Generations, part 5
I'm not sure how long I slept. It was still dark outside and my once-gorged belly now was asking about another meal. How could I possibly be hungry after all that I had eaten? My head felt like someone parked a boulder onto my skull, my head hurt so badly. Stumbling to my feet, stiff and sore, I made my way back to the carcass of the dead deer. To my amazement, found it already chewed to the bones, all flesh gone. Even the skeleton showed signs of being scattered by other animals and all indications pointed to the fact that several days had passed.
Damn it. My stomach was now growling in spite of my headache and I wanted a meal. Panic began making me feel jittery and I knew I had to begin hunting now and not later; my body couldn't wait.
With my nose to the ground, I began following the nearest game trail hoping for the scent of something nearby. No fresh scat could be detected but I kept following the small dirt path until I came across a wooden fence. The slight tinkle of a bell caught my attention and the sight of a herd of sheep caught my eye.
Did I dare? My eyes scanned the area, looking for humans. Killing a domesticated animal was always risky. If I killed one then I had to do so quietly without alerting the farmer and carry away the carcass. If they found it eaten and wolf/dog prints, then every canine was in danger of being shot.
I crept along the fencing, staying in the shadows and down wind of the flock of sheep. Once as close as possible I stopped and looked around once more. The nearest building was about six hundred yards away and probably not near enough to hear much. Now I needed to grab one of the docile animals without panicking the others. For hours I waited and the false dawn was beginning to lighten the darkness. I needed to make a kill soon.
Then my luck changed. A ewe moved away from the flock in order to nibble at a clump of grass. The others were still dozing and not paying her any attention but I certainly was watching close. She came nearer yet and I lowered myself in the tall grass. '
Just a little closer little lamb chop.' She took another two steps and I pounced. Her head had been turned away from me and she never saw me leap over the low fencing. I gave her no chance to bleat out a warning to the others, snapping my jaws tightly around her throat. She struggled for a few moments then it was over.
I lifted her body easily but I surprised at how small she was. I had believed sheep to be larger than this small ewe. I carried her to the fence and lunged upwards, clearing the fence. Several of the sleeping flock looked up but by then I was once more in the shadows and they settled down.
I headed away from the pasture, unwilling to be spotted with my stolen meal by any humans. I went deeper into the woods then found a small isolated dirt grotto along a stream. Perfect. I could eat my meal then bury the evidence. I settled down to a fine meal, eating all that I could until I was swollen from my efforts. I dragged the carcass to the innermost edge of the eroded streambed then clawed dirt onto the ewe, covering her remains. Satisfied no human could now find her, I found a grassy spot and closed my eyes.
* * * * *
I was heading back towards the city and towards Caroline. By the moon I knew that at least two weeks had past and I was worried that she and Will could be gone from the tar shack settlement. The sound of a tractor caught my attention but I paid it little heed. The machine was far away and I had just came across a dirt road. Well, more of a set of deep ruts than road but a road nevertheless. I was about to cross over it when I heard a truck approaching so I waited at the side of the road until it passed.
The driver honked his horn at me but nothing more as it passed by. It bounced over the rough road at little more than a crawl but its bouncing wasn't what caught my attention but its size. When did they begin making such small trucks? The door handle of the Ford was no higher than my shoulder and I was convinced that if I stood on my hind legs that I could look at the roof of the cab. How strange!
The horn sounded again and I noticed that the window was rapidly being rolled up in spite of the heat. Once the window was up fully, the truck accelerated away, leaving me in a cloud of dry dust and sneezing. Maybe the truck owner didn't like dogs. I crossed the road and cut through a field. I could smell the city now and knew I'd make it back to Hooverville soon.
Not much later I found the tarred two-lane road that I knew would get me close to Caroline. I followed along the road's soft side and headed east. The occasional house increased until I came up to the more ran down section of the city. I got onto the sidewalk for now to keep out of traffic and trotted down a familiar street.
Old man Joe was sitting on his stone front step when I passed by. I paused only long enough to give a friendly woof when the old man suddenly got to his feet and scream out 'Holy Mother of God!'
