Isla's Big Day Off

A side effect of being twenty-five years old with a full-time job, partner, a decent social circle, and a family that liked to get together often was that there wasn’t a lot of time for what Isla would call self-development. Or really, just any time to herself at all. 

Nights off of work were filled with television shows with her partner who was always coming up with a new thing to watch or cocktails with the girls (and resident non-binary friend) at their local bar that gave them a surprising amount of free drinks (hence why they had to visit frequently). Weekends were for visiting the family and wrestling around little cousins who wanted all of Isla’s attention, vacations with her partner Alex or her roommate Wren, work projects, chores, and everything but time to do something for herself. A hobby that would be just her hobby, where she could give herself time to be in her own head and let herself enjoy the feeling of personal time. 

So when she saw a Sunday during the summer on her calendar that she didn’t have anything, she knew that she had to jump on making it a day to herself. No interruptions by friends, no big plans to take up her time and make her unable to do anything before or after the event. Just a day to act in her own best interests. 

On Thursday night, between laundry and making dinner, she wrote down her list, and she was going to stick to it (but not too much, or else it would feel too much like she had a big day). She couldn’t wait. 

At seven-thirty in the morning, Isla woke up refreshed from a good night of rest and energized by the sun coming through her window. Stretching out on her bed, poking at the heavy blanket that got kicked to the end of the bed, Isla couldn’t be more excited for her day. 

She reached over to her side table to grab her phone, yawning and squinting at the screen as she continued to wake up. Her fingers pressed at the power button, but her screen remained black. Her eyes blinked heavily, to the beat of her pressing the buttons to try to wake up her phone. 

That’s when she remembered that her phone was on low battery the night before, and she didn’t plug it in because she got so sleepy that she didn’t feel like reaching over to do it. 

Fuuuuuuck. 

After an excruciating three minutes of waiting for her phone to be charged enough to power on, Isla was horrified to find out that it was not seven-thirty in the morning. It was nine, which set her back heavily on her plans to go to the coffee shop and write. It’d be busier, and her spot she liked to set it would most likely be taken. As for her plans later, well, she’d have to do them later if she still wanted to spend an hour or two at the coffee shop. 

Her day was already off to the wrong foot. Great. 

As expected, the cafe was pretty crowded. Instead of sitting at the stools she liked to sit in at the corner where she could look out the window and into the alley people used to cross between the coffee shop and a record store on the other end, she had to sit at the communal table. It fit eight people, and she was one of seven that were currently sitting at it. The person next to her had a Modern Language Association Guideline textbook, and the corner of it edged on her definition of what amount of table space should be hers. It bothered her, because he sat down approximately a few seconds after she did, so she couldn’t even get the chance to spread out her wares. 

But alas, she still got to lay out her notebook, colored pens, and have space for her bagel that had a fine spread of plain cream cheese over it (but not the blackberry basil cream cheese she loved, they were out of that this morning). The space in front of her was empty, thankfully, so she could at least spread her legs out a little. 

“Isla? Isla Thorn?” 

Her head shot up from where she had just tilted it down to start reading her notes she’d written down about a project she wanted to do at work. In front of her was a familiar face, one she hadn’t seen in a long time. 

Mattie Fisher was one of her college friends, someone she hasn’t seen since they graduated due to the nature of full time jobs and the upward prices of international travel. Last time she heard, he was traveling through Europe writing articles about how domestic animals were treated differently. 

“Mattie, oh, hello!” Isla got up clumsily, knocking her hip into the shoulder of the person next to her and making her stool chair squeak loud enough to cut through the lo-fi playing over the speakers. After an awkward hug, Mattie sat down across from her, his long legs efficiently invading her space and knocking into her knees. 

They ended up talking for a whole hour and a half, discussing Mattie’s travels, how Isla wishes she had time to go out of the country rather than on weekend trips to another state only two hours away. They even ended up talking about her job, but not any of the fun parts of it, but Mattie was looking for a job, so she had to help him figure out what to put on a resume to join her company. The only time she had allotted herself that she had left after Mattie left was to write down in her calendar that she had to write a letter of recommendation for him, and that they were to get coffee next week. 

