{ TWENTY-TWO }

Later, I watched dismally as Burke lowered himself into his chair without a good dog doing Steady. “Okay, let me try something,” he whispered to me. He wheeled into his room. I closed my eyes.

“Cooper! Get the sock!” he called.

I opened my eyes, then shook myself off and padded into his room to see what he was doing. He had pulled out some objects I recognized—a soft, deflated ball, some clothing, a plastic cup, even Grant’s nylon bone. “Get It! Get the sock!”

I sniffed around, finally settling on the deflated ball. I picked it up and looked at him. “Leave It! Get the sock!”

I hoped I would also do Leave It on the nylon bone. I jumped on the next most attractive item. “Leave It! Get the sock!” I tried again. “Yes! Bring It!”

I went over and spat the cloth thing in his lap. “Good dog, Cooper! Now get the glove! Get it!”

I was happy to play Get It but was overjoyed when Burke climbed out of his chair and then reached up for my harness. “Assist!”

That was not the last time I did Assist, but gradually the nature of the work changed. Now Burke would stand on his legs, leaning heavily on my back, and shuffle first one foot and then the other forward, and together we would transit the living room.

“Assist, Cooper!”

Hank very much appreciated how good I was being. “Look at you! You’re ready for the fifty-yard dash!” Hank still came, just not as often, and he always told me I was a good dog, but then he and Burke would ignore me and play on the machine. Those days I would go check on what everyone was doing out in the fields, but they were never having any sort of fun, so I usually trotted back and lay in the kitchen in case Grandma decided to make bacon.

Normally ZZ and Chase Dad were off to one side and Grant and some afternoons Wenling to the other, but one day ZZ and Wenling were not around and Grant and Chase Dad were sitting with their backs to the slow truck, drinking out of cold, sweaty bottles.

“Can’t believe what a difference it makes to have ZZ here,” Chase Dad said.

Grant nodded. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you mean it when you said I was a better worker than you were at my age?”

“Not just better. Smarter. My parents inherited this place and put me to work and I just didn’t take to it at first. Was a long time before I found my rhythm. But you picked up the knife and went at the crops like you were born to it. You’re still faster than I am. Pretty soon I’m going to just sit and watch you and ZZ do all the work.”

“And Wenling.”

“Her too.”

“Wenling thinks we could grow grapes on the hill to sell to make ice wine.”

“The hell is that?”

“You let the grapes freeze and harvest them. Brings out the sugar. Ice wine is served cold and is really sweet.”

“Sounds wretched.”

Grant laughed. “It’s just an idea. We’re not doing much with the slope right now.”

“Because it’s too hard to climb up and down the thing. My dad used to grow tomatoes on that hill, remember? Now his ashes are up there, overlooking the whole farm. I think he would’ve liked that.”

Grant took a long drink. “So I was thinking.”

“And?”

“So maybe I won’t go to college next fall after all. Hang here and help out instead.”

“I thought you said a college education was your ticket out of this hellhole.”

“I’m still going; I just want to spend a little more time here.”

I yawned, circled around, and flopped down in the dirt, my head by Chase Dad’s outstretched leg. He stroked my head. “So what, until Wenling graduates, maybe?”

Grant didn’t say anything.

Chase Dad stood and slapped his pants and dust puffed off them. I turned my nose away from the dry cloud. “Well, you know I’d appreciate the help, son. But it’s got to be your decision.”

Wenling came over that same day and she was sad. She and Grant went to sit under the apple trees and talk.

“How serious is it, Wenling?” Grant pressed anxiously. He sounded fearful. I stared at him in concern.

She shook her head, wiping a thin paper under her eyes. “No, that’s not it. The doctor says a lot of people have heart murmurs. They’re harmless. But … but it means I’m disqualified from applying to the Air Force Academy.”

“No. No. Oh Wenling, I am so sorry. I know how important that is to you.”

