Petsitting Blunder

I take my job seriously. It’s a big responsibility taking care of someone else’s precious pet, not to mention their home, mail, plants, and ummmm glasses. Not spectacles. I’m talking about drinking glasses, especially my two favorites—wine and water, yes, in that order. And, if you know me, you know I prefer a stem glass as opposed to the more modern stemless. I’m an old-fashioned girl.,

The two wonderful ladies that hire me to watch over their two chihuahua mix doggies, Tucker and Bella, are adorable—both the the pups and the ladies! After the long travel hiatus due to the pandemic they jumped at the chance to visit beautiful Hawaii for a special vacation.

They generously left me a fabulous bottle of Chardonnay as well as a warm invitation to fully utilize their immaculate ocean-view home. I asked permission to have a friend come for lunch during my eight-day stay. They not only agreed to the visit, they suggested she stay overnight in the guest quarters. My friend, Olwen, who is from England, so appreciated the magnificent view of the pristine beach with the waves breaking on the shore of the white sand beach. We celebrated with the chilled Chardonnay and, of course, I wanted to use the proper wine glasses. I fetched two stem glasses from the wine rack, not noticing the subtle engraving on the front

Yes, you guessed it…I carefully washed the glasses afterward and placed them in the top rack of the dishwasher to dry. I didn’t notice the secret rack above which hugged the top of the machine. As I slid what I thought was the top rack in, an ear-splitting sound rankled my nerves. The glass shattered as the stem crashed into the very top rack and pieces flew everywhere! I picked up all the pieces hoping I got every last shard. My face twisted into a grimace and I went silent. Olwen cried, “Oh, no!”

I replied, “It’s all my fault. Don’t worry, I’ll confess.” I hadn’t yet noticed the subtle logo on the side indicating a special souvenir. Ugh! I vowed to be more careful.

And wouldn’t you know, I did it again! I woke up at two in the morning a few days later. As is my habit at home, I refrain from turning on lights when I have to make a middle-of-the-night potty run. I keep my eyes mostly closed and look through slits shrouded by eyelashes, make it to the bathroom, and fall back on the pillow to continue sleeping until morning. In this case I also wanted to tippy-toe around so as to not set off the little doggies with a night-time barking session. I needed some water and remembered I had left a tall glass on the kitchen counter just to the right of the sink.

I quietly made my way to the kitchen in the dark and reached my hand out to find the glass. I found it alright! My wrist knocked it over on the granite counter-top. Smash! Another one down. Again! Shards everywhere. My eyes flew wide open, the dogs started barking and jumping up and down. I flipped on the lights. Nooooo! I wanted to crawl into a hole. This one also had a commemorative logo on the glass. Irreplaceable. No amount of money could fix this. There was nothing to do but clean it up and confess!

I am mortified. I will not ruin their vacation by telling them this bad news while they are enjoying the tropical splendor that is Hawaii. They are snorkeling, visiting macadamia farms, rum factories, and feeling happy and secure knowing their sweet pups are getting plenty of good food, frequent walks, and lots of loving pets from their petsitter, clumsy as she may be.

If they ever hire me again, I will bring my own wine glass and drink water out of my metal container. I will offer to pay for the glasses. One of them is from a place called the Eighth Wonder. I might have to go there to find them a new glass. “I’m sorry” doesn’t seem to be enough. But, of course, I am sorry. Maybe I should stick to making crystal collage art. That way if I break a piece it’s all on me. And I’ll have no-one to forgive but myself.

Happy trails!