“Dad, we’ve talked about this. All of the passwords are written in the notebook with the little giraffe on it. Yes–no, it should be on the coffee table… it’s not? Well, that’s where we all agreed it would stay. Yes– I’m sure it has a giraffe on it. Mom picked it out at the zoo and couldn’t find a use for it until I told her to put the passwords in it.” 

Her dads voice crackled through the old speakers of her car. Half of the time she had a hard time understanding what he was saying, between the quality of the stereo and the incessant police sirens going on outside. He also sounded like he was outside, she could hear the wind blowing by his ears and it was threatening to blow out the speakers. 

Yet, she couldn’t help but smile slightly at the thought of her father walking around, most likely taking their dog on her mid-morning walk. Normally, she’d be there walking Rue with him, catching up from the week and stretching out her legs. 

But today was for her, and she could stretch her legs in other ways and in a more scenic venue than a suburban neighborhood. That’s why she was driving to the nature preserve, excited to walk around with her earbuds in and listen to the latest podcast episode she hasn’t been able to listen to yet. 

Once Isla got there, it took her a few more minutes of trying to get her dad off the phone to actually get herself out of the car. She untangled her headphone cords and slid her phone into her pocket as soon as she got the podcast running, shoulders relieving of any tension as she heard the soothing voice she was familiar with start recounting some news that happened a few weeks ago. 

The walking path was clear today, not a person in sight as she walked along the trees and observed all the tiny things she could see in the dirt, rocks, and what was left on the trail. A perfect way to unwind and get some exercise, just how Isla liked it. 

It wasn’t until after she passed through a small tunnel that she could see someone. Or really, she could hear them before she saw them. A distinct yelling noise muffled through her earbuds, enough to where she couldn’t ignore the sound. 

Popping one of them in order to focus, she could hear that it was a name being called over and over again. 

“Frog! Frog, come here boy– Froggieeeee–” 

The woman was walking along the trees off of the path, her shoes snapping twigs and startling any wildlife that could be nearby (if her voice wasn’t already doing that). 

There was a leash dangling in her hand, attached to a collar, and suddenly the scene made sense to Isla. Her dog got loose!

She approached the person slowly, as if she were approaching a stray dog itself, trying not to startle it away. “Can I help? Is your dog lost?” 

Face flushed with exertion and probably frustration, the lady nodded frantically. “He got startled by a squirrel that ran across the trail and just took off once his collar got loose. Oh, I knew I needed to get a new one soon, but he’s usually never like this! He took off into the trees, but I don’t think he’d go so far. Can you help me call for him? His name is Frog. He’s a big brown dog, very friendly, just skittish.” 

“Of course. I’ll look more inside the trees. You should stay out here in case he runs out.” 

Discarding her earbuds into her pocket, she rolled up the sleeves of her jacket and went right to searching inside of the trees. The ground was a bit damp, which made her feet sink slightly into the dirt with every step, getting her white shoes a bit… Well, they were a mess with every step. Her jacket got caught on bushes and bugs flew into her face. Every rustling noise she thought the dog was near, but it just turned out to be a rabbit or a shaking of the trees. 

Isla couldn’t pin down how long she spent looking, but it felt like forever when there wasn’t anything immediately jumping out at her. Eventually she started heading back in the direction of the trail, feeling slightly hopeless and afraid that this woman wouldn’t ever find her dog. 

It was when she felt a slight pain in her heart that she heard a sniffling noise and a repetitive thumping on the ground. Isla stopped in her tracks, looking everywhere for the dog she was picturing in her head. It took her a minute, but eventually her eyes found the wide, caramel colored eyes looking up at her from under a bush. 

It was too fucking cute. The hurt in her heart turned to something mushy and warm, and she smiled at the pup. “Hi Frog, it’s nice to meet you.” 

