Betty - another incomplete story
S.C.Jones
Friday porch sit...
Hey Ira! You in there? Come out and sit awhile.
Oh, there you are...didn't see you out there with whose armadillos.
Glass of iced tea? You bet!
ah yes...this is nice. What are you doing out there? Herdin um, hmm
...you need a good dog, Ira. Yep, a good herd dog.
That Danny Boy you had was a mighty fine dog, Ira. Read your story in
your Home page. Give us a good dog and the rest doesn't matter so
much...we could use a good dog on this porch Ira.
I ever tell you about my Betty? ...course not... been talkin too much
about those amadillos. Now mind you, my Betty was no herdin dog. She
would be a sorry sight amongst even the average sheep dog. She didn't
quarter turn round and chase herd, or never stood ground to an angry
heifer, and she never saw an amadello, but she was no ordinary dog
either.
Betty was a dog of the highest intelligence. This was not often apparent
and took me a little time to realize, but realize it in time I did, and
her smarts often got the better of me. From the time I got her as a
pup, I had my hands full. I figured she would behave as a normal pup
and so acted accordingly. She was no ordinary pup.
It was the first day I got her as a pup that she fell down the stairwell
in my townhouse. It wasn't my fault. I had heard that even baby humans
respected heights so when I put a barricade across the stairs on the
second level and went below I didn't figure I also needed to seal around
the railing. She wouldn't be so daring.
I heard the thunk shortly after going down. Even then, when she came in
to me, she wasn't whimpering; just holding her back leg up. Hairline
fracture, the Vet said. I was the most caring dog owner in our town
after that and fretted constantly about her cast. Too tight? Crooked?
No dog of mine was going to be a cripple because of my carelessness.
Betty seemed to glow with the attention. She did just fine and her leg
never caused her any problems in her life.
Betty was my other dog; Blue being the first Brittany. It was only
because I felt sorry for ol' Blue being alone all day, while I was at
work, that I got him Betty as a companion. Blue was by then well
trained and obedient. Betty was his constant tease and corrupter.
Betty was a sneak, a temptress, and a charmer. Betty took training well
and then went one better by saying, "Heel?...oh, I thought you said
Sit."..."Stay? ...is that the same as Fetch?" This all after fully
trained. She never gave up with her silliness, and I grew to get a
laugh out of it too.
Some of her silliness led me to wonder. She was the only dog I had to
chase down with a boat. She swam way out in the middle of the lake
chasing a duck from shore once and I feared she'd drown, and she once
would not leave my kayak after the days end and I had to leave her
'camped out' and even had to bring her food, and she loved to snorkel
for fish and would spend hours pondering their ways.
Betty would get into the strangest situations. She had a curiosity that
led her down many paths. She didn't fret when digging up ground bees
with a swollen nose, or chasing a bear up a tree.
She once caused me to look all over the house at 3 AM because I heard a
whimpering, but when I went to check for her she would be still as a
mouse. After three times going back to bed only to have it resume, I
found her pinned behind the stairs where she had fallen in the night
between some stacks of wallpaper and gotten pinned. She was so
embarrassed when we laughed and I'd give anything for a picture of her
there now.
Betty was the grandest hunter I ever had and had the stamina of ten dogs
in the field. She never wanted to stop. Sometimes she'd camouflage her
scent by rolling in anything suitably dead. Sometimes she was thrown in
the lake for doing so. I never got angry with her for long. How could
I? She was a card, a jester, and a clown.
No, Betty was not much of a herdin type dog Ira, but by god, she'da had
those amarillo's prancin her tune. She'da had them all toe'n the mark,
and she might even have taught them the old 'Larry, Curly, and Moe
routine'...or perhaps the 'Curly Shuffle'.
But then, perhaps you have your hands full as it is Ira. Can't quite
see all them amerillo's doing the Curly Shuffle on ya...still you might
consider a dog.
Might as well get up now. Got some work to do. Mite nice of you to
have me sit awhile Ira. Do take care. Best to you friend.
Betty - another incomplete story
Revised: March 28, 1997
Comments welcome.
All contents copyright (C) 1997, S.C.Jones
All rights reserved.
URL: http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/1915