Startled, I watched him rush into his home. What was his problem? I continued down the street and felt my tail wag as the sight of the tar shacks met my eyes. I hurried along faster, eager to find Caroline.
Her scent was on the breeze and I was relieved to know she hadn't moved away yet. I sauntered over to our shack but stopped. The shack had shrunk. Realizing that was a stupid thought I could only stare at the crumbling wooden and tar box. Since it couldn't possible shrink then I must have grown. I knew there had been risks to early changeover but I had never considered that I would grow fast and large. The shack was now only as high as my head when once I could easily stand inside of it on my hind legs.
How would Caroline and Will take my rapid growth? I would soon find out. I poked my nose into the cut out doorway and heard Caroline scream in fright. I quickly pulled my head back and sat down, hoping she'd eventually peek outside.
I could hear her frightened breathing but it slowed a bit and two green eyes peeked around the doorway. She gasped when she saw me and ducked back again. I whined and waited. Shortly she peered around the door again and stared at me. I whined once more hoping she'd recognize me.
She looked into my face and looked confused. "Elk?"
I raised my paw and whined, letting her know it was me.
Surprise lit her face and she cautiously left the safety of the shack and stepped closer.
"Elk? Is that you?"
I knew I had to prove myself and 'spoke' one of the human words she knew I could emulate.
She gasped then threw her arms around my neck before crying and made a fuss over my arrival. Sometimes it's nice to be fussed over and know you've been missed.
*****
"What in tarnation happened to your pup?" one of the shack dwellers asked Will.
"Darned if I know. Elk went missing for a couple of weeks and when she came back she was as big as a pony. Look at her, She's as tall as Caroline and probably outweighs me."
"Spooky is what she is. You better hope she never turns mean or you'll have to put her down. A dog her size is too much for a person to handle."
"Oh, Elk is a sweet dog and she adores Caroline. I'm not worried about her at all. In fact, I'm relieved."
"Relieved? What for?"
"I have to leave her alone to go job hunting and who's going to bother her when Elk is close by?"
The man's eyes widened. "I see your point. Say, you think she'd still catch rabbits for everyone?"
"Hell, she could take down bigger game than that now," another man piped in. "There's plenty of deer in the woods. If I had a rifle I'd hunt them myself."
"As long as you didn't trespass on any farmer's land. People are picky that way nowadays," Will reminded them.
"I don't know why you're even talking about it," one man said gruffly. "We don't have a pot to piss in much less cook all that meat. It would go bad before we ate half of it."
"How about a metal drum? That grocer down on 2nd street gets his flour in them to keep the mice out. He just gives most of them to the metal shop but I bet he'd give us one if we asked."
Will shrugged. "Why not? Let's go ask him. Even if we don't cook in it we can burn wood inside to keep warm so it's not a waste of our time."
The four men walked down to the grocer and soon returned with one of the metal drums and a boat oar they had found in the second hand store. They knew they'd need something to stir with in such a large pot. They took sand and water from the stream and washed it out. They then dug a fire pit and lined it with rocks to keep the metal canister steady.
"Now all we need is something to put in it."
Will pointed at the stream and picked up his homemade kettle. "You and Sam start the fire. Me and Earl will haul water and fill it."
"You take it for granted that your dog will actually bring back something for us to cook," one of the nearby men snorted.
Will shouted for Caroline. One of the children from the camps told him that Caroline and Elk had left, heading for the woods. Will wiped the smirk from his lips and turned around to face the mocking man. "Yup. We're gonna fix stew tonight. What are you going to have?"
Sam snickered, "Crow Pie."
The metal drum was one third full of water when Caroline returned with a burlap bag full of wild roots and vegetables she had collected in the woods. Some of the other children and a few of the women began cleaning and dicing them while the young strawberry blonde picked up her bag and digging stick to head back for more. Will had told her to get enough for everyone if she could. Caroline nodded and hurried off, hoping Elk really managed to get a deer or they would only have vegetable soup for supper.