Clearly the pup was excited to see her too, if his tail wagging underneath the bush had anything to say about it. Frog refused to get up though, not even when she clicked her tongue and made a motion to come toward her with his hand. When she stepped toward him, he started wiggling back further in the bush, as if they were playing a game mixed between Hide and Seek and keeping away from each other. 

Using all the knowledge she had of dogs and animals in general, she decided that maybe lowering herself to his level would help entice him. Isla slowly got onto her knees  and they dampened immediately. She started to bow down, reaching her hand gently his way so that he could get her scent. 

It did the trick. He excitedly wiggled his way out from underneath, his wet nose bopping into her hand to sniff and then give a hesitant kiss. Once he got a feel for her, he launched toward her body, knocking her over until she was laying on the ground. 

“Oh, Frog, hi, hello, oh my–” she laughed, enjoying the shower of kisses that the dog gave her. He was a big pup, but not in weight, but in height. He was tall and had the gangly legs of a puppy. “You were hiding! Your momma is so scared. Let’s go find her.” 

She slowly got up, keeping an eye on him as she started to walk away. He didn’t follow, but stood there watching her with a playful glint in his eyes. 

“You’re really going to make me carry you, huh? You’re that scared of forest critters, bud?” 

Sure enough, he happily let her pick him up and adjust him so that his front two legs were resting on her shoulder and she was holding his butt, as if she was holding a child on her hip. Thankfully, they weren’t too far from the trail, and she could see his mom a little further up the trail from where they popped out. 

“Found him!” she called, and the lady whipped around and ran faster than she’s seen anyone run. Isla let Frog to the ground and smiled as she watched the two reunite.

“Thank you so much,” she panted, obviously exhausted from the search. 

“Glad to be of help,” Isla grinned, she gave Frog a few more pets before asking if she could take a picture of him to remember. They gladly walked back to their cars together, Isla now lightly covered in mud, chatting about the silliness that Frog gets up to.

Isla: [attached picture] This is Frog. Frog played Hide and Seek in the forest and I found him. Covered in mud and have a headache. Love you! 

Alex: We love Frog. Feel better, baby. Love you 2. 

After getting home and showering, changing clothes into something she could wear at her apartment for the rest of the day, Isla prepared herself for the rest of the afternoon. Her plan was just to be in the living room, put on a show that she’s been meaning to watch, and do whatever else she pleased. Knit, draw, and gorilla glue the plate she broke last week over an intense game of Yahtzee. 

She pulled out all the stops. Her favorite lounging blanket (different from her sleeping blanket), fuzzy socks with cats printed over them, a blended fruit juice, and a fresh sleeve of Oreos she didn’t have to fight over with Alex. 

With her comfort movie already loaded and waiting for her to press play, Isla was excited to have the rest of the afternoon to herself to just zone out on the television and relax. 

Then she heard her front door squeak, something she has on her list of things to fix tomorrow, and realized that her night of quiet was about to be disrupted. 

“Issslaaaaa,” Wren called melodically, her keys chiming after her as she dropped them into the drop plate they had for those types of things right by the door. “Are you home?” 

“Yes, dear,” she sighed softly, stretching out on the couch and pulling the blankets closer to her chest. Wren appeared in the living room shortly after, looking disheveled from traveling and very happy to be home. 

“How was your big day out?” she asked as she plopped herself down in a chair by the couch, propping her legs up on the coffee table. 

How was her big day out?

Well, it didn’t really go exactly how she wanted it to go. Time got away from her and she still felt as if she didn’t have enough time to do what she wanted. Yet, she got to see her friend that she hasn’t caught up with in a while… she saw a really cute dog, and now she gets to talk to her best friend and recount the details of her day. 

Sometimes, when you plan things too precisely, they can be more stressful than relieving. That’s what Isla learned as she talked about her day to Wren, and when she later told Alex about it later on the phone as she was falling to sleep. 

Maybe she’d try to get it right next week.