by Terry Yates
After what seemed like an eternity, Zack slowly turned his head around and looked at Michael. A broad smile came across his face as he stepped in front of the door and put his hand on the latch. It was at that point that Michael knew that Zack, like his father, had gone fruit bat crackers, because he was going to save the beast the trouble of ripping through the tent, and open the door for it. God, oh please…no!
Michael closed his eyes and put his hands in front of his face, just as Zack opened the door. He followed this with a loud scream that carried through the tent almost knocking every sleeping person off of his or her respective tables and onto the floor. Panic filled the room as the new awakees scrambled around in a blind panic, bumping into each other, each thinking the other was the werewolf and screaming into each other’s faces.
“Look!” Michael screamed as the door opened, pointing his finger.
Everyone in the room turned to see…a dog. A dog? It was nervously looking at the strange group of people who were, just moments before, running into each other and screaming.
“What is it?” cried Sylvia, unable to see it.
“It’s a dog,” Samantha, answered her, her voice squeaking higher than normal.
The dog was about the size of a pit bull, but it wasn’t a pit bull. It’s wet, matted coat was a bright gold. Its chest had what was supposed to be white fur on it, but instead was streaked with mud, giving it a spotted gray tint. Its ears could only rise halfway up, the ends dangling back down over the other halves. Its coat looked rough and course like a German shepherd, but there were no visual signs of a German Shepherd in the dog. It had a nub where a tail should’ve been that wagged nervously as it watched the group. It had two bright golden orbs for eyes that matched its coat in color, giving it a soulful expression. Its mouth was wide open, and its tongue was hanging out making it look like it was grinning from ear to ear. Although, it looked like it was smiling, it wouldn’t move forward, instead it marched its paws in place, wanting to come forward, but still not sure of these two leggers who were all dressed the same. Every few seconds, it would look over its shoulder to keep an eye on Zack.
“Here, Boy!” Kyler beckoned the dog. “Come here.”
Everyone began to call the dog except Opal Munn, who looked at it with a loathsome expression on her face, and the stranger who seemed to look at it more with caution. He didn’t look particularly frightened of the dog, but he did look wary of it…and of course Rob Olsen, who was still filled with sedative after sedative and simply stared straight ahead, his eyes barely managing to stay open.
“Come here, Boy!” Everyone sang. “Come on, doggie…good doggie.”
The dog continued to march in place for a few seconds, still unsure of what to do. The noise that the two leggers made hurt its ears, but it was having trouble holding out. One of the male two leggers was holding out a candy bar and it had not eaten for the last two days. Its tongue was salivating too much to resist much longer. The male two legger shook the candy bar one more time. That was it. It couldn’t take anymore. Its hunger had won out over the fear. It lowered its head nervously and began to creep toward the food. As it got closer to the crowd, it began to feel unsure again. Their voices continued to hurt its ears.
“Everyone keep quiet,” Kyler told the group, shaking the opened candy bar in his hand. Immediately the group stopped beckoning the dog. Only Kyler called the dog. This seemed to alleviate most of the dog’s fear because it began to walk faster, still not quite ready to lift its head for Kyler.
As it reached the candy bar, it stopped moving its body, but let its head drift forward a little bit so it could reach the food. Kyler didn’t move a muscle as the canine sniffed the chocolate, then placed the end of it in its mouth, and began to move backwards, Kyler opening his fingers, letting the dog take it from him. The candy bar looked like a cigar as the animal stepped back about three feet, plopped down on its stomach, and began to eat it, both paws hooked around it as if it were eating a squirming fish that was trying to escape its grasp.
The Snicker bar lasted barely longer than the time it took to pull it out of the wrapper. It had gobbled it down and had begun to lick the paper when Gringo took an Almond Joy from his pocket and handed it to Kyler.
“Here ya’ go, Doc,” he said, slowly pulling his hand back as not to frighten the dog with any sudden movements, “see if it likes coconut.”