"Wait, let me go with you," one woman told Caroline. She wanted to see where the girl found her sources and maybe hunt down some herbs to flavor the stew. Caroline waited for the woman to catch up then the two of them soon disappeared from sight of the shack camp.
Less than an hour later, people's murmuring got Will to look away from his job of filling the drum with water. North of the camp he spotted Elk who was half-dragging, half carrying, a small doe by one of the hind haunch. He wondered why Elk used such an odd method of dragging the carcass when he noticed that the deer's neck had been cut. Will realized that Elk had bled the deer so the meat wouldn't go bad. He kept the idea silent since he didn't want other people to figure out exactly how smart Elk was.
He pulled out his hunting knife and began butchering the doe after hanging it from a tree. A few others fetched their knives and it didn't take long to dice meat for the pot. The innards were tossed to the dogs and cats of the camp for their meals while housewives took long strips of meat to smoke over a fire. That meat would be good for a while and could be split between families.
Sam's wife collected coins from everyone and went down town to buy flour and such to make biscuits. She said a proper soup or stew was always served with some type of bread.
Caroline and the woman returned shortly after Elk with a heavy sack carried between them. The woman let out a heavy exhausted breath but grinned. "We found an old garden by a burned out cabin. There's all sorts of stuff growing there. She pulled out eighteen potatoes, carrots, pea pods, and sprigs of herbs. "They must of had an herb garden growing too. There's all sorts of plants growing all over the clearing."
The woman handed the peas to her daughter and told her to shuck them while she scrubbed the potatoes. Caroline pulled out lots of peppermint from the bag and held them up for her father to see. "We brought back stuff to make tea, Pa!"
"That's just fine, Honeybee. Why don't you heat up some water in the kettle and we'll steep some of it for dinner, alright?"
Will smiled happily as he watched his child run to the stream for fresh water. Yes, life was better now that Elk returned.
Generations, part 6
Our little Hooverville changed in no small part to myself. People became nicer with a community pot that kept simmering constantly and no empty bellies. It didn't matter so much that most people had nether jobs or decent housing as long as they were fed and had fresh water. Although I couldn't bring home big game every day, the occasional rabbit or squirrel added to the pot helped. Caroline and the other children now had an interest in learning wild plants and harvested what they could.
The men of our shantytown would all find occasional work and would share their funds in buying food for everyone. Most of the men probably only found a daylong job once or twice a month but it all helped in feeding so many hungry people. If a man was fortunate enough to find permanent work he and his family would just silently disappear but that was all right since there were always new arrivals. With so few paying jobs available it was a common thing to lose one's home.
The women and children searched through garbage bins and charity boxes for any sort of rag they could find to weave rough sleeping mats and blankets. Life was better in spite of our poverty and hope was no longer a forgotten concept.
It was almost a year before things began getting better for people. Will got a job at a lumber mill and we moved to a small house on the outskirts north of town. I was glad of the location. I don't think I could have tolerated being cooped up inside the city all the time. At least at night I could run free and enjoy the night air. Caroline now went to school and had to work hard to catch up with the others her own age who had benefited from going uninterrupted. However, the schoolteacher at her new school wouldn't allow me to hang around. I had to settle for peeking into the windows and listening to the lessons on warm days.
I eventually learned to read although even I have to admit I wasn't very good at it. I could read the beginner books but further learning was difficult for me. Caroline would read to me at first but as she aged, we spent less time together. She preferred spending time with her friends. It saddened me and I missed her a lot but I couldn't act on my instincts and drive them away.
Sometimes those very instincts made me believe I was going crazy until I realized that puberty was approaching. Soon I could no longer be considered a child and would have to make decisions about my life.
But I didn't want to think about that. My bond with Caroline was too strong and the thought of leaving her left me feeling panicked and frightened. What would I do without her? I did my best to ignore the fact that Caroline was quickly growing up as well. At fourteen years old she was promised to become a beautiful woman with sun kissed blonde hair and warm green eyes. Already the young men were sniffing around her.
