The Travels of Zoe, the Wonder Dog
By Carrie Jacobson
Chapter 14
The story so far: Zoe and Kaja are trying to find Zoe’s owner, who was forced by economic circumstances to leave Zoe, his old, mostly blind lhasa apso, at the Pike County shelter. The dogs have crossed the Delaware on a rickety bridge, and ended up in Barryville. There, they were found by Samantha and Ashton Morrone, children of Pete and Angie Morrone, who run a hotel at the river’s edge. The kids wanted to keep the dogs, but Pete said no, and turned them out, early in the morning. The kids and Angie were so upset that Pete relented and he and the kids set out to find Zoe and Kaja.
Zoe and Kaja turn away from the road almost immediately. It’s just too dangerous. The cars go too fast, and the road is too narrow. Kaja leads Zoe through the woods toward the river.
There, at the edge of the water, animals and fishermen have worn a thin path. The dogs walk along it and make good progress south. In places, it’s easy to walk, and they can trot or lope along. In other spots, it’s rough going, and they pick their way over rocks and driftwood and fallen tree roots and exposed tree roots and an amazing amount of trash.
The morning is cold. The dogs’ breath stands white in the air, and cold seems to be coming off the river itself. Zoe feels especially cold after spending the night in the house. She thinks about her old house, and her old bed, and her humans, but the thoughts make her feel colder, and she loses her footing. She slips, and falls onto rocks. Her head hits one, her ribs hit another, and she falls into the river and goes under.
The water is warmer than the air, and it’s moving, but not so quickly, and little Zoe crashes into another rock, but this one stops her, and she’s able to get her head above the water. She floats downriver for a piece. Kaja races along the bank, parallel, and then she leaps in and swims out to Zoe. She puts her teeth softly on the small dog’s neck and pulls her to the shallow edge. Zoe stands and picks her way up the bank to a sunny, grassy spot.
Zoe shakes the water off, and lies down in the sun, and Kaja licks the little dog’s ears and face, and they rest.
By now, the road is far, far above them. There’s plenty of flat space along the edge of the river, but then the land rises quickly, sharply, so it’s nearly a sheer cliff above their heads.
When the wind isn’t blowing and rustling the tree limbs overhead, they can just hear the sound of the cars passing on the road up there. But they don’t hear the sound of the Morrones’ car, or of Ashton and Samantha calling for them.
Pete drives, and the kids lean out the windows and holler, and whenever he can find a place to pull over, he does, but they are few and far between.
He turns into Dan Foster’s driveway, and pulls in under the pines. Dan’s wife, Anna, is crossing the yard, carrying something, and walks up to the car as it pulls in.
“Hey, Pete, no work today?” she asks.
“Later,” he says. “We’re looking for a couple dogs.”
“I didn’t know you had dogs,” she says. She and Dan have lived here for as long as he can remember.
“They’re not really ours. Not yet at any rate.”
“Is one big and one real little?” Anna asks.
“Yes!” Samantha nearly shouts. “Foxy, the red one, she’s big, and Peanut, the little one, she’s teeny and old and blind.”
“Well,” Anna says, “I saw them go by a while ago. They’d been walking on the road, and then they cut down through the woods there, and that’s about all I saw. They were headed toward the river. I didn’t pay them much mind, really.”
“Can we go see?” Samantha asks.
Anna looks at Pete, a question in her eyes. Pete nods a tiny nod.
“Sure,” Anna says. “Just be careful.”
The kids run off toward the river. The pass the Fosters’ house and run down the path through the woods. But at the river, there’s nothing. Just water and branches and a couple of ducks floating downstream. They walk upstream as far as they can, but they don’t see anything. They call and call, and they walk downstream, but still nothing.
Finally, they walk back to the car. Anna has gone back inside the house, and their dad is waiting. He drives them south on Route 97 for a while longer, but the bank is high over the river, and there’s no way to search. They call, but the wind flings their word away. They are dejected. Pete turns the car around and they head home.
Zoe and Kaja rest for a while, and then get up. Zoe is sore, but not enough to keep her from walking. When they’re thirsty, they drink from the river. They’re getting very hungry, when they find a place where a rafting group has stopped. The trash cans are filled with half-eaten sandwiches, and hot dog buns and apples, and the dogs scavenge and eat until their bellies are full.
By afternoon, Zoe has gone as far as she can. She needs to rest. Her legs are sore, her feet feel bruised, her ribs and her head hurt, and she’s just tired. This is hard work, and especially hard for a little blind dog who tumbled into the river. But Kaja has seen and smelled signs of bears and coyotes here, and so she pushes them to go farther, find some safe hiding place.
Downstream, at the very edge of the river, she sees a tiny cave. Some creature – a fox, she thinks, or a raccoon – has lived here. But today, it’s empty. Inside, there’s just room for the two of them, and they curl up beside the river and go to sleep.
Carrie can be reached at carrie@zestoforange.com
Tags: Carrie Jacobson
