Doggoneit by Icecat62 Silently making his way up the steps of the deck, Chris waved at Jennifer to be quiet. His voice was a whisper. "Don't say nothin'." Jennifer nodded enthusiastically, her golden curls bouncing up and down. Tightening his grip around the dogs neck, Chris leaned down and talked soothingly to it. "Don't bark okay?" The Golden Retriever that he had his arms draped around, jumped up and placed it's muddy paws on his chest, almost knocking him down. "No. Down boy. Okay...get down...no...hey! Stop it!" Chris couldn't help giggling as the big dog began to slobber him with kisses. Pushing at the animal with his hands, he finally managed to get it to settle down. He pointed a finger in the dogs face. "No!" When the dog wagged his tail and smiled up at him, Chris couldn't help smiling back. He had always wanted a dog, but his mom and dad always had a reason for not getting one. 'You're too young, you're not responsible enough.' Well, he'd show them just how responsible he was. Looking at the mud coated, tangled mass of fur before him, Chris smiled again. He'd show his parents just how grown up he'd become by taking care of the dog before they even knew it was in the house. Pulling the sliding screen door back, he ushered the dog into the house. Apparently it was use to living indoors because it didn't race around the house or jump all over the place. Chris's smile grew wider. This was going to be easy. He'd get the dog cleaned up and brushed, then his parents would see how nice the dog was and how he had taken care of everything without their help. They'd have to let him keep the dog then. There would be no more excuses. Grabbing the dog by the fur around his neck, Chris directed him down the hall and into the bathroom. Jennifer trailed behind them. She pointed at the dirty tracks that both Chris and the dog were leaving on the hall carpet. "Chris, Mom isn't gonna..." "Shhhh! Jenny what did I tell you?!" "But..." "No. Either you're with me or you're not." Jennifer looked back over her shoulder at the muddy paw and sneaker tracks that trailed down the hallway. Looking into the bathroom at Chris, she pouted, then smiled as she looked down at the smiling face of the dog. "Okay, I'll help you." "Good. Go out to the garage. On the shelf in the corner there's an old box. Get the collar and bring it back." Jennifer's eyes widened. "You know Dad said to keep out of that box!" Chris closed his eyes and counted to ten. His sister was such a pain in the butt. Opening his eyes, he talked to her in what he thought was a calm, reasonable voice. "I know what Dad said, but I need a collar and that's the only one I've seen in there." Jennifer pouted again. "But Dad'll be mad at me. He said to never touch that box!" Chris was growing impatient. "Just go and get it!" Jennifer's pout turning into a quivering lip. "No! You're being mean!" "Look Jenny...just go and get the collar. Dad'll be home in less than an hour and Mom'll be done with her workout by then. I have to get him cleaned up before they see him." Jennifer crossed her arms and shook her head no. Chris sighed. He knew only a bribe would work with his sister now. A big bribe. Their dad had told them to never touch anything in the box and when he said no, he meant no. "Look...if you get the collar, maybe I can talk to Uncle Johnny about getting you a pony. Now that he has that ranch, he can get you one." Chris smiled inwardly as Jennifer's eyes lit up. He knew her little brain was now spinning a plan of her own. None of the adults knew how manipulative his sister was. Only he couldn't be won over by the big blue eyes and crocodile tears. Now Uncle Johnny...he was a push over. If Jennifer worked on him, he wouldn't have to even ask him about getting Jennifer a pony. "Okay! I'll go get the collar." She disappeared from view and he could hear her footsteps retreating down the hall. Pulling the dog further into the bathroom, he shut the door. Chris looked at the tub and then at the dirty mass of fur before him. Grasping him around the legs, he tried to heave the animal into the tub, but he couldn't do it. Stepping into the tub, he pulled at the animal's ruff. When the dog jumped into the tub and stood before him, calmly wagging it's tail, Chris smiled. This was going to be a piece of cake! ****************************************** Joanne patted her sweaty face with a towel. Sighing, she stretched upward, then dropped her hands down to her toes. Standing up, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror on the wall. Patting her flat stomach, her smiled widened. The daily workouts that she had started only a month ago had made a big difference in how she looked and felt. Placing her hands on her hips, her smiled widened. Her tightening up hadn't gone unnoticed by Roy either. She giggled at how he had made a big deal about how good she looked the other night when they had gone to bed. Looking at the clock on the wall, she realized she had run a little late in her workout. Roy would be home any minute and if she remembered correctly, Johnny was supposed to be coming with him. Raking a hand through her hair, she knew she had better hurry up and get