At first I growled at them but then Will chose to forget that I was not a mere dog and locked me in the back yard behind the tall fence. Now separated from my human family during the day I became angry at my treatment. I would often jump the fence and wander the woods. Once in a blue moon I would meet up with my own kind but I refused to join with their packs, choosing to return to Will and Caroline in spite of our estrangement. This went on for several years until Caroline turned seventeen, and then things changed from bad to worse for me. I can't even complain to the Fates because it was my own fault it happened.
Will was still at work when Caroline and a boy I was unfamiliar with entered the house after school. My nose picked up his scent and my sharp nose told me that he was attracted to her. Why did she bring home this stranger when her father wasn't home? Curious, I jumped over the fence and made my way to the front of the house so I could listen by the open screened window.
They seemed to be on friendly terms, chatting and laughing quietly until they grew silent. I strained my ears and thought I heard breathing but I wasn't sure. Then I heard the boy give off a human growl and Caroline telling the boy 'No.'
She repeated this several times then her voice took on a frightened tone. What was he doing? The sound of the sofa being pushed along the wooden floors jerked me from my shocked state and I threw my front paws over the windowsill and looked inside. The boy had Caroline pinned to the sofa and she was struggling to get away. I'm not sure what happened at first but I think I shoved my nose under the heavy window and lifted it. The next thing I remember is the feel of the screen under my feet on the floor and my lunging at the boy who dared to put his hands on my human.
The boy screamed as I took hold of his elbow and pulled him away from Caroline. I could taste his blood in my mouth but I didn't let go until I had him well away from Caroline. I suppose a neighbor heard the commotion since the police arrived and I found myself being pulled out of the house by two men with ropes on sticks. I fought against it at first but then went meekly with them. I knew everyone needed to calm down, even myself. Things would get straightened out later and they'd let Will bring me home.
I was driven to the pound and placed inside a barred cage alone. The place reeked of fear from previous animals and I almost gagged from the stench. I saw no humans for several hours but then a pair of men were pulling a wagon through the corridors and placing food dishes inside the cages. I could hear them chatting. At first I paid them little attention until I realized that they were talking about me.
"The judge is mighty angry. I don't think he'll let them get the dog back. He's a vindictive old coot, let me tell you. I bet you a steak dinner that he'll demand the dog gets put down."
"I won't touch that sucker bet. That dog is as good as dead. Too bad. She was just protecting her owner, too. That boy will get off again without getting in any trouble. Must be nice to be the judge's kid."
The other man grunted in agreement.
I watched them slide a metal dish under my cage and continue down the line but I wouldn't touch the food. My mind was too busy thinking over my options.
One thing was certain; I had to get out of this place by tonight.
*******
The men left for the day, locking up the front door behind them after turning off the only electric light in the building. The other animals kept here were all sleeping on the most part although one dog was softly whining about twenty feet away.
With no humans around to watch I began the process of a changeover. I gritted my teeth against the pain as my joints began the transformation first. Slowly I began changing although the pain wasn't as bad as the first time I had attempted this. When my shape was mid-way into the process, where I had stopped when I was a youth, I decided to continue on. I had never taken on a fully human form. Since the pain wouldn't get worse I thought why not?
The first thing I noticed with the changeover was the lack of smells. Was this how humans perceived things? Next came the sensation of cold as my fur shed from my skin and the damp spring air chilled me. I shivered as the cement of the floor sucked away what little heat my skin held. I attempted to stand on all fours but my legs no longer matched. My human palms rested on the dirty floor and my...knees?...felt the sharp pain of small grit pressing into them.
I panted as the pain began receding and looked around me. My vision seemed a tad sharper but perhaps that was due to the fact humans had to have some sort of sense to make up for their poor noses. I struggled with my limbs until reached the cage door where I used the bars to help me stand for the first time. I stood there shaking, terrified of letting go of my death grip on the cold metal. Sooner or later I had to move to escape from the room. I gathered up my courage and fumbled with my human paw at the latch that held the door closed. Eventually, more from luck than skill, I got the latch to release and the door swung open.
