Sometimes when I sleep I see our Frisbee and I run after it. Mostly, I just smell Buddy, and that is what happens to me now. The smell of Buddy comes out of my heart so strong that it makes me cry in my sleep. The night wind comes under the blanket and tries to rouse me, but I barely feel it. Culebra stays here and I am happy because of that. I have loved Culebra all my life. I have always known her. I remember when she nipped me when I was a puppy, so that I wouldn’t make the chickens go pukpuk pukpukpuk akakaka gawkgawk and run…even though it was fun.
Late hours, and she snuffles suddenly. Instantly, I am also awake. She has taken in an unknown scent. Such an event will wake a dog up instantly.
Culebra is on her feet, growling in her throat. Against the white of the driveway, I see black, slim shadows. They are standing where their scent mostly blows off away from us, but I know them right away.
Kakk-errr-eee, the leader says, and I get to my feet. Culebra says, ‘yourrree gonna get it, you watchit!’ Culebra don’t know ‘em. Culebra ain’t never smelled ‘em before. The odor she is putting out herself, all sharp and frizzy, tells me that she is scared and mad both at the same time.
They smell like the great wild.
Culebra says, ‘I’m warrrrrnin’ you, I’m WARRRRNIN’ you!’
Don’t go near them, Culebra. I know ‘em, they’re gonna win. Their eyes hurt a little bit like people eyes. They're like us, sort of, but they ain’t us, no way.
Now from the barn there comes, ‘huhuhneee! neeehehehee!’ Swallow smells ‘em, and Roan, and Don goes thump thump against his stall. The horses don’t like ‘em no more’n you do, Culebra.
Culebra, don’t go over there! Culebra, stay here, they won’t come here!
Kairrrrr rrrr!
His legs’re stiff, Culebra, he’s kickin’ dirt, he’s gonna fight and he will tear your throat out, I know him! Anyways, they came for me. I runned with ‘em, see. I killed a calf with ‘em and I rolled for them all. I’m theirs, Culebra.
Owwww, I gotta get movin or she’s gonna get killed. Owww, come on legs! Go, you darn ole dog, get uuuppp!
Okay, I’m here and I’m rollin’. I’m rollin’ for both of us!
Culebra dashes past me, leaping through the air and slamming right into the middle of ‘em! Oh Culebra, no! I gotta help you, I gotta get in there.
They’re growlin’ and yappin’, they’re on top of her. “Eeeaaaii eeeaaiii aaiii.” She is screamin’, my momma is screamin’, and I gotta get down there, come on legs, come on, they are killing my momma!
Light. Where? How?
“Git! Git on! GO!”
Dad! Oh, Dad, you’re here!
They back off her, fading into the edges of the light. They know they are beaten. Nobody stands to people, not even them.
They go in the dark, their scent closing down behind them. Culebra gets up, she shakes. Her face is laughin’ but her eyes are scared, scared, scared.
“What is it?” says Mom, come out in her nightgown.
“Them coy-dogs came right up here! Right here! The driveway was full of ‘em. Musta been twenty of ‘em.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I am not. They was after—hell, ole Bob musta been runnin’ with ‘em.” He puts a hand on my head. “They came ta getcha dinthey Bob?”
He’s talkin’ to me!
Yeahyeah, oh yeahyeah!
“You in on that calf kill, Bob?”
What’s he sayin’? Dunno. But he’s sayin’ it to me so the only answer is, yeahyeah! Yeahyeah!
“That dog gone bad, you suppose, Jack?”
“Dunno, sweetie. He’s too weak to do any calf hunting now. We’ll wait till he’s put back together, then take him down to the herd, see how he reacts.”
“That’d be a shame, to lose a good cattle dog like that.”
“Yeah, you were somethin’ weren’t you Bob?”
My name! Okay! Yeahyeah, oh, yeahyeah!