Kyler moved a few steps forward and bent over with the half eaten Almond Joy sticking out of his hand. This time, the dog immediately got up and walked over to Kyler. As it approached, Kyler kept the chocolate where it was instead of putting it out for the dog to take. This presented another dilemma for the canine. The two legger wasn’t going to hand it freely this time. It was going to have to go all the way up to him. It didn’t want to, but its will power was breaking down. It knew that all of them could’ve jumped on it by now, but hadn’t, instead they just stood there, all dressed in khaki and smiled at it. It wasn’t used to seeing genuine smiles from two-leggers. The two leggers it had known had never given off any sort of good vibrations.
The male two-legger gently shook the candy bar in front of it, until, finally, its will power caved, and it walked up in front of Kyler and stood, hoping that it would be safe from the male two legger’s open palm. Kyler opened his hand, the food now lying in his open palm. The dog looked up at him, searching for some sign that he wasn’t going to hurt it. Kyler smiled down at the animal.
“You guys ought to see these eyes,” he told the crowd softly, “they’ll melt you where you stand.”
That was it. The dog couldn’t take anymore. It had looked up into the stranger’s eyes and had seen kindness. It only had one more small step to go and it would have the delicious food that it had been searching for…and real food, not pizza boxes or empty cans of tuna, but solid, scrumptious food.
Kyler lowered his open hand until it was just under the dog’s nose. The dog took one final look into Kyler’s eyes, then lowered its head and began to eat the Almond Joy from his hand. It took no more than a bite and a gulp before the candy bar was gone. It sniffed Kyler’s hand, then began licking the melted chocolate that was left on his open palm. With his free hand, Kyler reached down and carefully placed it on the dog’s head. The dog continued to lick his palm while Kyler began to scratch its head.
“Good boy,” he cooed, “assuming you are a boy.”
Zora and Nurse Walling entered the room just as Kyler sat down in front of the dog, still scratching its head.
“What on Earth?” Nurse Walling, gasped.
“It’s a dog, Nurse Walling,” Kyler answered, now scratching its ears. He looked up to see Zora smiling down at him. He turned back to the dog before she could see him blush and continued to scratch the dog’s head.
After a moment, everyone began to gather around the dog, except for Opal Munn, the stranger, and Locklear O’Hearley, who stayed with Lauren while Ariella went to see the new and latest refugee. The dog probably didn’t know what heaven was, but if it did, it was there now. Hand after hand began to stroke its head, back, neck, belly, and rump, all the while “ooing” and “ahhing”. The two-leggers got down on their hands and knees to pet the beast whose dog smile was growing wider with every scratch of a finger. It had never known this strange sensation of love, joy, and peace.
CHAPTER 25
With the appearance of the dog, the general mood seemed to brighten a little. Everyone had their turns petting the new camp mascot whose nub hadn’t stopped wagging since Kyler first scratched its head. They finally discovered the sex of the dog when Nurse Walling, not a big dog fan, approached it with a stern look on her face. Even though the dog could see that this female two-legger wasn’t smiling at it, it was leaving nothing to chance, and threw caution to the wind by rolling over onto its back and putting all four paws in the air, wanting the female two legger to scratch its belly.
“Well, it’s a boy,” Wilbur Munn said looking down at him.
The dog pawed the air
in front of Nurse Walling wanting her to scratch him, but instead she turned and walked away. No matter. Zora went straight down to her knees and began to scratch him. She scratched him so hard that his right leg shook in midair much to everyone’s delight.
“Does he have any tags?” she asked Kyler while still scratching the dog.
“No. What kind do you think he is?” Kyler asked back, trying to keep the conversation going.
“I see some Golden Lab and I see some Rhodesian Ridgeback,” she answered. God, her accent drove him wild.
“How in the hell did that mutt get on my base?!” That voice, he could do without for the rest of his life. It was Potts. He was standing with FranAnne, Hawkins, and Gibson, and he looked angry.