showered. Jogging up the stairs from the basement, she quickly checked the crock pot. Everything looked fine. By the time she showered and dressed, Roy and Johnny would be home and dinner would be done. Cocking her head to the side, she listened. It was too quiet. It was unnatural. "Jennifer?! Chris?!" She could hear some noises down the hall. It sounded like laughter and...a dog barking? As Joanne stepped into the hall, she froze. There were muddy footprints and dog paws tracking down the cream colored carpet. The carpet she had waited two years to get. The carpet that she had begged Roy to buy. It was dirty! With mud! "Christopher!!! Jennifer!!!" The giggles coming from the bathroom stopped, then a loud bark broke the silence. Rushing down the hall, Joanne grabbed the doorknob and yanked open the bathroom door. She stood as still as a statue, her eyes seeing what she saw, but her mind couldn't comprehend it all. There was a large dog of some kind in her bathroom. Chris and Jennifer stood holding it around the neck and legs. Soap, mud and dog hair coated the entire room. Chris stared back at her, a small wavering smile was plastered on his face. "Uh...hi Mom." The dog took that moment to shake itself, knocking both Chris and Jennifer to the floor. Water went spraying all over the room and all over Joanne. Joanne stood in stunned silence. Her beautiful bathroom. Her nice white tile. The dried flower wreath that had hung on the wall was now in tatters on the floor. She lost it. ****************************************** Roy pulled the Porsche into the driveway and was followed by Gage in his Rover. As the men stepped out of their vehicles and headed up toward the house, they talked about the dinner that awaited them inside. "Roy, I can't thank you enough for inviting me over." "Hey, don't thank me, thank Joanne." "You bet I will! Her roast...man it's the best!" As Roy pulled the screen door back to enter the kitchen, he froze in place as a loud scream came from within. Gage looked at Roy and Roy looked back at Gage, then the two of them sprinted down the hall. Instead of finding a scene of blood or injuries as they had expected, they found what Joanne had found. A dirty bathroom with two small children and one large dog. Roy looked at Joanne who narrowed her eyes in anger. "Look what your children did!" Roy stared down at the three figures that occupied the bathroom. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Turning toward Gage, he frowned as he noticed that Gage was gawking at Joanne instead of the scene in the bathroom. Turning his attention toward Joanne, he could see why. All she had on was a skimpy workout outfit that clung to her sweaty body like a second skin. Stepping into the bathroom, he grabbed her robe from the back of the door and quickly covered her with it. Joanne's angry face was now replaced by one of confusion. Looking at Gage, she noticed his face was now blushing a nice shade of pink. "Oh...hi Johnny." "Um...hi...Joanne." Gage gave her a weak smile and looked guiltily at Roy. He shrugged his shoulders at his partner. "Sorry." Roy's attention was drawn away as a loud bark startled him. Turning back to the dog and his children, he crossed his arms and gave them all a stern look. "Chris, what is going on?" Jennifer's lower lip began to quiver, Chris gave him a fearful look and the dogs ears and tail drooped. "Uh...I found him. I thought if I cleaned him up and showed you I could take care of him myself, then I could keep him." "Chris..." "But Dad, you said when I was responsible enough and older, then I could get a dog!" Roy ran a hand over his face. Yes, he had said those words, but he still didn't think his family was ready for a dog. They were never at home and always on the go. "You can't keep him." "But Dad, you promised!" "Christopher LeRoy DeSoto don't you argue with me! We aren't keeping that dog!" Reaching down, Roy grabbed the collar around the dog's neck. He immediately recognized the collar. He could feel his chest tightening and his face growing hot. Chris gave him a guilty look. "Sorry...it's the only collar I knew we had." Trying to keep his emotions in check, Roy took a few deep breaths before speaking. "I want you and Jennifer to clean this mess up. Once this bathroom is spotless, I want you to both go to your rooms. Is this clear?" Two small voices answered him in unison. "Yes Dad." Roy brushed past Gage and Joanne, dragging the wet dog down the hall. Gage looked at the trio before him. Joanne was pursing her lips in anger while the two children looked on the verge of tears. Jennifer started crying the moment she caught his eye. He had to get away from there. He could never stand watching Jennifer cry. It broke his heart. "Uh...I'll go and help Roy with the dog." Joanne ignored him and grabbed a sponge from a cupboard. "I expect this place to be spotless when I come back." Gage beat a hasty retreat down the hallway and headed into the backyard where he knew Roy would have taken the dog. He spied them by the garage. Roy had tied a short length of rope around the dogs neck and hooked it to the fence. As Gage approached them, the dog turned toward him and wagged it's