Spot and Smudge - Book One

by Robert Udulutch

  “Got your cards?” he said, “Okay, when I say go I want you each to say your card, taking turns starting with Mimi and going around the room towards me.”

  “Ready?” Ben paused for effect, twirling the wand again before he said, “Go.”

  “Five of spades,” “Ace of diamonds,” “Jack of hearts,” “Seven of hearts,” they each said in turn.

  “Spot, please find their cards,” Ben said, pointing at the black dog again with the wand.

  Spot had watched each of them when they said their cards. Now he walked through the rows of cards and touched each card, and looked at the person who had uttered it.

  When he was finished he again backtracked to his place at the end of the table, sat, and looked at Ben.

  “Ta daaa!” Ben said, “That’s correct, good boy Spot.” He rubbed the pups head and Spot rolled his ears happily back and forth under Ben’s palm.

  Dan put both of his hands on his head and said, “Boooom,” as he moved them up and away slowly.

  “No duh,” Kelcy said, “How the hell, I mean heck?”

  Mimi met Aila’s bewildered look for a long moment and then said to Ben, “My dear boy that is the most amazing bloody pet trick I have ever seen.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet, Ma’am,” Ben said, “For our last trick, I need a sheet of paper and a pen.” Ben already had them setup on the kitchen counter and Kelcy grabbed them. “I also need a volunteer,” he said, looking around the room, “Anyone will do. How about you, good sir? You look like the simple, honest type,” He pointed the wand at his dad.

  “Um, sure. What do you want me to do?” Dan said as he looked at Aila.

  His wife just shrugged. She was not privy to the secrets of this show. Ben and Spot spent most of their time in the back yard and Aila had no idea what they had been working on. She figured Spot had just been watching her son play solitaire.

  “I want you to pick one final card,” Ben said, “and write it down clearly on that sheet of paper. Don’t let my four legged assistant see it. Take your time, sir, let me know when you’re ready.”

  “Got it,” Dan said after he scribbled behind his cupped hand.

  “Show it to the audience, and now to me,” Dan showed it to the rest of the family. He made a big show of protecting the paper so Spot couldn’t see it. Ben leaned over and looked at the paper, and nodded.

  He put one hand to his temple and reached out with his wand and touched Spot on the top of his little black nose.

  “Without saying what the card is, please ask Spot to find your card,” Ben said.

  “Ben,” Dan said quietly as he and Spot stared at each other, “I think you forgot a step.”

  “Oh, is that a fact, sir?” Ben whispered back at him. “Well, how about you just let me be embarrassed when the trick don’t work,” he said. Ben turned to Mimi and said, “I hate working these backwater burgs, you know what I mean? I’m having a word with my agent.”

  They all laughed.

  “Sorry,” Dan said, “Spot, my smart little black pup, would you please be so kind as to find my card for me?”

  Spot walked to the last row, and hovered over the last card in the row. It was the card right in front of Dan. Spot tapped it with his paw.

  “Nine of clubs, Spot? Are you sure?” Ben said.

  Spot looked from Dan to Ben, and tapped it again.

  “Well ladies and gentleman,” Ben said, “is he right?”

  The room was dead silent.

  “Yeah,” Dan said slowly shaking his head, “I, I, how..?” and then he just sat there with his mouth open.

  “Good boy,” Ben said to Spot, and rubbed the pup’s rump a few times. Spot wagged and gave Dan’s chin a lick.

  “Bloody hell,” Mimi said.

  “Freaky,” Kelcy added.

  “Oh Ben,” was all Aila could manage.

  “Can Smudge do that?” Kelcy asked.

  “Yeah, but she gets the hearts and diamonds mixed up sometimes,” Ben said.

  Ben wouldn’t divulge the secret to the trick, and later that night Mimi, Dan, and Aila decided to make more of an effort to catch some of his training sessions with the pups.

  The next day Aila brought a cup of tea and her laptop out to the back deck. She waved to Ben who was in the back yard, and pretended to work as she watched them.