“I got a story to tell now for sure. I think I’m about the first man in these parts ever seen them smart critters up close. Hey! You watchin’ me out there? You wanta take my cattle? My chickens? Well, I don’t think so!”
Culebra don’t like that yell. She puts her ears back, gives Dad a big-eyed look. He puts his fingers in her collar. “Not yew sweetheart.” His voice sounds smooth. Culebra wags. I wag.
I gotta lie down. I gotta do it right here, right now.
“You better put ‘em on the screen porch, them coys come back, they’ll kill ‘em both.”
“C’mon, gal, c’mon Bob, lesgo. Come!”
Got it! Go in there! Okay, I got it! But—yi yi yi! It hurts, I screamin’! I can’t do what I ‘sposed to!
“Hon, we gotta get him on a tarp, he just fell over, lookit ‘im.”
“I think he’s gonna have to be destroyed. Maybe I better just do it now.”
“Oh, I don’t want that. That was Buddy’s favorite, that one. You remember ‘em sleepin’ together, him and that great big lunk in bed with him? Bob you sure are an ugly cuss, you are.”
Yeahyeah?
Dad puts his hands on my jowls, he holds my face. “You got a taste for blood now, Bob? You gonna kill my cattle on me?” Now he goes away.
“He’s just been huntin’ for a living is all, husband. Right, Bob?”
Yeahyeah, sure, whatever, okay by me!
“They lost a bull calf over’t Hutchinson’s place last night. Thought they mighta winged one of the animals did it. I think this is him.”
They go away, and now we’re on the screen porch by ourselves. Culebra gets up on the furniture, she shouldn’t do that. That’s a bad dog. I can’t, I gotta just stay down here, I can’t raise up. Lookit you, you havin’ fun, waggin’ at Bob from up there?
“Culebra!”
See! See! Mom don’t like us up there. Hi, Mom. I’m glad you came back out! Glad to see you!
“Hey ole boy. Hey there. Ah, Bob, you’re an affectionate cuss.”
You taste good, your hand tastes a little bit like Buddy’s used to. Where is Buddy, Mom? Why am I out here and not in our lie?
“Remember your master? Remember Buddy, Bob?”
Buddy!
“Lookit you wag, you old cuss. You remember him just like we do. You remember Buddy.”
Buddy, Buddy, Buddy!
She got her arm around my neck, I lick her face, it tastes like what makes her Mom.
“Ah, Bob. Ole Bob. They were great days, old dog. You an him, runnin’ across the fields together. Bob and Buddy in the summer days. Seems like you guys just never stopped, didja? You remember huntin’ with him, the way he trained you to retrieve and trained you on quail? You and Buddy were awful good together.”
She pets my head. I like that so much!
“Buddy an’ Bob. What a pair.” Now she makes a noise, “Ahh—chook chook—” Then swallows her noise like she don’t want to let it come out.
I know that noise. She’s sad. We’re sad. Mmmmeeeeee, oeeeee. Sad, sad.
“Yeah, boy, you remember. You always was a smart’n. You smart enough to chase off them coy-dogs for us? They’re gonna take a couple grand worth a beeves fore they move on. And my husband’s life, maybe, with his heart like it is. I can’t have him runnin’ around out there half the night, it’ll be his death.”
She goes away. It gets quiet. Soon I hear Culebra sleepin’. I watch an ole skunk come sassin’ past. Down’t barn, the horses get restless. They don’t want him goin’ in there, nuh-uh.
Mice come out, then a family a coons. Culebra moans, sorta half awake. She’d like to run the coons off, but she’s too sleepy.
They see we can’t get outa here, so they come up and look in.
Heyheyhey!
“Shaddup down there!”
Oops.
I sure hurt, but I wanna go up, too. I wanna be with Buddy in our room. Why can’t I be in our bed? I wanna. I gotta get the door open, I used to do that. I gotta put my nose up and push that thing. I used to do that. Oh, I got fire in me! Eeeeeooo! But I gotta, gotta, gotta!