tail, giving him a hopeful look. He couldn't help himself. He loved dogs. Reaching down, he ran his hands over the still damp fur of the retriever. "Well aren't you a cute fella? I wonder who would be careless enough to lose you, huh boy?" The dog's tail continued to wage at the friendly tones that Gage used. Roy watched in disgust as Gage knelt down and began finger combing the dogs matted fur. Walking away from the pair, he clutched the now wet collar tightly between his hands. He went into the garage and dropped the collar in a box. He paused before he picked out the old dog brush that rested in the box. As he held it in his hands, his throat constricted. It had been years since King had died and he still felt the pain like it had been yesterday. Picking a piece of hair from the brush, he held it up to light filtering into the garage. The hair was old and brittle, dried from over a two decades of sitting in the brush, but to him it was still as soft. Still the same deep brown fur that his beloved dog had been covered with. He couldn't do it. He wasn't about to let Gage or anyone else for that matter, use this brush on any other dog. Placing the brush back in the box, he glanced quickly at the other items. A set of dog tags, an old ball with teeth marks, a leather leash. These were the only things left of his best friend King. He wasn't about to go through that heartache again. He wasn't going to give his heart away to an animal, only to have it ripped out when it died in a few short years. Placing the box on a high shelf, he made his way back out of the garage and over to Gage and the dog. Gage was now using his own hair comb to remove the tangles from the feathering on the dogs legs. Gage looked up from his task and smiled at Roy. "Ain't he a beauty? He hasn't moved since the moment I began brushing him. Well, combing him." The dog took that moment to tuck it's head under Gage's arm and rub against him. Without even thinking, he hugged the dog to him and ruffled his wet fur. "Good boy. That's a good boy." Roy looked down at Gage, noticing the bond that was already forming between man and animal. A stab of envy ran through him. He missed his dog King, but he couldn't do it again. He wouldn't put himself through that pain ever again. "Uh Johnny...I...we can't keep him. Why don't you take him?" Gage looked up at Roy, then back at the Golden Retriever that he was absently petting. "I can't keep a dog. What'll I do with a dog?" "You have the ranch. You could tie him up when you weren't there." Gage frowned at Roy. "For two days?" As he said the words, his mind began to race. He spoke his thoughts out loud. "I could ask the Williams boy if he'd feed him for me when I wasn't home. You know...pay him to watch him for me." "That's a good idea." Gage ran his hand over the dogs back. This was a well taken care of animal. He couldn't find any signs of abuse and it was well fed. "Ya' know...I think we'd better look in the lost and found first. Call around to the shelters to see if someone is missing a retriever. This is a really nice dog, Roy." Roy looked down at the dog that stared back at him with big brown eyes that were clear and full of intelligent mischief. "Yeah, I know. He looks like a good dog." Gage looked back up at Roy. A small smile tugged at his lips. He knew Roy really wanted to keep the dog. "How about I look around. If I can't find his owner, then you could give him to Chris." Roy's violent response startled him. "No! I don't want a dog!" Roy could see that he had blown it. Gage knew something was wrong, but he wasn't about to spill his guts and look like a sentimental idiot. He lowered his voice. "I mean...Johnny, I...Chris doesn't have time for a dog. Between school, Scouts and baseball, he'd forget all about it and then I'd be stuck taking care of him. You take him." Gage could tell that there was more to what Roy was saying, but he wasn't about to push the issue. Looking back at the dog, he couldn't help smiling. "Okay boy, how about we find your owners?" ****************************************** A week passed and Gage never found out who owned the Golden Retriever. He called every shelter and pound that he knew of and had read every lost and found ad in the paper. No one was claiming the loss of a big golden haired dog. In the meantime he was finding himself growing attached to the bundle of fur. Once he had gotten over the initial guilt of seeing Chris and Jennifer crying their eyes out over the loss of a dog of their own, he knew things would work themselves out. He had the perfect plan. The dog that was laying calmly at his feet, suddenly raised it's head and let out a soft woof. Getting to it's feet, it trotted over to the door, then looked back at him, wagging it's tail. Pushing away from the sofa, Gage made his way across the living room and over to the door. Roy and his family were getting out of the station wagon. He grinned as he saw Jennifer and Chris running up toward the house. Opening the screen door, he let the dog race out to meet them. As he made his way out of the house and over to the DeSoto's, Gage couldn't help smiling. He had the perfect solution to all of their problems. Roy