Page 8 (2/2)

Meeting its stare, he said, "Wouldn’t consider suicide, though For one thing, I was raised a Catholic, and though I haven’t gone to Mass in ages, I still sort of believe And for a Catholic, suicide is a mortal sin Murder Besides, I’ive up, no et"

The retriever blinked but did not break eye contact

"I was in those woods searching for the happiness I once knew And then I ran into you"

"Woof," it said, as if it were saying, Good

He took its head in both his hands, lowered his face to it, and said, "Depression A feeling that existence was pointless Hoould a dog know about those things, h, every day is a joy So do you really understand what I’ about, boy? Honest to God, I think ence, too ? Huh? Sure, you can do so tricks, but that’s not the sa me"

The retriever pulled away fro in its teeth and shook out twenty or thirty biscuits onto the linoleuain," Travis said "One minute, you see with a dog’s interests"

However, the retriever was not seeking a snack It began to push the biscuits around with the black tip of its snout,them into the open center of the kitchen floor one at a ti the had five biscuits arranged in a row that gradually curved to the right, it pushed a sixth into place, e the curve

As he watched, Travis hastily finished his first beer and opened the second He had a feeling he was going to need it

The dog studied the row of biscuits for a un to do It padded back and forth a few tied two more biscuits into line It looked at Travis, then at the shape it was creating on the floor, then nosed a ninth biscuit into place

Travis sipped some beer and waited tensely to see ould happen next With a shake of its head and a snort of frustration, the dog went to the far end of the roo low Travis wondered what it was doing, and then soone into the corner in order to concentrate After a while, it returned and pushed the tenth and eleventh Milk-Bones into place, enlarging the pattern

He was stricken again by the prereat importance was about to happen Gooseflesh diolden retriever used nineteen biscuits to fornizable question mark on the kitchen floor, then raised its expressive eyes to Travis

A question : Why? Why have you been so depressed? Why do you feel life is pointless, e apparently understood what he had told it All right, okay, so e exactly, didn’t follow every word that he spoke, but it so, or at least enough of theto arouse its interest and curiosity

And, by God, if it also understood the purpose of a question ! The very concept of simple symbols- like alphabets, nu as shorthand for co co And abstract thinking was reserved for only one species on earth: huolden retriever was demonstrably not human, but somehow it had come into possession of intellectual skills that no other ani accidental about the questionStatistical theorists said an infinite number of monkeys, equipped with an infinite number of typewriters, would eventually be able to recreate every line of great English prosea Milk-Bone question mark in about two minutes flat, merely by purest chance, was about ten ti Shakespeare’s plays

The dog atching hi up, he found he was a bit shaky in the legs He went to the carefully arranged biscuits, scattered them across the floor, and returned to his chair

The retriever studied the disarranged Milk-Bones, regarded Travis inquiringly, sniffed at the biscuits again, and seemed baffled

Travis waited

The house was unnaturally quiet, as if the flow of ti creature, h not for him, the retriever, or the contents of the kitchen

At last, the dog began to push the biscuits around with its nose as it had done before In a ed so His palms were sweaty He was filled with both wonder and trepidation, with both wild joy and fear of the unknown, sih because he had never seen anything half as delightful as this dog He also wanted to cry because only hours ago he’d thought life was bleak, dark, and pointless But no matter how painful it was sometimes, life was (he now realized) nonetheless precious He actually felt as if God had sent the retriever to intrigue him, to remind him that the world was full of surprises and that despairof the purpose-and strange possibilities-of existence Travis wanted to laugh, but his laughter teetered on the brink of a sob Yet when he surrendered to the sob, it becah When he attempted to stand, he knew that he was even shakier than before, too shaky, so he did the only thing he could do: he stayed in his chair and took another long s of Coors

Cocking its head one way and then the other, looking slightly wary, the dog watched hio But he was all better now

He put down the Coors and wiped tears out of his eyes with the backs of his hands He said, "Come here, fur face"

The retriever hesitated, then came to him

He ruffled and stroked its coat, scratched behind its ears "You aure where you caot to be what you are, but you couldn’t have come where you’re ht You want to knohy I felt life had no purpose or joy for ht here and have another beer and tell it to a dog But firstI’ to name you"

The retriever blew air out of its nostrils, as if to say, Well, it’s about tiht into its eyes, Travis said, "Einstein From now on, fur face, your naain at ten minutes past nine

Nora snatched up the phone on the first ring, fiercely determined to tell him off and make hiain and was unable to speak

In a repulsively intimate tone of voice, he said, "You miss me, prettiness? Hmmmm? Do you wish I’d come to you, be a man for you?"