Coffee Please

"Tilde? Tilde!", I shouted, to no avail. Tilde disappeared around the corner at the end of the driveway, barking at whatever it was she had laid her eyes on. Beyond that corner, only miles and miles of heath-fields and dunes followed. My stomach knotted up when I started running down the driveway.

I woke up early that morning for Tilde to do her morning potty - no sleeping late allowed, even on holiday. She was very persistent in trying to wake me up as well, and that could only mean one thing. Sleepwalking into the living-room I decided to open the curtains first, to see what weather was awaiting us. The sound of flowing liquids behind me, reminded me harshly of my original priority, and I quickly grabbed Tilde by her collar, dragged her to the front-door, and let her out.

For just a second I thought she would just finish her potty and get back inside so I could make some coffee to wake up, but the mischievous look she gave me while standing absolutely still made me realize she had other plans.

I only made one step out of the door, to find Tilde already in full-fledged morning-zoomie mode. This day was now definitely not starting the way I intended it. And it got worse, when she heard or saw something, and bolted. Tilde was gone.

When I reached the end of the drive-way I could see what had caught her eye. A man and his daughter were standing at the start of the hiking trail, looking at a spot in the heath-fields, where their dog was playing chase with Tilde.

"Uh. Oh. Good morning", I said when I caught up with them. They first noticed me now, and the shy look they gave me reminded me of the fact I was still in my underwear, topped off with a matching bewildered morning-hair look. To no avail I made a couple of futile attempts to grab Tilde by her collar. The man and his daughter quickly continued their walk. Tilde followed them, playing with her friend and leaving me behind while calling her name.

Finally. I could see Tilde stopped and looked back at me. She started running back, when something else caught her eye and she disappeared in the bushes.

"Great", I said, and raised my arms to the sky in resignation. Waiting would probably be the best thing to do I thought, and after a minute that felt like a century, Tilde finally re-appeared. Now I had my chance. She was dashing towards me, and I went down on my knees in an attempt to remind her she was coming for me. When she came closer, I noticed the angle in which she approached me was not perfectly straight towards me. I looked over my shoulder.

"You got to be kidding me", I thought, when I saw another man with his dog approaching on my rear, while Tilde passed me by in full-speed, to make yet another friend for the day.

The man looked at me, studying my appearance and with no doubt noticing my unusual clothing items again. How many more people do we need to meet, I thought, now Tilde showed no mercy. A smear appeared on the man's face, I smiled back sheepishly. "It seems you forgot to dress with a leash", he observed sharply.

I had no witty reply. Coffee. Please.

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