gave Gage a hopeful look. "So did you find his owner?" Chris and Jennifer stopped petting the excited dog and looked up at Gage with wide eyes. "Nope. No one's missing a Golden Retriever." Roy grinned. He couldn't help feeling relieved for some reason. "So I guess you have yourself a dog then Johnny." "No, I don't think so Roy." Chris and Jennifer gave Gage panicky looks, while Roy and Joanne gave each other confused looks. They had thought that Gage was going to keep the dog. "But Uncle Johnny, if you don't keep him, then Dad said he'd hafta go to the pound. If you take him to the pound they'll kill 'em!" Jennifer grasped her little fingers into the dogs fur and began crying. "Noooooo! You can't kill him!" Gage quickly dropped to his knees and tried to reassure Jennifer and Chris. "Now calm down Chris. It's okay sweetheart. Who said anything about sending him to the pound?" Jennifer sniffled and Chris gave him an apprehensive look. "I thought that since you guys found him, that maybe we could 'share' him." Chris and Jennifer looked from Gage, then at their parents, wondering if they knew what their uncle meant. Roy and Joanne gave Gage confused looks again. "Uh Junior, what exactly do you mean by sharing him?" Gage patted the dog's head. Standing, he pointed at the dog. "He's gonna' be 'our' dog. I'll keep him here. Timmy Williams agreed to come and feed him when I'm at work. When I go on vacations or whatever, I figured you guys could watch him for me and whenever you came over, he'd be your dog too." Chris and Jennifer grew excited. "Can we Dad? Mom?" Roy looked at Gage, then at Joanne who shrugged her shoulders. "It's up to you Roy." She hastily added her two cents. "But when Uncle Johnny goes on vacation, there will be no washing the dog in the bathroom, do I make myself clear?" Both Chris and Jennifer tried to appear chastised, but they did a poor job of it. "Yes Mom." "Yes Mommy." All eyes now turned to Roy. Even the dog stared up at him. Roy shrugged his shoulder, feeling a small glow of happiness beginning to build within him. "I guess it'd be all right." Jennifer and Chris whooped happily and began racing around the yard with the dog bouncing around with them. Johnny smiled brightly at the sight before him. He had done the right thing. Turning toward Roy and Joanne, he grinned. "So what do you want to call him?" Roy blinked in surprise. "Uh...I don't know. He's your dog Junior." "No he's not, he's 'our' dog and we can't keep callin' him dog." "I don't know. You name him." Gage looked at the Golden Retriever. The dogs long golden fur gleamed in the sunlight, it rippled with every movement he made. "Okay...I have the perfect name for him. King." Roy's mouth went dry. "King?" "Yeah. He looks kinda' like royalty with all of that golden fur." Joanne immediately knew that King wasn't the right name for this new dog. Not when she knew the real reason for Roy's reluctance to have another dog of his own. "I have a better name for him." Johnny and Roy looked at her expectantly. "How aboutttttt..." Her eyes roamed around the yard. She had no idea what to call the dog. She had figured that Johnny would have already named him. Her eyes rested on Gage's truck. "Rover! Rover's a good name." Roy grinned and Gage shook his head no. "I'm not gonna' name the dog after my truck." He crossed his arms and looked back at the dog. His brow knitted in concentration. What in the heck could he name the dog that would fit it? King would have been perfect, but from the way Roy reacted, he knew that some how he had hit a nerve. "Okay...he can't be King, so how about...Duke!" Roy frowned. "Duke?" "Yeah, you know...Duke of Earl. I don't like the name Prince for him. Prince is a name you'd give a little dog. Now Duke, that's a name for a big dog." Roy smiled. "Yeah. Duke. Like John Wayne. He's a big guy and they call him the Duke." "Okay, it's settled. His name is Duke." Gage turned away from Roy and placed two fingers between his teeth. An ear shattering whistle pierced the air. Jennifer and Chris stopped moving and the dog stood just as still, his ears perched forward. Gage clapped his hands and called over to the dog. "Come here Duke!" Without hesitating, the dog raced over to Gage and stood before him, his tongue lolling from his mouth, his expression excited. Gage smiled first at the dog, then at Roy and Joanne. "It looks like that's settled." ****************************************** As he prepared for bed, Gage looked at the slumbering figure of the dog now know as Duke. Jennifer and Chris had still whined a bit when they had left that evening, but things were going to work out. They still had a dog of their own, even if it was only a part time dog. Sliding under the sheets, Gage leaned over and looked down at the dog. Roy's loss was his gain. He wouldn't be alone any more. He had someone to talk to and share his spare time with. Maybe some day he'd wheedle out from Roy why he didn't want a dog of his own, but for now he'd enjoy the company of his new friend. Turning the light off, he rolled onto his back and flung an arm over his eyes. "'Night Duke." Duke's tailed thumped happily on the floor. return to main menu