“He appeared out of thin air,” Nurse Walling answered sarcastically.
“Why don’t you disappear into it then?” he shot back.
Christ, Kyler thought, here we go again. “The dog just showed up at the door looking like it hadn’t eaten in a while.”
“I suppose you fed it?” he asked already knowing the answer.
“We pretty much all did,” Gringo answered back.
“Shit, now we’ll never get rid of it. What were you people thinking?”
This time Zora stepped up. “We were thinking that maybe it was wet and hungry like the rest of us.”
Kyler smiled at her brazenness.
“Did you ever stop to think that we might be here for a while? The rain doesn’t seem to be letting up and you’re giving that dog food that we might need.”
“I don’t think anyone really minds…do they?” Zora asked.
Potts looked around the room. Everyone looked back at him unmoving, even Sylvia Morrison, although she stared slightly to his left.
“I see,” Potts sighed, “Well then…”
He stepped toward the dog, which was still lying on its back waiting for some more belly scratching. The colonel walked past Zora and stopped just inches shy of it. He looked down at the dog who looked right back up at him, its golden eyes meeting Potts’ for the first time. The group watched as Potts and the dog continued to look at each other for what seemed like hours. Finally, the dog beckoned him with one of its forepaws, wanting more attention. Potts watched the dog for a moment, then raised his right foot off of the ground. The group gasped waiting for his foot to come down on the dog’s throat or head, but before anyone could move, he placed it gently on the dog’s stomach, and began to rub his shoe back and forth across the dog’s stomach.
“Does he have a name?” he asked, continuing to stroke the dog with his shoe.
“There weren’t any tags,” a spent looking Burt Burns answered, keeping an almost watchful eye on the colonel in case he changed his mind and stomped on the dog.
“Soldier’s gotta have a name. How about Joe?” he said turning to the others.
“I think Joe would be fine, Colonel,” Kyler answered, looking to Nurse Walling for some sort explanation, but she just looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders.
“Joe it is then.”
Potts took his foot off of the dog, and it immediately rolled back over and onto its feet, where it began to nuzzle its nose against Potts pant leg. It seemed to be taken with the colonel. Kyler couldn’t figure it out. How could a dog be taken with one of two people in the room who seemed to have no interest in it?
Potts walked to the doorway and silently looked outside. He wondered how his report of these past several days was going to go over with the big brass. He thought he could swing most of it, but a werewolf? Whoa boy…
Seeing that Potts was through scratching him for the time being, Joe began to make his way through the group, sniffing each and every leg it came across. Zora, Gringo, Samantha, Sylvia, FranAnne, who gave him a big scratch behind the ears, which the pooch couldn’t seem to get enough of. Zack, Hawkins, Gibson, Locklear, Sam Fong, Burt Burns, Ariella…only Nurse Walling didn’t reach down and pet him. To her, this was a hospital and there were no dogs allowed in a hospital.
The stranger watched from the table as the dog started to approach him. As it neared him, he saw the hackles on the back of its neck stand up, and it emitted a low growl before moving swiftly past him to Shelly Dixon, who was nursing Kayla again.
“Hello, Doggie,” Shelly said, that smile of knowing that her husband could still be alive, still etched upon her face. Everyone figured that with that hope still alive, maybe she had temporarily forgotten about her other baby. She took her newborn from her breast and held it down to Joe who sniffed at her for awhile, then gave her face a big licking, which the child seemed to enjoy, her eyes wide in surprise, but her mouth in a wide toothless grin. Most of the group “ahhed” as Joe licked the baby.
After she took the baby back, the dog continued moving down the line getting pets from everyone it came across, until it stopped at Opal Munn, who no longer had the creepy smile on her face, but had replaced it with a look of stoned cold hatred…and Joe knew it, his hackles returning to up mode, and both sides of his mouth curled into a snarl. Once again, he emitted a low growl as it had with the stranger. The group watched perplexed, as the two seem to have a face-off.
