"Dog, A Year with a Dog and His Boy

By Cal Stevens

This story about a dog and a boy, told from the perspective of the dog, relates to their adventures together, some happy and others not, during the life of the dog. As the relationship between the dog and the boy evolves, both the dog and the boy rapidly become highly dependent upon on one another. This close relationship eventually culminates into a passion that cannot be contained.

In this tale, I also have tried to elucidate what life is like in remote communities, in this case Darwin, located in the eastern California desert, where sometimes just getting through the day can be a struggle. As everywhere else, of course, all type of personalities, some pleasant and others not, are represented.
The dog and the boy, as well as most of the other characters appearing in the story are fictional, although a few people and some of the adventures are based on fact.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cal Stevens
• Release date: Jul 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463778524

Cal Stevens

Cal Stevens grew up in Sheridan, Wyoming in a family involved in ranching for generations. After graduating from Sheridan High School he got degrees in Geology at the University of Colorado and at the University of Southern California. After that he taught Geology at San Jose State University for many years, teaching his last classes in 2005.Besides writing "On the other side of Brokeback Mountain", he has written several short stories about cowboys and ranch life available on the website cowboyslives.com

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DOG

A year with a dog and his boy

In the California desert

Cal Stevens

Copyright © 2019 Cal Stevens

All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS

Spring

Lost in the desert

Settling in in Darwin

Looking for work

Return of my former family

Life in Darwin

Chasing vehicles

School picnic

Summer

Arrival of a Field Camp

Interactions with Field Campers

More field trips

Fourth of July

Encounter with a snake

Fall

Beginning of the school year

Thanksgiving

Mr. Rizzio’s death

Encounter with Dr. Tom

Winter

Snow in Darwin

Christmas

Dog’s last day

Afterword

Acknowledgments

DOG

A Year with a Dog and His Boy

in the California Desert

The year was 1978, and the location was in eastern California

Spring

Lost in the Desert

Well, isn’t this a hell of a note. Now I’m lost out here in this desolate desert.

I had been traveling with Amber and Mike, whom I considered my family, on a trip from our home in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay area to Death Valley. We stopped along Highway 5 and again near Tehachapi to gas up. Both times they let me out of the car, whereupon Amber walked me around a bit on a leash while Mike pumped gas and washed the windshield. In the late afternoon, they stopped at the turnoff to the still-inhabited ghost town of Darwin, which is located somewhere between Lone Pine and Death Valley. It was there that they let me out for a run while they stretched their legs. It was a beautiful, spring afternoon. The sky was cloudless, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was in the 70’s. These, I felt, were perfect conditions for running around and investigating the local fauna and flora.

I started out by moseying across the highway and then strolling down the dirt road which extends into the nearby Talc City Hills opposite the Darwin turnoff. I was hoping to scare up some sort of animal I could chase, or at least look at, but there wasn’t any in sight. So I tried sniffing around at the edge of the road. There was, however, no hint that any animal creature had passed that way at all recently.

While I was roaming around on that rutted, dirt road, I heard Amber say, Hey Mike, look up there off toward the mountains. Is that a Golden Eagle? Mike looked up and a few minutes later said, No, I think it is just an ordinary hawk. Sorry.

Out of curiosity I looked up to see what my companions were talking about. And sure enough, high in the sky there was the largest bird I’d ever seen, just sort of lolling around in wide circles with wings extended. How free and happy that bird must be, I thought, sort of wishing I could join him.

After coming back to Earth, I started looking around at this strange country. First I stopped to look at and to smell the unusual plants that occupied the slopes at the side of the road. I’d never seen anything remotely similar to those before in my life, and I wondered what they were and why they were so different from the plants I was familiar with in Fremont. Later I learned that the tall, tree-like plants were called Joshua Trees. There were also tall bushes with long, spindly stems. These it turned out are called creosote bushes. And then there were those terribly spinose plants called Cholla, one of which I swear jumped at me and attached itself to my leg, and very pungent-smelling bushes called sagebrush. In addition to those plants, there were lots of other low-lying bushes, mostly at my height, which, for the most part, looked dead, or at least dying.

Having checked all this brush out, I stopped and raised my leg to mark the spot. Then I walked back to where my companions were stretching their legs. Since they didn’t seem to care what I was doing and figuring I had the time, I crossed the paved road leading to Darwin and headed up an indistinct path extending through some Joshua trees where I scared up a rabbit that I chased over several small hills. He couldn’t run as fast as I, but just when I thought I’d catch him, he would quickly zigzag, throwing me off balance and escaping. It was great fun for a while, but after realizing I never was going to catch him and I was getting tired, I gave up the chase. However, I felt satisfied in that it broke up the day otherwise marked by a mostly long, boring drive.

Not far from where I stopped the chase, I found a bare spot on the ground where I could lie down to rest. After I had caught my breath, I saw a couple of interesting lizards that I sniffed at and followed for a while. When I got bored with that, I looked up. I saw lots of desert extending out in all directions, but I didn’t see my family’s car. That’s odd I thought. I expected to see it still parked at the edge of the highway. But now I couldn’t even see the highway. So where in the world is the car?