  It didn’t take her long to realize that aside from a few breaks to rough house or shoot past her to get a drink, this training was no joke. Ben and the pup were extremely focused, and Spot needed very little correction or reinforcement. He typically picked up a new command the first or second time he tried it. When they were in a groove Ben could also give him three or four new ones in a row and Spot would execute them in order. Aila was also intrigued by the way the pup seemed to be completely engaged as Ben did research on the tablet. Spot would stand over the tablet and watch Ben’s fingers fly over the screen, staring down for long minutes without looking away.

  Ben was talking to Spot the whole time and Aila had assumed he was just thinking out loud.

  Until she saw the dog nod.

  Aila was convinced Spot had actually nodded his little black head when Ben asked the pup if he thought a particular video clip they watched was cool.

  When Ben found a new trick he liked he would act it out in slow motion as he explained it to the little dog. Spot would watch him and then the pup would mimic Ben.

  As the training progressed Ben was totally consumed and never looked up at Aila. She was equally fascinated watching them. Her tea had gone cold, and she was getting no work done.

  Three hours had passed in a flash and she jumped when her cell phone rang. As a coworker droned on with office gossip Aila drifted away from the call. She was transfixed by something Ben and Spot were doing and didn’t notice when the verbose caller finally asked her a question. She didn’t respond, and Aila didn’t even notice the caller hanging up.

  Aila moved down the deck steps with the phone still to her ear, straining to hear what Ben was saying to Spot.

  What she had seen could not have been right.

  Spot had learned to sneeze on command, which was damn funny and really adorable, but she never actually saw Ben do it first. She only heard her son tell the little black puppy that he wanted him to sneeze when he said to sneeze.

  Ben was rolling on the ground laughing while Spot was deliberately and continually sneezing in his face and licking him.

  Aila stared. She was having trouble wrapping her head around the whole thing. Her phone rang in her ear and she jumped again. As she answered it she noticed Spot was looking right at her.

  Aila started coming to Mimi’s with Ben more often to observe him with Smudge. She would sit at the little picnic table on the shady back porch and pretend to work while she watched. The girl dog was almost as adept at learning as her brother. She was a hair slower in picking up some of the more involved commands, but she was more agile than her brother. She, too, hovered over Ben when he surfed the web on the tablet.

  Aila and Mimi watched as Smudge herded the goats and chickens in the pen. She used her lightning speed to move the goats to one side of the pen while the chickens where clustered in a tight knot at the opposite end. Then she would cut the chicken ball in half and move them around opposite sides of the pen until they clustered again at the far side of the pen. The women happily agreed that had seemed like normal herding behavior for a dog, well, normal for a really sharp herding dog but when Smudge also made the chickens follow her around the pen like a conga line Aila almost choked on her tea, and Mimi just smiled and shook her head.

  Ben had to stop the chicken training a few times as he was doubled over laughing. At which point Smudge would wander over and lick him, or knock him down and pounce on him, often with the help of Mr. Watt.

  After lunch Mimi brought out two fresh cups of tea and joined Aila on the porch. The daughter noticed a familiar Walker look on Mimi’s face.

  “Meem, you look like the cat that ate the canary,�
� Aila said, “C’mon, give it up, what do you know?”

  “I am never playing poker with you, my dear one,” Mimi said, “After a strategic dollop of the late night mince and totties followed up by a belter of a slice of apple pie, Ben has divulged the secret to the card trick. I was sure he was having me on so I made him show me with Smudge, and I’ll be buggered if she didn’t duplicate it perfectly.”

  Aila was not overly shocked that Ben had cracked. Mimi could find out where Jimmy Hoffa was with a slice of her apple pie. “Do I want to know?” Aila asked.

  “Maybe not,” Mimi said, but continued anyway, “The first two rounds of the trick were pretty easy, according to Ben. He simply taught them how to recognize all fifty-two playing cards, and the jokers. I think that alone is probably some kind of record for a hound, but Ben didn’t seem very impressed.”

  ”Okay,” Aila said, trying hard not to call her mother and her son liars, “Let’s leave that one alone for a minute. How the hell did that little bugger find Dan’s card when no one said which one to look for?”

