Good Human

            by Isabel Callejo-Brighton

 

            Sitting patiently at the front door, I could hear Thomas running up the old wooden stairs, the quick thunk of each footstep echoing to the front room as I heard him call my name.

            “Pat! Pat come here boy, come on!”  I trotted over to him, wagging my tail in excitement.  I had overheard the family talking about going on an adventure this morning, and was hoping I was coming along.  They were good people, and took me almost everywhere they went.  When Thomas called my name, I knew I must be included.  I whipped around the corner toward the kitchen where his voice was coming from. There he was, leash in hand, and a baggie of my favorite beef-flavored treats on the counter.  OH boy oh boy, I thought to myself.  Breakfast was a LONG time ago.  Thomas had the water bottles tucked in his arm and was putting away the ice cubes.  He had the collapsible pooper-scooper and my water pack too.

            “Good boy, Pat!” he said as he patted my head, dangling the treats dangerously close to my nose.  The smell consumed me.  I shook my collar vigorously, trying to convey to him that I knew I was coming, and that I wanted my leash, but being a ten year old, Thomas didn’t pick up the hints.  I brushed up against his leg with my wagging tail.  Still no reaction, but I was patient as always.  I barked at him once, pleading him for the leash, but before he could give it to me, Thomas’s mom Sally, came stomping down the stairs looking a little flustered, and thoroughly laden with backpack, binoculars, sunhat, cargo shorts, and hiking boots. 

            “Paaaat….. come on now, no barking.” I hated when she was like this.  She always whined at me, like she was begging from me… and I guess in some ways, she was.

“Thomas, would you go outside and brush Pat for a while… he’s shedding so much this time of year. Gosh, look at the piles of hair everywhere.  If I had known Labradors were going to shed so much, I’d have trained Pat to be an outdoor dog.”  

            I walked over to her, wiggling my whole body in excitement, trying to have her focus on me, instead of being irritated and busy. As always, it worked.  She knelt to make us eye-level, and I gave her a slobbery kiss on the cheek, which put a smile on her face.  Thomas came to say “hi” to me too as Tim, Thomas’s Dad, was coming from the downstairs.  As we all converged in the hallway, I noticed that he was equally burdened with hiking gear and fishing equipment.  I even saw his camera dangling off his vest, which was always exciting.  He always took good pictures of me, and we had a great one of all of us on the mantle piece in the living room from our last adventure to Tilden Park.  Thomas and I were in the middle with Sally and Tim standing over us. As Tim walked by me in the hallway, I squirmed through Thomas’s arms, and smashed my wet nose into Tim’s hand.  He shooed me away, and said that the treats in his pack were for later.  I was at the pet-food store when he’d picked up a new flavor of my all-time favorite gold-star treats and I immediately detected the lamb and turkey scent when I hopped into the backseat of the car.

 

 

 

 

*          *            *            *            *

            Ever since I came to the Thornton household, I had created the strongest bond with Thomas.  We always went exploring together, and were true buddies.  I loved waking him up early in the morning, and going on the walks around the neighborhood.  We would play games like tug-of-war, and catch.  It was so much fun to watch him throw the ball and then look at me and point to it, expecting me to put it in my mouth.  After a couple of weeks, I had the hang of it, running along side of the ball until it hit the ground.  Then Thomas would run behind me, pick it up and throw it again.  It was great.  No matter how small a trip or car ride it was, Thomas always asked Tim and Sally if I could come along.  Sometimes I’d hint to him by pacing around the house, and then jump up and spring at the door when I saw them heading that way.  I was hoping I’d be able to come along this time, and I was right.  Here we were on our way to another adventure together.

 

*          *            *            *            *

            Thomas and I headed out first, so I could get my thorough brushing before I jumped into the car.  Tim was very particular about dog hair in the cars, so the least I could shed in the van, the better.  The metal comb brushed though my yellow, wavy hair, clouds of it just floating off of me.  It felt so good to get all that loose hair off of me; I was in complete ecstasy.  Thomas allergies were kicking up again, and it definitely didn’t help that he was allergic to me. I hardly noticed Tim pick up my bed and head out to the car, which excited me and meant that we were staying over night somewhere, something we hardly ever did.  Thomas and I piled into the middle of the car, as Sally put duffle bags and my food containers into the back.  It took quite a while to get everything into the car, but after a few more trips back to the house, everything was ready and we were on our way.

            As always, I snoozed almost the whole way there, only periodically waking up to sniff the new smells coming through Thomas’s window.  I could count on him having it open almost all the time because he usually got carsick on long drives like this one.

            We pulled into the driveway of some house far away from home about two and a half hours later. 

            “Alright, here we are!” I heard Sally say. I immediately sat up, my nose becoming more and more stimulated by the moment.  It smelled woodsy, and really fresh.  The house had red wood trees all round it, and some shrubbery around the path that lead to  the back of the house. 

