While we walked Layla today, Eli and I wondered if it would be funny to combine the classic Disney ‘Incredible Journey’ — which followed three pets as they wandered hundreds of miles back to their home — and the more recent sci-fi film’ Edge of Tomorrow’, which starred Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.  The premise of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is similar to ‘Groundhog’s Day’:  Tom Cruise keeps being reincarnated until he finally reaches his goal of saving earth from the aliens.  Eli and I agreed that the rural landscape of 1963 was a walk in the park for the pets compared to the urban challenges of 2016.  So we wrote a little of the screenplay.

Day Zero:

Layla awakes in the gutter.  It’s night.  Nothing she smells is familiar.  She remembers jumping out a car window to chase a squirrel.  She isn’t sure if her family saw her jump.  She’s got to find them.  She’s got to find home.

She crosses the street and is hit by a car.

Day One:

Layla awakes in the gutter.  It’s night.  Nothing she smells is familiar.  She looks to the left and she crosses the street and is hit by a car coming from the right.

Day Two:

Layla awakes in the slightly more familiar gutter.  She decides not to cross the street.  Wandering along the sidewalk, she encounters another stray dog.  A much bigger dog.  It growls at her and they fight.  The other dog bites her throat out.

Day Three:

Layla awakes in the familiar gutter.  It’s night.  She sees the big dog down the street.  She looks to the left and waits for a car to pass.  She looks to the right and waits for the oncoming car to pass.  She crosses and is hit by another car making a right turn onto the street.

Day Four:

Layla awakes in the gutter and trots towards the intersection she can see in the distance.  She sees a girl pushing a button.  The crossing light turns green and the girl crosses.  She follows her across the street.  Dang.  It was that easy!  Layla is hungry.  She sees a garbage can and considers it, but decides to beg the girl for food.  Layla is a pro at this, but the girl takes Layla home too.  Weeks pass.  They feed her well enough, but she is trapped in their house, not her own home.  She misses her real family.  One day, the girl leaves a chocolate bar sitting out.  Layla wolfs it down.

Day Five:

Layla wakes in the gutter.  It’s night.  Again.  Wow!  Chocolate really is poisonous to dogs!  She files away this useful information as she heads for the street corner.  She crosses with the girl, but doesn’t beg.  She is hungry, but finds water in a creek running nearby.  The wildlife (squirrels) look at her and take flight.   She chases them to exhaustion and collapses on a sidewalk near the road.  A friendly man sees her and takes her home with him.  Layla sees a bag of M&Ms on the car seat, snatches the bag and wolfs them down.

Day Six:

Layla forgets not to cross the road.  It’s a Buick this time.

Day Seven:

Layla is depressed and hangs out by the gutter.  A cat approaches.  Her name is Flounder.  She’s all white, and skittish.  The big dog approaches, looking for trouble.  Flounder arches her back and hisses; the dog takes off.  Layla is impressed.  What does Flounder want?  Flounder has been living on the street like Layla.  She wants a home.  Layla tells her that they can get a home if they work together.  Flounder agrees.

Layla shows Flounder the button at the intersection, but Flounder is scared and slow to cross.  Layla watches her become road kill.

Day Seven through Day 512:

Layla heads in every direction.  No matter where she goes, she ends up starving in rural obscurity, killed by rival gangs, mown over by cars or buses.  It’s useless.  Finally, she lets go of her goal of going home.  She decides to just live her life the best way she’s learned how.

Day 513:

Layla awakes in the gutter.  She sits, thinking hard about the day to come.  Flounder approaches and they exchange greetings.  Layla asks her how her left paw is coming, and Flounder is stunned.  How did he know she had injured her left paw?

They go to the intersection.  This time, Layla demonstrates a half dozen times that the cars will stop when the button has been pushed.  Finally, Flounder follows her across the street and they arrive safely together.  Layla starts to head north, and Flounder tells her to stop.  They have to go back to the other side of the intersection.  It’s the only way to get back into the city.

They cross again, together, and head west.  Flounder has seen a lot of the city, but can take them only so far.  They come on a stretch of street with a dozen stray dogs.  Layla fights as many off as she can, but Flounder is killed.  Layla escapes, but walks the streets alone in sorrow.  Finally, she sneaks into a corner store and snarfs three bars of chocolate.

Day 514:

Layla awakes in the gutter.  It’s night.  She sees Flounder and gushes all the things she knows about her.  She has to come with him.  They race through the streets they had passed before, and Layla urges her on a detour around the street with the gang of dogs.  They reach place that, finally, Layla recognizes.  Flounder is reluctant to follow; this is a part of town unfamiliar to her.  But she comes with him.

They reach the doorstep of 32108 Isleview Drive.  Layla’s owner Isabelle answers the door.  She has returned at last.

At first, mom is reluctant to take Flounder into the house with her.  But when they discover that Flounder will push her head into their mouth when they open wide, their hearts are broken and they take her in.

Flounder and Layla live happily ever after.