"Dog" had a vision!

  When I was a boy I had a dog
 (Nothing unusual about that!)

*

   He wasn't my dog at first  He was given to my big brother when he was a baby (Your brother?  No!) by his friend, (The  puppy's?  No, my brother's!) "Cotton". 
   I was just a puppy, too, so I just naturally became that puppy's best friend  And I made his bed in a cardboard box and let him sleep under my bed.  When he whined I'd get out of bed, hold him, replace the wet newspapers, and wait until he went to sleep again. (Nothing unusual about that!)

*

 I fed him, and he grew and started walking.  Mom asked me what his name is, and I said, "Dog!" and she said, "Dog?  Why don't you give him a more imaginative name?" and I said, "Because the Indians say that everyone has to find his own name!" and she said, "Where did you hear that?" and I said, "From Willow!" and she said, "What willow?" and I said, "...in the back yard!" and she said, "Oh!".

*

No one asked me after that--everybody just said
 "Dog" or "That Dog" or "Your Dog".

*

   Before long, Mom said, "Your dog seems always to be snarling!" and I said, "That's because Smiley had a vision!" and she said, "Smiley??  A vision???" and I said, "Yes:  Smiley's blind;  he smiles to protect himself!"

*

   Someone said, "Well, with his ear-to-ear grin and his bluffing growl, he oughta make a good watchdog!
(It became the joke of the town.)

 *

   Smiley and I loved to take hold to the ends of an old towel and whirl around--him in the air, me with my eyes closed--until neither one of us could walk straight.
   His nose was really smart, too.  I'd take him into the wheat field and say, "Wait!" and he'd sit while I circled around and around at ever greater distances, then run off a hun'erd yards or so, squat down, and yell, "Smiley?"  He'd find me before our thrill was even at half it's peak!  (I reckon his ears were as smart as his nose.)

*

   Our nearest neighbors' son had a dog, too.
(Nothing unusual about that!)

*

   Skippy had to drag his rump because he got hit by a car.  (I don't know if he had a name before that.)  Him and Smiley became friends and roamed the plains together.  I wondered why the rattlesnakes got Skippy once in his left eye and once in his throat.  Didn't killed him...but he sure looked funny!

*

   One day Smiley came back without Skippy
...had a bullet wound in his ribs.
One day he didn't come back at all.
Never did!

Posted at AD in March, 2002.