I kept a frantic grip on the door and dragged my human feet, unsure how to move them. I looked down at my legs and tentatively raised one foot from the ground, examining it while I twisted it this way and that. I tested each joint until I knew my limitations. I had to concentrate hard, visualizing each motion until I took my first step. I managed to move that one step without falling but I was sweating from my efforts. How did humans do this?
Eventually I let go of the door and wobbled down the corridor towards the office. I was panting from fear of falling but I managed to make it there without any major mishaps. In fact, I was growing more confident by the time I walked those thirty or so steps. Now faced with a door handle, I reached out my hand like I've seen Will and Caroline do all those years and twisted it. Thankfully it opened easily and I stepped into the tiny office area. I hunted for the light cord and gave it a tug, filling the room with light. The shock of the light made me wince but soon my eyes adjusted to it.
Now what did I do? I was standing there in human form, naked and shivering. I couldn't leave the building this way. I looked around the room and spotted a locker door. I managed to figure out the lock and the metal door swung open. Inside was a dirty pair of coveralls. I struggled into the too large garment but at least I felt warmer. There were no shoes but I didn't care. Now to get out of the building. I went to the front door but it was locked. Try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to open it.
There was a window nearby and I looked it over. It was a simple double hung window with a latch to keep it locked. We had them in our house so I knew how they were handled. I turned the metal latch then used my hands to lift the pane. Fresh air entered the room through a mesh screen and I just forced it off by pushing on it. Now I was free as soon as I crawled through it. Once again I had to stop and imagine the actions of how to do it but I managed just fine. I don't count the minor fall to the grass below since I had forgotten that I had to stand on only two legs not four.
Now I had to walk the distance to our home, which was quite a distance away. Well, if humans could walk a long ways then so could I. My pace was slow at first but then I got the hang of the motion and was soon moving at a decent pace for a turtle.
I kept my eyes alert, watching for possible dangers. There wasn't much to watch. It was bedtime for most people and the stores were already closed for the evening. Only one car moved on the streets but I hid behind a parked car until it passed by. My movements finally smoothed and my speed increased with my confidence. I was about half way home when the moon rose high. I stopped to stare at it for several minutes before continuing on towards home.
The night was at its mid point when I reached home. My humans were sleeping of course but I made my way towards Caroline's room. I tried the window but it was actually locked. Perhaps what had happened that afternoon had left her frightened. I would have to find another way in. I circled the house until I found an open window then made my way inside. The room I entered was the bathroom. On the wall was a mirror over the sink and curiosity made me turn on the light and look at myself.
My eyes adjusted to the light as I stared at my image looking back at me. My dark hair, wild and uncombed, stood at funny angles and I almost laughed. I picked up a hairbrush and awkwardly brushed it as I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were frosty blue and ringed with darker blue. My skin, untouched by sunlight, was pale and smooth. My teeth were white and sharp at the corners, reminding me that even humans had canine teeth even if stunted. Then I noticed that the mirror seemed low. I knew that Will could look directly into the center of the mirror when he leaned forward to shave. I leaned forward but my face was much higher than his was when he stood there. I must be very tall.
I stepped away from it. I needed to say good-bye to Caroline and leave before the sun rose. I quietly turned off the light and stripped out of the coveralls. I knew I couldn't let my human family see me this way. I curled up on the floor and gritted my teeth against the pain of changeover, hoping no sound woke my family as I transformed.
When I was once more in my natural form I stood up and made my way to Caroline's bedroom. I nudged open the door with my nose and padded softly to her bed. I bumped it like I always do when I need to go outside and want her awake to let me outside. She moaned and reached out her hand to pet me sleepily. Then she woke fully and sat up.
"Elk? How..."
Of course I couldn't explain but I had to make my good-byes. The sky was already getting lighter. I placed my head on her lap and absorbed the feeling of her caressing my head one last time. I never wanted this to stop and I whined at my own fate. I had to leave. I pulled away from her warmth and left the room before she could protest. I entered the bathroom and jumped through the open window. I could hear her running after me in the house.
"Elk!" she shouted.
I turned to look at her lovely face one last time then turned away. If I were still in my human form I knew that I'd be crying.
Continued...