Show By IRIS Since my unfortunate brother had six sisters and no one oneto oneto to talk to much our father dog It was a miniature something with ith dubious lineage and a color reminiscent of old mustard My brother named him Pug BUT RIGHT FROM THE beginning Pug was not my brothers brother's brothers brother's broth broth- ers er's dog He decided at an early age that he was a one man mandog mandog dog and the man was our father Pug was told he belonged to tomy tomy my brother He paid no attention Tolerant however he followed followed fol- fol lowed the boy it if the man disappeared but he wasn't happy about it His ears drooped From with the chores He herded the sheep keeping it moving across the front lawn he growled importantly at turkeys if they rooted roosted in the wrong trees and he never missed cow milking time m IN FACT MILKING TIME became a game between Pug and my father with my father trying to see whether he could sneak out to do the milking without the dog Pugs Pug's favorite place for sleeping was behind the kitchen range where he was out from underfoot yet able to keep an eye on his family My father kept the milk bucket on a hook near the stove and every evening as milking time drew near he would begin edging toward the bucket with one eye on the snoozing dog With great caution he would lift the metal bucket from its hook In silence he would open the back door without a sound he would slip through to stumble over Pug With an air of royal condescension Pug would go skunk hunting with my brother The parr pair of them didn't actually set out to hunt skunks it out that way Bright and early on a summer morning they would start for the foothills bent on capturing rabbits or coyotes or possibly a few head of African lion and toward evening they would come home smelling strongly of woods wood's kitty How the boy and the dog ever managed to locate so many skunks they never said PUG LOVED THE CAR Whenever moved toward It the dog would come bounding his tongue hanging out to leap expertly Into the front seat He was especially joyous when the whole family squeezed into the car for an afternoon ride It was on one of these excursions that tragedy struck We had driven east of town where the road was not just secondary but possibly thirdly or even fourthly and where almost no one lived We were winding our way through cedar groves when Pug spotted an animal that may have been a wild dog At any rate he leaped from the open window he fancied himself one of the fiercer animals and disappeared We waited for him to return almost dark but he didn't come back We drove slowly back to town wIth all of us watching both sides of the road expecting against all reason to see seethe seethe the little dog come racing up beside us FOR SIX MONTHS WE MADE weekly excursions back to the area hoping Pug would appear but in vain In the house my father took the milk bucket from its hook with a great clatter My brothers brother's room lost its faint smell or of skunk After Atter a long winter we went for a ride east of town again talking about Pug as we drove through the area where hed he'd vanished It was my brother who first saw the little brown shape trotting through the cedar trees In disbelief but wIth wild hope he screamed Pug and whistled A DISHEVELED SMELLY STREAK the little dog shot through the trees leaped into the car and was all over us whimpering and licking our faces and we all cry agreed Ing We cried too And that night wh when n my father was ready to do the milking he lifted the bucket cautiously from its hook Pug slid through the door and when they walked of off to together ether both the man and the do dog were smiling I |