{ THIRTY-THREE }

Chase Dad pulled out his phone and spoke harshly and then threw it from him. He flipped ZZ on his back and started pushing on ZZ’s chest. Lacey was circling the men in agitation, whining, so distraught she snapped at me when I went to try to comfort her.

I felt sure I knew what was happening, and I felt sad for Lacey, and sad for Chase Dad, whose tears were falling down in dark splats on ZZ’s shirt. “Come on, ZZ! You can do it!” he shouted, his fear scraping his voice raw. “ZZ! Please, please no, ZZ!”

Lacey and I looked up when a long, thin wail pierced the summer air, growing louder before it snapped into silence and a heavy rumble accompanied a big truck up the driveway and out into the fields. It drove directly to us and two men and a woman leapt out, carrying boxes and kneeling next to ZZ and putting something over his face. One of them pushed on ZZ’s chest and Chase Dad sank back, his hand covering his eyes.

I padded over to him. He was breathing in great, shuddering gasps, still weeping. He touched me when I nosed his hand, but I could tell he was not even really aware I was there.

“ZZ!”

I looked up. Li Min was running toward us, her mouth open, face contorted in terror. Lacey scampered to intercept, but Li Min dashed right past her. Chase Dad stood, visibly gathering himself, and spread his arms for her. “Li Min,” he grated hoarsely.

They fell into each other’s hug, sobbing. Lacey and I were close by, distressed we couldn’t help. The new people put ZZ on a bed and lifted it into the back of their truck, and Li Min and Chase Dad got in with them and they all drove away. Lacey pursued for a little bit, but at the end of the driveway she stopped, forlornly tasting the dust of the truck as the loud wail again split the day.

Eventually Lacey returned to me, ears down, tail tucked, uncertain and scared. I gave her nose a kiss and led her back home, through the dog door and onto Burke’s bed. I knew from Grandma that this was the sort of thing that sometimes happened, and when it did, a person was taken away. That person would not come back, but everyone else would. Good dogs would wait, because when the people returned from wherever they had been, they would need their best friends.

And people did come. First Chase Dad staggered in the front door by himself, slumping into a chair to sit and stare and finally put his head in his hands and grieve with loud, frightening howls. I whined because he was in such pain. He eventually stood and took faltering steps into his room and closed his door.

Then, within just a day, Burke was there! I was so happy to see him I ran around the yard in mad circles, Lacey pursuing in bewilderment. When he reached down I jumped up to lick his face. “Wow, you are just about the friendliest dog in the world, Riley.”

My boy seemed subdued. I realized that he didn’t understand that I was Cooper, and obviously he had forgotten about the day we went swimming in the frozen lake.

Burke glanced up as Chase Dad opened the front door. “Hey, Dad.” I understood, then, that he was feeling the same as Chase Dad about ZZ.

The two men hugged each other. “It’s been too long, son.”

“I know, Dad. I am so sorry about ZZ.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry it took something like this to bring me back.…”

“You’re here now, son. That’s all that matters.”

“How’s Li Min?”

“Wenling is with her now. Not doing so well, I guess. Grant and his girlfriend are cutting their Hawaii trip short to come back for the funeral.”

“That’s really nice of them.”

“ZZ was family.” Chase Dad turned and looked at his farm, then shook his head. “Come on inside.”

I slept on my boy’s bed for a bit that night, but Lacey was agitated and confused, so eventually I jumped down and lay next to her on a rug. Dogs need dogs as much as people do.

At breakfast the next morning, I sprawled hopefully under Burke’s feet, thinking he’d toss me a treat for old times’ sake. Lacey lay under Chase Dad’s feet because she didn’t know how rare it was for him, of all people, to feed us under the table.

“How’s business?” Chase Dad asked as he sat down.

I heard Burke pouring something and the heavy smell of coffee filled the air. “Best dam business ever.”

“Anyone ever laugh at that one?”

“Just me.” Burke chuckled. “It’s still the most rewarding job you can imagine. Every time we decommission a dam, nature immediately sets out to make amends for our sins. Marshes return, whole ecosystems rebuild, fish appear as if from spontaneous generation.”

“Did you go up the hill to see the dam TMH put up there? Supposed to help with all the flooding.”

“They have flooding because they turned all the streams into cement-lined ditches and then paved three acres to build their fruit processing plant,” Burke replied.