  “This part is just pure canny,” Mimi said proudly, “on both Ben and the puppies’ parts. I’m tempted not to tell you. He swore me to secrecy, and you know me, I don’t clype on a bloke.”

  “If you want to leave this table with all your chompers in place you’ll reconsider,” Aila said.

  Mimi laughed and whispered over the rim of her cup, “He taught the pups hand signals, and Bob’s your uncle.”

  Aila turned to face her mother, “Mum, are you shitting me?”

  “Shhh. I am shite-ing you not,” Mimi said. She took a sip from her cup and said, “He had already taught them to count to fifteen or there about, and they are apparently already good with things placed in a certain order, like rows and columns. As long as the cards were aligned in a small grid pattern he could direct the pups to count down any row and count over to any column. He just needs to show them the right number of fingers. He said he only has to flash it for a second.”

  Aila and Mimi sat in silence for a long while watching Ben and Smudge. She was pretty sure her husband’s head was really going to explode later tonight.

  It had been many years since Aila spent time around dogs but she was sure puppies didn’t learn like this. She and Mimi noticed another interesting aspect as they compared their observations of the last few days. As the end of the quarantine was approaching Ben started teasing the pups, saying, “Your sister already learned that and she’s going to run circles around you,” or, “Your brother never gets the red ball and the green ball mixed up.”

  Aila noticed what could only be frustration and renewed motivation in the dogs’ reactions. She asked Ben about it and he said, “Yeah, I noticed they pay attention better when they think they’re behind. You know, like you guys did with me when I was learning to ride my bike.”

  Aila started to protest that accusation of horrible parenting but knew it was completely true, and she had been the one who said it. Which Dan had pointed out to her at the time, and several times since.

  Chapter 42

  The big reunion day finally arrived. Ronnie liked what she had seen over the past few weeks of Smudge’s recovery and she was coming by to bless lifting the quarantine. Mimi and Aila suggested to Ben that he not show Ronnie too many of their new tricks just yet, and Ben was smart enough to understand why.

  Dan and Kelcy were in the city for the day and Ben had ridden over to Mimi’s to feed Smudge and give her a bath, and was back at home again.

  Aila was trying to catch up on some work and had sequestered herself in the den. The last few days of puppy watching had put her behind. Originally she had closed the door but Ben had found an excuse to bother her every few minutes so she just left it open.

  When Aila’s patience wore thin she suggested Ben take Spot outside and play a game called who could be quiet the longest.

  Ben said, “He’s too excited, he’s not paying attention and keeps coming in the house to look at the clock.”

  Aila really hoped her son was kidding.

  She was running out of chores to keep him busy. He had vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, even emptied and washed the lint filter for the clothes dryer. She was pretty proud of that last one. Even when Ben was busy with a chore Spot would come into the den by himself and sit by the door, wagging his tail and just staring at her. She told him to go help Ben and he would disappear for a few minutes and then return until she kicked him out again. At one point Ben marched past the den carrying the broom with Spot behind him carrying the dust pan. Ben was crooning into the broom handle, “Reunited and it feels so gooood.”

  Aila was considering duct tape when her phone finally rang. Ben and Spot appeared instantly in the den doorway, staring at Aila until she nodded and they bolted for the car.

  A few minutes later Spot started to wag as they pulled into Mimi’s driveway. Mimi and Ronnie were waiting just outside the kitchen door with Smudge standing between them.

  Smudge started to wag, and as Spot’s tail also thumped away happily on the seat Ben noticed their tails were already moving in perfect sync.

  Spot leapt from Ben’s window before they came to a stop and the dogs bolted towards each other, covering the distance in a flash. The ten week old pups skidded to a stop and stood face to face with their muzzles touching, and then they just sort of froze.

  When Ben looked closer he could see they were nodding a little and rubbing their cheeks together. They stayed that way for several minutes. Aside from the slow rhythm of their synchronized tails and the random face lick or head butt they otherwise didn’t move.