            I was making my way towards the path when Thomas grabbed my collar and said,  “Come on Pat, lets go explore the house.”  I immediately went to explore with him, and we both jumped the front stairs by two’s.  The first thing I noticed was the smell of another dog that was once there.  It smelled like a terrier of some sort, male too, and young.  I was very unfamiliar with the new environment and was dying to smell the other parts of the house, but Thomas was fixated on keeping me at his side until he found the room he was supposed to stay in.  After patiently following him around, I decided to go out to the deck and explore the outdoors.  I was a little unsteady going down the steep stairs, but I made it, and found nostrils inundated with a repulsive chemical smell.  It was then that I heard Sally say, “Boy, I can’t wait to take a dip in the hot tub.”  Never hearing anything about a hot tub before, I figured the chemical smell had to be associated with that. 

            Once I had made it back up the long flight of stairs, I found the bowl of water that Thomas had put out for me.  I took several long gulps and ran to the front door. Thomas was nowhere in sight.  I ran to the kitchen and to the room he had claimed.  His duffle bag was on his bed, but he wasn’t there.  Where could they BE? I frantically searched the whole house, and no one was there.  Even Sally had disappeared from the back porch.  I saw the side door cracked a little from the downstairs and decided to squeeze though it.  I was halfway though when something stopped me.  I was caught.  I pulled and I couldn’t move.  Something was choking me.  I shook my head and pulled as hard as I could, but the pressure around my throat just increased.  Finally I tossed my head upwards, and was able to extricate myself. Once I saw where I ended up, it looked like I had made it to the back of the house, where the path I had noticed earlier began.  I was so happy to be free and so desperate to find my family, I ran toward the trail head zoomed down the hill.  I picked up Thomas’s scent, and followed my nose.  I plunged through some prickly bush and pushed my way through it.  I got a thorn stuck in one of my paws but surged forward.  I thought for sure that I would seem Thomas at any moment, but I just seemed to be getting further and further into the thorn-laden bushes, until I couldn’t move anymore.  I tried turning around but I only became disorientated. 

            I thought for sure Thomas must be missing me by now and gave a sharp yelp for help.  No one came.  I yelped again, with a more plaintive tone.  Still no sign of Thomas and I began to get nervous.  My paw throbbed with pain and I was desperate to find them.  Suddenly I heard footsteps, which pricked my ears, and I picked up Thomas’s scent.  I stood up and drew up a leap of power from my legs and shot forward toward the sound. I scrambled over the thorns and tumbled down the hill.  With a crash I landed in the water.  I was free!  I immediately stood up and I found myself in a completely unfamiliar setting.  Nothing smelled like home, and with the fall, I lost Thomas’s scent.  I stepped a few paces backward to place myself on what I thought was steady ground, but I slipped on a mossy stone and WOOSH! The current wrapped around my legs and took me with it. 

            I began to paddle as fast as I could, trying to get back to the shoreline.  I overestimated the power of the water, and tried to get my bearings back.  I was able to get my head above the water when I saw a bend in the river.  Paddling as fast as I could, I saw a long, slender thing floating on top of the water.  I’d never seen anything like it before, but it looked like there were people in it.  I gave one last yelp as I neared the slender object before the current dragged me under. 

            Out of know where I felt another tugging on my collar and then a choking sensation around my neck.  I felt fingers grasp the ruff of my neck and two strong arms lift me out of the water.  Exhausted from the traumatic experience, I was a dead weight, and it took several attempts to hoist me up.  I looked up, and saw Tim’s face staring into mine. 

            The first sound I heard was Thomas screaming to his dad from across the water!

            “DAD!” he shrieked.  “Is he Okay?”

            “Yeah, he’ll be okay.  His front paw is bleeding, go get your mother.”

 

*          *            *            *            *

 

 

            The next thing I remember I was being toweled off and back inside the house on my fluffy bed.  Thomas was there, and was digging through the backpack he’d packed in the morning. 

            “Here they are, big guy,” he said to me, patting my head.  He shook the bag and two glorious lamb and turkey Gold Star treats came tumbling out into his hand. 

            “Mom, can I open the other bag too?” Thomas asked.

            “Yes, I think that’s reasonable considering what a traumatic experience he’s had today.”

            I thought I was in heaven. I was getting two different baggies of treats opened on my behalf.  Thomas put his hand out to me, and I leaned forward and politely took them from him.  Oh the flavor. 

            “Hey Tim,” Sally called, “Pat’s gonna be alright.  He’s eating the treat.”

            “I figured,” he replied. “Labs love food, no matter what.”

            I looked at my paw that began to itch, and it was all bandaged up, and felt much better. 

            “Yeah, I know big guy.  You’re gonna have a limp for a while, but that thorn was stuck real deep in your paw.”  Thomas pet my head again, and offered me a few more treats which I was more than happy to have.

            “So Pop,” Thomas said, “how did you see Pat coming down the river? He’d been gone for so long”

            “Well, I was in the canoe and I heard a splash a little bit up stream.  Guess he must have tried following us down here but took the wrong path down to the water.”

            “You know that’s strange though,” Sally said, “because I was sitting on the deck and all of a sudden he was gone.  I figured he had followed Thomas and you down to the river, but he must have gone a different direction.

            “Well he definitely must have, because he’s got a nail stuck to his collar.”

            Thomas leaned over to me right away, removed it and inspected me for anything else.  “Geez Pat, what DID you get into?”

            Tim replied back and said, “Well he’s a dog, I guess we’ll never know.”