They hugged and I put my head in her lap. We sat like that for a long, long time. “So,” she said with a quiet laugh, “I guess I’ll try for Michigan. In-state tuition.”

“Then I’ll apply there, too,” Grant responded instantly.

Wenling smiled at him with moist eyes. “I can still get my pilot’s license. I just don’t qualify to have people shooting missiles at me. I was so looking forward to that.”

Grant laughed and I lifted my head and wagged, glad I was able to cheer them up.

One morning, when the leaves were falling to the ground in a relentless pour, we went to Grant’s building, but Burke forgot his chair. His gait was uneven and sometimes he fell, and I did Steady while people stood in a circle to watch what a good dog I could be. “No, don’t worry, Cooper’s got this,” Burke told them as he grasped my harness.

Not long after that, Burke could take his own car rides! We drove many places with warm foods and good friends but not with Wenling and not with Grant. I almost never saw her, but I could nearly always smell her on Grant. I always sniffed him carefully when Wenling’s scent was pasted on his clothing, looking for Lacey, but never once found any signs of my dog.

“Hard to believe Grant’s graduating this summer,” Chase Dad observed as he and Burke moved the odd equipment out of the living room and brought the couch back in. I wondered guiltily if anyone could smell how strongly I had painted my scent on that couch while it was in the barn.

We took a lot of walks, Burke and I, ranging farther and farther from home. We even walked in the snow! Sometimes he tripped and went sprawling, but he seemed stronger and more confident as the days grew warmer. I did less Assist and Steady, but I still had work to do. “Get the ball!” he would tell me. “Get the glove! Get the cone! Get It!”

I had a purpose.

“Wet start to the summer,” Chase Dad observed. He eyed Burke. “Looking forward to having you helping out, son.”

Burke started playing with plants with Grant and Chase Dad. The three of them seemed accustomed to not speaking to one another, though Grant and Burke often talked to me. I noticed that the next time Burke went to Grant’s building, Grant forgot to go. Snow came and left; this was life on the farm and I was a good dog.

Warm days were just returning when my boy and I followed a small brook upstream to a pond lying behind a tall pile of sticks. The area reeked with the scent of some animals, though I couldn’t spot them. Another mystery animal! “It’s a beaver dam, see? There’s a whole series of them on this stream. Let’s go check it out.”

We followed the creek as it threaded through the woods. Then it broke out into an open field and stopped twisting and turning and instead tracked in a straight line, which was much easier to follow. “The robo-farmers took out all the beaver dams and put in this cement trough, Cooper,” Burke said. I looked at him expectantly. Get It?

“What’s going to happen downstream if we get more than a couple of inches of rain? Do these people not understand anything?”

That summer, we drove to a dog park to play with other dogs and to a lake to play with dogs on the beach and to a trail through the woods to play with dogs on the path. I loved the farm, but it was wonderful to be able to sniff and lift my leg on so many marks. Chase Dad and ZZ and Burke were mostly together on one side of the farm, and Wenling and Grant on the other, so I could always run back and forth, though usually I decided just to nap. I kept my eye on Burke, though—it was still strange to see him walking, and I wanted to be able to respond if he ever decided to go back to his chair.

One such day I drowsily opened my eyes when Chase Dad and Burke stood drinking water. I could not detect Grant and Wenling anywhere nearby, though ZZ was approaching from across the fields. “You know what I’d do?” Chase Dad asked Burke. “At Christmas break, when you graduate? I’d take some time off. Not race off to college.”

Burke regarded Chase Dad sourly. “Maybe work the farm, like Grant’s been doing? Now that he and Wenling are leaving in the fall?”

“Same arrangement,” Chase Dad agreed cheerfully.

Burke was silent. I licked his hand because of the mixture of sad feelings coming off his skin.

I was a good dog that fine day, trotting out of the fields with ZZ, Chase Dad, and Burke. I could smell liver treats in Burke’s pocket. As we drew near the house, I picked up the scent of Wenling and Grant in the direction of the barn.