Chase Dad grunted. “They needed to put in the plant so they could run me out of the orchard business. Past two years, I’m selling my apples and pears at a loss. Remember Gary McCallister? He gave up on his cherries completely.”

I looked up at the clink of silverware on plate, which caused Lacey to look up as well. Her reaction caused me to sit up and so she sat up. The two of us stared eagerly, being very good dogs.

“Have you met Grant’s new girlfriend?” Chase Dad asked.

“No. I don’t … I really don’t see Grant, Dad. We’re just better off if we don’t run into each other.”

“What did I do wrong that my two sons don’t want to have anything to do with me or each other?” Chase Dad lamented.

“God, no, you didn’t do anything, Dad. It’s just … I just … I don’t know. It’s just so damn awkward between us. We say we don’t have issues, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. And you … I just always felt your, I don’t know, disapproval. That I haven’t managed to be a better brother to Grant. That I decided to be an engineer instead of working with you on the farm.”

Chase Dad was staring in disbelief. “Disapproval? My God, Burke, I am so proud of you my heart’s bursting. Please, whatever I did to make you feel that way, forgive me. I love you, son. You mean everything to me.”

They hugged each other violently, slapping and clutching at each other. I wagged uncertainly. Eventually they sat back down. Chase Dad cleared his throat. “So, Burke, I was thinking. From what I can tell, your job has you on the road pretty much every day. You could move back to Michigan. Hell, you could live here. Pellston has commercial flights.”

“Dad.”

Chase Dad drummed his fingers on the table. Finally he leaned back, sighing. “Just miss everybody.”

There was another long silence. Lacey glanced at me in disbelief. Were they really going to completely ignore us?

“So let me ask you, Burke, what’s it going to be like for you when you see Wenling?”

“I honestly have no idea. The real question is what’s it going to be like for Grant.”

“You in touch with her much?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘much.’ Messages. She was in Kansas once for a conference, so I drove over from Kansas City where I was consulting. We talk on the phone, sometimes.”

“But no…”

“Romance? I don’t think either one of us would have much interest.”

“But there’s a chance?”

“So now you’re a dating service?”

“I’m just at the age where a man would like to have some grandkids to spoil.”

“Well, if there’s going to be the pitter-patter of little farmer feet running around, it’s going to be from Grant. I haven’t met anyone.”

When Wenling and her mother arrived, Lacey greeted them the way I’d first greeted Burke, racing around the yard, yipping and crying, kissing Wenling’s hands. Wenling, I saw, didn’t recognize Lacey any more than Burke recognized me.

“What a crazy dog!” Wenling looked up and saw Chase Dad and Burke coming down the steps. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Burke.”

“So sorry about your father, Wenling.”

They hugged. Chase Dad went straight to Li Min and they held each other and both of them wept a little.

“That’s Lady,” Burke informed Wenling. “Ava’s dog. Ava is Grant’s girlfriend.”

Wenling nodded. “Mom said. I think she’s the one I met, the rescue girl? Her name was Ava, I think, is it the same one?”

“Oh.” Burke shrugged. “I actually don’t know anything about her at all.”

We were attentive dogs and followed everyone into the house. Lacey wanted to wrestle, to work out her joy with frenetic play, but I did Steady, and she was puzzled enough to stop leaping around and nosed me, perplexed. I understood that when people were sad, they wanted to sit and speak softly and not have dogs try to cheer them up. Some things happen that even a dog can’t fix, and ZZ going away in the back of that big truck, never to return, was one of them.

That’s why, when Ava and Grant arrived, I did not jump on them like Lacey. I sat, wagging, as they stood up out of their car. “Hey there, Riley, good dog,” Grant greeted. “Down, Lady Dog. Down!”

“Look at how calm he’s being. It’s almost as if Riley gets it’s a sad occasion.” Ava took my head in her hands. “You’re a good dog, Riley. An angel dog.”

“Well, let’s get this over with. Come on in and meet my brother,” Grant sighed.

Ava patted his arm. “It will be okay.”

Lacey barged in through the dog door ahead of them, but I waited and followed Ava through the people door. Everyone else was at the table drinking coffee, but they stood with smiles.

“Hey there, Burke,” Grant said softly.

“Long time, Grant.”

Wenling stepped forward. “Grant.” They hugged.

“So sorry about your father, Wenling. This is Ava. Ava, that’s Wenling; her mom, Li Min; you’ve met my dad, Chase; and the dumb-looking one is my brother, Burke. Everyone, this is Ava.”

