“Holy cow,” Gwen said. “That was an instantaneous no.”
“It was, but we can’t discount it was a random bark based on one question,” I responded.
I held up Basia’s lipstick. “Ginger, is this lipstick important because of what’s inside the tube? The lipstick itself?”
She barked, and Basia let out a gasp. “She said no,” Basia breathed. “Oh my God, she really is trying to communicate.”
“Or she’s just barking at every question,” Gray muttered.
I took a deep breath, trying to temper my expectations. “Okay, Ginger. Is the lipstick important because of its shape?”
Ginger barked again. No. So, either shape didn’t matter or barking was going to be the answer to every question.
“Is the order that you brought us the items important?” Gray suddenly asked.
Ginger immediately sat down and we looked at each other in surprise. “Okay, I’m starting to feel like this is not random after all,” I said slowly. “If we understand her correctly, then she brought us those items in a specific order for a particular reason.”
“If it’s not because of the contents, then each item must symbolize something to Ginger,” Basia said. “But what?”
“A concept?” I offered. “A person?”
“What about a letter or a sound?” Gwen offered. “Maybe she’s trying to spell something out with the items.”
Ginger jumped over to Gwen and sat at her feet, wagging her tail.
“Holy crap,” I uttered. “Did she tell us yes?”
“A spelling dog?” Gray said in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? I think we’re operating in the Twilight Zone now.”
“Wait!” I shot to my feet. “Basia’s right. Lipstick, Apple, Blanket. L-A-B. Lab. Ginger is telling us she’s from a lab. Creepy Guy said she was part of an experiment.”
Ginger returned to me and sat on my feet, wagging her tail and nudging my knee excitedly with her nose. My brain was racing a million miles an hour trying to absorb this information. Had a dog just spelled something out for us? How was that even possible?
“Okay, let’s all just calm down. This is just too much,” Gray said. “It’s one thing to recognize a sign, a signal, or even a button, but this dog would have had to memorize all the letters of the English alphabet, assemble them into a word, and assign a meaning to them. Dogs can’t do that…right?”
I didn’t know the answer, and there was no science I knew that supported such a concept, but for the moment, I was going with it. From a scientific point of view, I considered it part of the exploration phase.
“Ginger, are you telling us you’re from a lab?” I asked her. She continued to sit and wag her tail, looking up at me with expectant eyes. “Okay, she’s still sitting, so we take that as a yes. Is that all you wanted to tell us?”
Ginger barked, which, if I read the signals right, meant no, that she had more to tell us. That gave me an idea.
“Listen, guys, if we put forth the hypothesis that Ginger can spell, then let’s help her communicate with us.” I walked over to the bar and held up a stack of paper napkins. “One letter per napkin and we’ll lay it out in the correct order for her. Make the letters big enough to help her out and put plenty of spaces between the rows of letters to give her easy access to each one.”
“An alphabet board?” Gwen said, catching on immediately, her eyes alight with excitement. “Ooooh, let’s do it. What do we have to lose?”
Gray looked doubtful but rummaged around in her purse for a pen and we got to work. I pushed the coffee table out of the way, and we started laying out the napkin letters on the floor in front of the fireplace and couch.
Just then the chime sounded in the foyer, indicating the elevator had arrived. We all paused, looking at the door. Gwen ran over and looked through the peephole.
“It’s Glen and hotel security,” she said. “I’ll talk with them out in the foyer. Maybe he has an update. You continue what you’re doing with Ginger, and I’ll be right back.”
She slipped out, carefully closing the door behind her. We heard the soft murmurs of their voices on the other side.
A few minutes later, Gwen keyed herself back into our room.
“So, what happened?” Gray asked while straightening one of the napkins.
“Not much, really,” Gwen said. “They were able to confirm the guy at our door and our version of the encounter.”
