. It’s definitely an apartment… not very fancy but it is home and you are all welcome here. I hope to get a bigger place, maybe even a house, someday.”
The Oldest Ones ears perked up at his words. She jumped on the ‘partmint couch of this new and different home and she stared out the magic door into the woods beyond. “SOMEDAY,” she said to herself, “SOMEDAY!”