Chase Dad held out a tool. “You want to put this away, ZZ?”

“Yes.” ZZ took the thing and went toward the barn.

Burke and Chase Dad sat on the porch. Grandma appeared at the door. “Would you men like some lemonade?”

Burke wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “Sounds good to me!”

Grandma left to go to the kitchen. I weighed following her against the liver treats in my boy’s pocket.

“Where did Grant and Wenling get to?” Chase Dad asked.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Burke replied curtly.

“Hey!” Chase Dad said sharply. Burke and I both jumped. “When are you going to be done with this? I’m pretty sick of you not talking to your brother and pretending like you can’t even see Wenling. Grant is family, and she’s a friend and an employee. I’m tired of you acting like a spoiled child.”

I could feel Burke getting angry. “Some things are impossible to forgive.”

“Not when it’s family.”

“Yeah? I don’t see you exchanging Christmas cards with my mother.” Burke stood and stomped into the house. Now that he didn’t need the chair, he could do an angry walk just like Chase Dad. He passed Grandma coming out the door with two sour-smelling drinks.

“Burke?” she said.

Chase Dad reached for one of the drinks. “Let him go. He needs to grow up and he’s fighting it.”

There was suddenly a loud, angry shout from the barn. Chase Dad stood up, alarmed. “That was ZZ.”

Just then Wenling came running out of the barn. She was crying. She dashed to ZZ’s car and jumped in and just a short time later ZZ angry-walked over and the two of them drove off in a cloud of dust.

“What in the world?” Grandma wanted to know.

Chase Dad looked at her. “I have a bad feeling ZZ just walked in on my son and Wenling doing something in the barn that he wishes he didn’t see.”

“Oh.” Grandma put her hand down to touch my head. “That’s…”

“Yes, it could be pretty bad.” Chase Dad sighed heavily. “Like we need this right now.”

Grant came out of the barn and I trotted down to greet him, but it was one of those times when a human doesn’t want a dog, even though he obviously needed cheering up. Grant wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his sweat popped in the sun. He passed into the house without saying anything to anybody.

ZZ returned later with Wenling’s mother, who had been to dinner often enough that I knew her name was Li Min. She had hair and skin and eyes the same color as Wenling’s, but her hands were more fragrant with delectable meats. Burke and Grant both emerged from their rooms at the arrival of the new people, but Chase Dad said, “We’d like to have a minute here, boys,” so they both closed their doors. I heard Grant, though: he padded down the stairs to the bottom step and stood there hiding as if we all couldn’t smell him.

They sat at the table sipping from cups. ZZ spoke, then Li Min spoke. “Zhuyong is sorry for the dishonor our daughter has brought to this, his place of employment.”

Chase Dad shook his head. “No, we’re good, ZZ. Sorry you … well, I’m a parent. I understand.”

ZZ and Li Min spoke together, and I could feel both of them getting angry. Finally she sighed. “ZZ wants them to get married.”

“Oh!” Grandma exclaimed.

Chase Dad sat back in his chair. “Well, no disrespect, ZZ, but that seems an overreaction to the situation.”

ZZ stared pointedly at Li Min and she sighed again. “Wenling tells me they are already engaged.”

“What?” Chase Dad sputtered.

“Or engaged to be engaged, I guess,” Li Min corrected herself.

ZZ spoke to Wenling’s mother at length. Finally she held up a hand. “Okay, honey, let me explain. So: ZZ feels dishonored by Wenling.” ZZ was shaking his head, frowning. “No, that’s exactly what you’re feeling,” Li Min told him sharply. “He says that if they’re engaged anyway and she’s already behaving like a married woman, then there needs to be a wedding now. I’m telling you what he says; it is not necessarily my opinion.”

“What is your opinion?” Grandma asked gently.

“Oh, and this is nothing against Grant, but I think a big part of it is that ZZ sees this as a way to keep Wenling from going off to college in the fall. He doesn’t want her living so far away from her family.”