It was then that I realized I wasn’t sure exactly where I was. Since I was confused about that, I started thinking about how I got here. I said to myself, I remember I’d run over several hills while chasing the rabbit, and later I followed the lizards a bit farther. To get back to the car, all I have to do is to retrace my steps.

With that in mind, I walked up to the crest of the first hill I thought I had crossed earlier. I looked around, but I still didn’t see my family’s car; all I saw were more hills covered by Joshua trees, creosote bushes, and lots of low-lying brush. After that, I walked up to the top of the next hill. I still didn’t see the car. Realizing I was lost, I panicked and began to run back and forth and up and down hills, trying to find my way back to where my family had parked their car. Unfortunately, every hill looked the same, and I had no idea which way to go. Finally, however, I came to a paved road. I looked up and down that road, but I didn’t see any vehicle. This must be the right road, I said to myself. How come I can’t see my family’s car? I couldn’t imagine they would drive off and leave me. No, I assured myself. Surely they wouldn’t do that.

Then I started thinking about what Mike and Amber might be doing. My best guess was that they are walking around looking for me, shouting, and getting more and more irritated with me with every step. This thought also worried me. What was going to happen when we do get together? Will they scold me and make me feel bad? Or worse, what if they are so angry that they won’t forgive me and will return me to that place where they found me. I now felt so terrible, confused, and discouraged that I decided to lie down again, wishing I were dead.

***

To take my mind off my present predicament and realizing that I might never see my family again, I closed my eyes and started thinking about those happy times I had had with them. I very clearly remember the day I met my family. I didn’t know for sure where I was, but it was a place where there were a lot of other animals. I do remember, though, that when I saw Amber looking at me, she said to her partner, Mike, take a look at this puppy, meaning me. Look at how bouncy and happy he seems to be, and he’s so pretty. Don’t you just love those sad, brown eyes, his brown and white face, and his beautiful, multicolored coat?

Yeah, said Mike. He is beautiful. I bet if we take him home, our friends Paul and Patty, who have that ugly mutt they take everywhere with them, will really be jealous of us. I can just imagine how they would react.

Now Mike, said Amber, that’s no way to think about this. If we take this dog, it will be because we want to love him, not to make our neighbors jealous.

Okay, said Mike. I’m just kidding. Shall we go ahead and take him?

Sure, said Amber. He certainly is the most desirable puppy here.

I was so pleased to hear all that, that I couldn’t help panting happily and wagging my tail. Right then I knew they were just the people for me. I also remember that after saying they wanted to take me home, they walked away and were gone for quite a while. As time passed I became increasingly nervous, and finally I said to myself, Maybe they’ve changed their minds and are not going to take me with them after all. Maybe they found another puppy they like better than me.

Mike and Amber reappeared before I’d given up all hope, however, this time with an older woman who unlocked my cage and said, Okay, here he is. She went on to say, He really is a very nice puppy and he should be easy to care for. And with his heavy coat, he should be able to tolerate cool weather. However, you probably should keep him indoors if the temperature gets really low.

Okay, said Amber. I don’t think we’ll ever take him to places where it gets very cold, but I’ll keep that in mind.

Before Mike picked me up, he asked the older lady, What kind of a bred is he?

This older lady replied, I don’t know for sure, but he looks to me to be mostly Beagle.

Oh, said Mike, and how big do you think he’ll be at maturity?

She answered, My guess is that he’ll grow to be about 15 inches tall and weigh in at about 25 pounds.

Amber then said, I think that’s exactly what we were hoping for. Can we take him now?

Certainly, said the older woman, he’s all yours.

Before we left the facility where I’d been kept, Mike passed me to Amber. Then, as we all started out toward a relatively new Volvo, he pulled out his car keys. Wow, I said to myself. This really looks like a well-healed family who should be able to take good care of me.

Once we were settled in the car, Mike drove from the business district past a lot of nice-looking, one- and two-story houses. Finally he slowed down and turned into a driveway next to a one-story, older-appearing, light gray house with white trim. I saw it had a large picture window on the front that looked out over a medium-small, grassy lawn. I jumped around in the car, excitedly, thinking how much fun it was going to be playing with my new family out there on that grass.

After Mike parked and both he and Amber got out of the car, they took me through the house and out the back door to the back yard where they showed me that they had bought a little house for me. I also noticed that they had put a heavy blanket in it so I would be comfortable whenever I wanted to lie down.

I thought they were going to leave me out there, but to my surprise, after showing me my house, they took me back into the big house where they made over me and assured me that they would love me. When they got tired of that, they decided it was time to play with me, using a little, rubber ball. The game went like this: Mike would throw the ball to Amber who would quickly throw it back. I was to try to catch it in mid-air. Occasionally, by accident, or on purpose, one of them would drop the ball so I could take it away and chew on it. To make the game more interesting, I would hang onto it with my teeth and growl when they tried to pull it away. What great fun! This is the life I’d always hoped for.

All of a sudden, however, Amber put the ball away and told me it was time for her to start getting their dinner ready. With the hope that they might consider more play, I kept trying to get their attention by jumping up on their legs. Finally Mike said, That’s enough, and put me out into the back yard and told me to go to my house.

Since I wasn’t ready to lie down, I decided to explore my surroundings. First I noticed that the yard was large enough to roam around in and was mostly covered with nice, soft grass. I also saw