“Oh my God!” Ava blurted.

“It’s you!” Burke was grinning in delight.

All the people looked at one another blankly. Lacey gave me the same look. “You two know each other?” Grant asked.

Burke and Ava hugged, a little awkwardly, so Lacey stuck her nose in between them to add affection. “I never put it together,” Burke said.

“I didn’t either. I mean, I thought you said your name was ‘Burt.’ But honestly, it was so long ago, I forgot.”

Chase Dad cleared his throat. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d sure like to be filled in on what we’re talking about, here.”

I heard a car coming up the driveway and ran out the dog door to greet it, Lacey in hot pursuit. It was two women bearing warm dishes of food that caused me to salivate. They weren’t the last people to show up bearing meals, either. When a house is full of sadness, people bring food, but the only ones happy about it are the dogs.

That night I lay on the bed dodging my boy’s restless feet. Back when I did Steady and Assist for him, he never kicked out in his sleep, but now I groaned and moved out of the way with every twitch. Still, I was content. I had what I had always wanted: everyone together on the farm. Lacey paced restlessly in the living room, waiting for Wenling to return, before finally climbing upstairs to sleep with Grant and Ava. I hoped Wenling and Li Min would come back soon so that Lacey would stop worrying.

And they did, but only after a long day, which started with everyone getting dressed in noisy shoes in the morning and then leaving their dogs alone all day. Lacey was impatient with my attempts to play with her—reuniting with Wenling and then watching her drive off made Lacey frustrated in a way I completely understood.

Everyone was sad on the day of noisy shoes. Until the sun fell, people stood around and murmured mournfully and ate food, but neither Lacey nor I tried to elicit treats—this did not seem the right time for that.

A few people gave us treats anyway. A good dog is hard to resist.

When the house emptied, Lacey lay at Wenling’s feet. There were long silences, then someone would speak quietly, and there would be a long silence. Li Min made some of the vile stuff I had learned was called “tea.” Wenling put paper to her face and wiped her eyes or honked her nose.

Chase Dad slapped his knee, a sudden sound that made everyone jump. “I’ve made a decision.” He glanced around the room. “I’m going to sell the farm.”

Lacey and I looked up because of how everyone in the room suddenly went rigid. There was a long, apprehensive silence.

“Why would you even say that, Dad?” Burke asked.

“Because without ZZ I don’t see how I can make it. Hell, we’ve lost money four years running. Grant was right, Grant has always been right. I’m swimming against the current here.”

No one spoke for a moment.

“So, sell to Trident Mechanical Harvesting?” Grant asked. “Then work it for a dollar-a-year lease?”

“No, hell, just give it up and be done with it,” Chase Dad told him bitterly.

Lacey sat up and yawned in agitation at the rising disquiet.

“I’ll help,” Li Min said quietly. Everyone looked at her. She shrugged. “ZZ was … he wouldn’t hear of me working the crops. To him, an American wife can’t be in the fields, it reflects poorly on him. But my hours at the shop have been cut down to almost nothing, so I could go out in the fields and work with you, Chase. Every day if needed. I’m not ZZ, but I can learn.”

“I’ll move home, too,” Wenling declared. Now everyone’s eyes were on her. Lacey put her head in Wenling’s lap. “In honor of my father. To help my mother. I’m working in a lab because that’s just what you do with a degree in horticulture, but I think I’d rather be outside, see if anything I learned can be applied to a family farm and not just a”—she looked at Burke and grinned—“a robo-farm.”

Later Grant was up in his room when Burke knocked lightly on the doorframe. It was still odd to see Burke upstairs without me doing Assist to get him there. I wondered if Burke would ever decide to go back to using his chair.

“Talk to you a minute, brother?” Burke asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

I had to scoot fast to keep from being left out when Burke shut the door behind him. He leaned up against it. “I was thinking maybe you should hang around here for a bit.”

Grant tilted his head. “Hang here,” he repeated.

“As in, move back to the farm for a while.”

Grant snorted. “Dad tell you to come up here and say that?”

“No, Dad has nothing to do with it.”

“Sure he doesn’t.”

“Grant. Yes, he could use your help. But that’s not why. I think you should move here for yourself.”

Grant barked out a laugh. “Sure.”

“For yourself, and maybe for someone else.”