ZZ was staring at Li Min. He spoke harshly and she held up a hand. It was the signal to do Sit, so I sat.

“No,” she snapped, “do not tell me that has nothing to do with it, ZZ. And it won’t work anyway—they’ll just move to married housing.”

Chase Dad and Grandma glanced at each other a little uneasily.

I heard Grant creeping stealthily through the living room and wandered in to watch him ease out the front door. Moments later he drove away.

I decided those liver treats in Burke’s pocket needed my attention. I scratched at his door and when my boy opened it, I jumped on his bed and sat, looking very much like a dog who deserved a little snack. He finally gave me one. Yes! So I did Lie Down to try to elicit another, but he didn’t react.

I heard ZZ and Li Min leave and then, much later, I heard Grant return. I slept with my nose pointed toward the pants Burke had hung in his closet because there were still treats in the pockets.

Grant was not home that morning when Burke poured food in my bowl. I ate, then went out and reinforced my mark where the scent had faded, napped a bit, and then decided to head back to bed. I stirred when I heard Grant return, but I was far too comfortable to follow until I heard Burke yelling. “What? That’s crazy!”

Burke was standing in the living room, as was Grant. Chase Dad and Grandma were both sitting on the couch. Burke pointed at Grant. “You do know she’s only seventeen years old, right?”

Grant crossed his arms. “She’s eighteen in September.”

Burke whirled on his father. “Dad, you can’t let this happen.”

“It’s not Dad’s decision. It’s our decision, Wenling and me,” Grant said coldly.

“Everyone needs to cool down,” Chase Dad replied.

My boy rolled his eyes. I went to him, anxious at all the powerful emotions swirling in the room. He pointed to his father. “Haven’t you always said that one reason you got divorced was that you and Mom were married too young?”

Chase Dad stiffened. “I don’t like you calling her ‘Mom.’ She gave birth to you, but I’m the one who raised you.”

Burke made an odd noise. “What? That’s what’s important right now?”

At that moment a dog came blundering through the dog door. Grandma gasped and everyone started. It was Lacey! I jumped up and ran to her, wagging. I wondered if she had come back to have more puppies in the under barn. We immediately began wrestling, overjoyed to be together.

“Hey!” Chase Dad yelled.

“Cooper!” Burke shouted.

Lacey and I both stared at them, shocked. They sounded angry, but who could be angry when something as wonderful as this was happening?

“What dog is that?” Grant asked.

Burke knelt and grabbed Lacey’s collar. She wagged. “Don’t you recognize her? It’s the dog that gave birth in the storm shelter, the one Wenling named Lulu.” He straightened, looking at Grant. “Your fiancée named Lulu.”

“That was about the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. The dog just waltzed right in like she owned the place,” Chase Dad marveled.

Burke did a sort of backward Assist, dragging Lacey to the door. “I’ll call the owner and take her home. Come on, Cooper.”

Once outside, Lacey and I followed Burke to the car and gladly piled in to the backseat. Car ride! The space was small, so we utilized all of it as we played with each other. “Hi. This is Burke Trevino calling again in case my first message didn’t go through. I found Lulu and she’s in my car and we’re about to head out. I’ll bring her home except I don’t have your address, so please call me when you get this message, thanks,” he said.

He sat for a minute and then started the car. “Okay, then, dogs. Until Lulu’s family calls back I guess there’s nothing better to do.”

Lacey and I stuck our heads out our windows and breathed in the glorious goat farm and all the other rich odors floating on the afternoon air. We turned in a driveway and I could smell ZZ and Li Min and Wenling when Burke knocked on the front door. We had been here before!

Wenling opened the door but didn’t let us in even though we could smell that they had beef cooking in there. “Oh my God! Did it happen again?” she asked.

“Lulu crashed into the living room in the middle of a, uh, conversation. I called the number on her tag and left a message.”

“That’s a little crazy.”

“Wenling. I guess you and I should talk.”