One of Us Is Going Down

By the end of the week, Trent had hired a man to be at the house at all times, a security guard. Insurance had replaced all of the missing valuables that could be replaced. Ashlyn had fixed the pool house back, but she still hated being alone there at night, not knowing if those men were coming back. Would they hurt her if they did? She took to hauling the family’s golden retriever – Benedict Arnold - with her to the pool house. The Benedict did not mind this one bit; he in fact was enjoying the table scraps he got out of his dinners with Ashlyn, thank you very much.

At dinner that night in the main house, Trent and Ashlyn’s mom – Cathy – informed her that her stepbrother – Dean- would be coming back home over the weekend. Cathy also admitted that she and Trent had been thinking it would be in Ashlyn’s best interest for her to have a bodyguard. Ashlyn thought they were crazy and had no problem expressing this.

“I don’t need a baby-sitter in the form of The Jolly Green Giant meets The Incredible Hulk! What about all the self defense classes I took freshman year of high school!” Ashlyn objected.

“It was one year, and they wouldn’t be a baby-sitter, you’re over-reacting, Ashlyn.”

“It would be a good idea with you going to UCLA this fall, LA isn’t exactly the most crime-free place,” Trent agreed with his wife.

Ashlyn snorted and excused herself to go put on sweats and plant her derrière on the sofa in her pool house and share a bowl of pop corn with Benedict.

The next afternoon Ashlyn noted that her mother’s Lamborghini was gone when she pulled on her gray bikini and took her pool float out to the pool, all of thirteen steps outside of her pool-house door. Benedict lay faithfully by the pool as Ashlyn floated around in the pool, every now and then she would paddle to one side of the pool and take a sip of her drink, only to push off the edge and go back to her sun bathing.

Barking pulled Ashlyn from her nap, she looked at the side of the pool to see Benedict with a tennis ball in his mouth. The Patterson’s ball machine next door would shoot them over the fence all the time, much to Benedict’s delight. Ashlyn paddled with her foot to the side of the pool and pulled the ball from the dog’s mouth.

“Wanna fetch?” She asked the retriever, he barked and wagged his silky tail.

Ashlyn grinned as she threw the ball, throwing off her balance; she had to grab the edge of the pool to stay on her float.

“This is the upstairs living room,” Cathy said, leading the new bodyguard around the house. “I guess we could work out the finer points of the contract in here, have a seat,” she smiled graciously.

The man sat down, stiffly, but Cathy figured he was ‘on duty’ so to speak.

“If there is anything you want or need, here’s a note pad, just write it down and we’ll see to it right away. As you know you’ll be looking after my daughter, she stays out in the pool house. If you want, you can stay out there, it has three bedrooms, or here in the house, I’ll leave that decision up to you. Now-”

Cathy was stopped mid sentence by a shrill scream and then a large POW from the back yard then more of Ashlyn’s screaming. Her blood ran cold as she ran for the window, the bodyguard beating her there by only a second, both fearing the worst. What they saw however, made Cathy rolled her eyes and laugh.

“That’s her.”

“Fetch Benedict!” Ashlyn cried as she threw the ball again, the dog was getting over zealous, running circles around the pool now.
Benedict ran and caught the ball on the bounce, then ran back for the pool, and took a flying leap.

“NOO!!” Ashlyn shouted, seeing the dog flying through the air, heading her way.

POW!!

The dog landed right on her, popping her float as both of them went under water. Ashlyn emerged gasping to see the dog paddling to the side of the pool, ball in his mouth.

“BENEDICT YOU DUMB MUTT!!” Ashlyn screamed, climbing from the pool to her beach towel that had been warming on a beach chair as the wet dog ran through the back yard with his tennis ball.

Cathy left Brian to explore the house and work on his list of needs as she went to make sure her daughter wasn’t strangling the family dog. Brian wondered down to the kitchen where the cook was starting on dinner. He took a drink from the fridge and sat at the table by a window that looked over the back yard. He wrote down a few things, including one day a week off, he’d baby-sat rich pampered brats before, he would need that day for sanity’s sake.

He did have to admit, this new girl at least looked a little different, and her mother was nice enough, and they were certainly paying him well. He looked out the window as the girl bathed the dog in the back yard, then disappeared into the pool house. Brian went back to his list as he took a sip of his drink.