“Could someone get that dog away from my gramma?” Wilbur beckoned, not daring to take his eyes off of the dog in case it attacked Opal.
Just when everyone was as weirded out by the standoff as they could be, Opal surprised them all by emitting a low growl back at the dog.
“If someone doesn’t get that dog away from my grammy, I’ll shoot it!” Wilbur repeated. He himself had taken a liking to the dog only moments ago, but now he seemed to have the same hatred for the beast that Opal did.
“With what?” Potts asked scornfully, turning from the doorway to face Wilbur, “As I recall you’re no longer in the army, Corporal Munn. You’re…uh…Grammy saw to that, didn’t she?”
Wilbur looked away in shame, but not so Opal. She glared at Potts who simply glared back at her just as disdainfully. The two had a game of stare down going, neither looking away nor even blinking. The whole group watched, waiting for what, they weren’t sure. Even the stranger watched with intensity, looking from both Potts to Opal.
Opal finally looked away when Joe let out one more guttural growl, this time completely showing his set of pearly white canines. Unafraid of either man or dog, she laid back down on the bench, her back to the rest of them. A silent, collective sigh was emitted from the whole group. Joe watched Opal’s back, for a moment, and then walked away, the whole episode seemingly forgotten.
When the dog saw Michael Blum, he sniffed at his good leg, which was dangling off the table. After a few good sniffs, he moved down to Michael’s foot and gave his toes a lick, which made him jump up, laughing as he did. Most of the group began to laugh with him. Kyler wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the Blum kid smile. Michael put his foot back in front of the dog, but he was too late. The dog had hit its stomach and begun to lick itself making most in the room a little uncomfortable, even though they were all still smiling.
“That’s bad, Kid,” Gringo started, laughing at the spectacle, “When your feet are so bad that a dog’s gotta lick its dick to get rid of the taste.” The room exploded into laughter, including Michael who seemed to like the attention even if he was the butt of the joke.
Michael Blum was in the same eye-opening situation as the dog. Like the dog, he had never seen adults act like weirdoes just because there was a friendly dog in the room. He liked dogs, but his parents didn’t. They always let him have pets to placate him for them being gone for such long stretches at a time. He wondered if his dogs had made it through the storm.
Joe continued to clean himself vigorously, his hind leg almost over his shoulder. Since the dog had finally made itself at home, the group began to disperse, returning to their various tables or to talk to one of the others. Potts turned again to the doorway and once again looked out the door and into the storm. Kyler slyly worked his way over to where Zora stood, back to him, talking to Burt Burns.
“Excuse me, Miss,” Kyler began in a corny upper crust British accent,” but has anyone ever told you that you look like Kate Beckinsale?”
Zora spun around and pretended to look him up at down as if they were in a disco and she was deciding whether to talk to him or not.
“Yes…they have,” she answered, crossing her arms and looking him dead in the eye, no trace of a smile on her face.
Kyler was silently beginning the first verse of the cartoon vulture’s “Bumble Bee” song again, when she began to laugh, just giggling a little at first, but finally breaking into a hardy infectious laugh. She put her hand to her mouth trying to stop, but couldn’t. Desperation mixed with exhaustion had given her a case of the “Slap Happys”. It, in turn began a domino effect whereas many of the others began to laugh. There was nothing too terribly funny about what she had said, it was just time to either laugh or cry, and most of them weren’t at the crying stage yet, so they all got a case of the giggles. Samantha Gould had tears running down her cheeks at the sight of Gringo whose high-pitched guffaw just added to laughter. Even the stranger managed a weary but wary smile. Opal, of course, kept her back turned to everyone, as did Wilbur after his little outburst about shooting the dog.
Kyler looked at Potts who was again turned toward the doorway. He watched the man’s shoulders to see if he was even chuckling a little. Nothing. No shoulder movement…nothing. He simply stood with his hands behind his back and continued to stare out at the rain.
“Where’d you get the doggie?” came a little girl’s voice from behind them.