  Everyone looked at Ronnie and she answered their unasked question, “Nope, I haven’t seen that one before.” She watched them for a while before she shook her head and said, “Those are two odd pups you got there, but they’re healthy as horses.”

  As Ronnie turned to face Ben she started to tear up a little. She said, “Ben, I am so sorry little man. I was so very wrong about that pup. You’ve done an amazing job with her, with both of them.”

  Sister, you don’t know the half of it, Aila thought.

  Mimi read Aila’s grin and agreed with a slight nod and a smile.

  Ben gave Ronnie a hug and said, “No blood, no foul Ronnie. I almost had to blue juice her once myself so you weren’t that far off.”

  Ronnie returned the boy’s big hug. At that moment she wondered if maybe it was time to think about changing her stance on being a life-long bachelorette. She wasn’t fond of most kids, but spending time with Ben, and watching him care for these poor little dogs, had been a treat.

  Mimi said, “Ronnie, we could not have done this without you. I suspect our little girl here knows that too.” Mimi regretted it as soon as she said it. Smudge came over to Ronnie and gently jumped up, placing her paws on Ronnie’s knees.

  Ronnie rubbed the girl dog’s ears and bent down for a kiss as she said, “You’re very welcome little one.”

  Mimi and Ben exchanged a look.

  Aila pulled Ronnie aside as the others played with the reunited pups. She said, “Forgive me, but I am going to keep asking you until I get a good answer. Ronnie, this must have cost you something. The meds, the supplies, the hours of your time. Must be a few hundred dollars at least. Please let me contribute something. Be honest, I don’t want you to get into any trouble.”

  Ronnie said, “I really appreciate that but I am telling you the truth. Dr. D has piles of this stuff. She’s got the fulfillments so screwed up. She’s totally taken over all of the ordering and billing but has no idea what she’s doing. We get shipments for stuff that we don’t even use at the clinic and a lot of that stuff you can’t return. We have cases of supplements and other drugs she doesn’t even know have arrived. I don’t like to speak ill of my boss but she’s also charging people for ridiculous stuff. I love working at the clinic but there are days lately…” Ronnie trailed off, and then said, “Look Aila, your mom, and your wonderful dad, have donated tons of hours and expertise
and bailed out the clinic, and me, a hundred times. If she didn’t step in to help out with some of the tougher cases the customers would have to go to a larger clinic or even take their animal all the way up to Boston, or worse yet not be able to take them anywhere. Most of those people can’t afford what we’d have to charge and would not come back as customers. Besides, there’s something about those little guys and what they’ve been through.” Ronnie nodded at Ben and the pups and said, “I mean, that right there is why I stay in this crazy job.”

  “Okay, fair enough,” Aila said as she put her arm around Ronnie, “Now let’s talk about that horrible Chinese food you’re addicted to. I can see three containers of it on your dashboard from here.”

  The women laughed and chatted as they strolled over to join the others.

  Spot and Smudge were chasing each other around the pen with Smudge easily out pacing her brother. Ben asked them to come and they trotted over, side by side and in perfect sync. They sat down and looked up at him as they wagged.

  Aila wrapped her arms around Ben from behind. She pulled him close and kissed his head as she looked down at the two puppies. “I am so very proud of you, my special boy,” she said, “You have done a good thing here, and these little guys wouldn’t be here without you. I hope they know how lucky they are.”

  “They do, mom,” Ben said.

  Aila thought maybe he was right. As the boy and his dogs ran circles around Mimi and Ronnie, Aila watched them for a moment and then looked around the farm, and up to the soft clouds drifting past the trees.

  It was a perfect, sunny day. It had been an equally perfect summer. Moving back here had allowed her to spend more time with the mother she had been missing. Her family had reconnected in a way that she hadn’t even noticed was sorely needed. Her daughter was enjoying her much needed down time. Her husband was enjoying his weekends and the fresh air and quiet of the South Shore. Her once skittish boy had overcome insurmountable odds and nursed a doomed animal back to health. He had found a new confidence and passion in raising these curious animals, and these loving pups had now become part of their family.