I'm up late today but starting to feel better.
Well today is the last part of the Uncle Jerry story, I hope everyone has enjoyed it. (Here's my commercial). It can be bought in book form at LuLu.com. A link to my book store page is found on the right of this blog page. For the sake of information, two of my books are now also converted over to ebooks through Amazon.
Her are the last pages of my addition to Jerry's story. There a number of pictures in the actual book but they would not copy into the text on here.
This second story is sort of a mixture of fact and fiction, it was an attempt on my part to marry together some of the many little expeditions Jerry and I went on together and how it could have unfolded on one of them.
Uncle Jerry Goes Hunting
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Uncle Jerry was fast asleep behind the stove in the kitchen. His legs and feet were twitching and he was making small noises in his sleep. Strange behavior for someone's Uncle you think? Perhaps for some Uncles, but not this one, for this Uncle was actually a dog! Yes a dog, a dog named Uncle Jerry!
Now Uncle Jerry wasn't just any dog, he thought of himself as being very special and he considered himself lucky to live with a special family. He regarded the family members as his humans and found himself often in the position where he had to forgive them for forgetting who was actually the boss. There were three humans in his household. The oldest who Uncle Jerry usually thought of as "Softie" was away frequently, he usually cooperated with Uncle Jerry's wishes, they often had quiet times together out in the garden and could always be counted on for a tasty morsel at the human's meal time. The next was "the Mom", now this human often confused Uncle Jerry, he couldn't get away with bossing her as much as the others, yet she was always the one that made sure he had fresh water and usually fed him. The last was "Friend". This one didn't confuse Uncle Jerry at all, he didn't always understand him but they were friends and that was all that really mattered.
Suddenly Uncle Jerry woke up, sat up, stretched and came out from behind the stove. "Its time", he thought to himself, "Friend one should be here any moment". Sure enough the thought had hardly been made, when the sound of a gate being opened and then closed could be heard by Uncle Jerry. "I think I'll just ignore him today", Uncle Jerry thought to himself, "I'll make him fuss over me and then I'll pretend to be glad to see him." However as the door opened, Uncle Jerry suddenly started barking, crying and turning in circles as though trying to catch his stubby tail. "Hi, hi Jerry!” cried Friend, " Glad to see me are you?" and he bent over and gave Uncle Jerry a thorough and satisfying back scratch and ear rub. "Darn", thought Uncle Jerry, " I just can't seem to help myself, but what the heck, he gave me a good scratch and I wasn't really undignified."
Friend went on into his room with Uncle Jerry trailing behind. "Well Jerry, what would you like to do today?" asked Friend. Now Uncle Jerry had learned that often you had to humor humans and when they asked questions even though they knew he couldn't really talk, sometimes it was better to pretend he just didn’t understand. So this time he just wagged his stub tail and waited to see if Friend already had a plan for their mutual enjoyment. "You don't know eh, well I have an idea, why don't we go grouse hunting?"
Now Uncle Jerry didn't know all the words that humans used, just as they didn't always understand him, but he did know what hunting meant. He loved to hunt! With the question he immediately started dancing around and crying and yipping, which in dog language meant lets go, lets go!
A short time later the two companions were on their way to the forest across the road from their house. Friend said, " I think we'll go up that old logging road that goes parallel to the creek and come back along the other road that goes across the top of the big hill". Uncle Jerry thought, "I don't care which way we go, let’s just up".
To Uncle Jerry's dismay they had hardly entered the forest when Friend said, "Ok Jerry, you have to heel!"
"Heel! Heel!” thought Uncle Jerry, "you said we’re going hunting, how can I hunt if I’m walking behind you?"
"Don't look at me like that", cried Friend, " you either do as I say or we go back right now!"
"Well, since you put it that way and I guess I can smell the grouse from the rear as well as the front. It will just take me longer", thought Uncle Jerry as he waited for Friend to pass him.
The two tramped along as quietly as could be, several times Uncle Jerry started to run off the road to go after enticing smells carried to him by wayward breezes. But each time a sharp reminder from his friend or his own memory of the excitement of chasing real game stopped him and kept him in his assigned place.
After what seemed like an eternity Uncle Jerry scented a grouse! He knew instantly that it was just ahead and he surged forward in a crouching run! As he went by, the human reached and grabbed Uncle Jerry by the back.
" Stop! Where do you think you're going?” Friend asked.
Uncle Jerry didn't have time to try and explain and he was not to be denied! With a twist and a wiggle he was free and charging after that enticing scent
After only a few yards a large willow grouses burst upward from the side of the road and flew to the lower branches of the closest tree! Uncle Jerry knew the grouse was beyond his reach, but with the instinct of his ancestors he knew that as hard for him as it was, he should now be quiet and move around so that the bird would keep watch on him and forget to fly. That is exactly what happened! Friend quickly brought his gun to bear and as quickly pulled the trigger. Bang, went the gun! Whoosh and whir went the grouse as it quickly jumped into the air and flew off into the forest.
Uncle Jerry started to follow the grouse but quickly realized that it was no use, that bird was gone! Instead, he turned and with a disgusted look he just quietly and reproachfully stared at Friend. "Gee, I'm sorry about that," said Friend, " maybe it was a faulty bullet or maybe my sight is crooked". "Yeah sure", thought Uncle Jerry, "or maybe you just can't shoot straight."
The two friends started off once more. They walked and walked and as they walked they talked. Well at least Friend talked and Uncle Jerry listened, his replies being upward glances and short wags of his short tail. Somehow the hunting became secondary, almost forgotten as the two trudged along communicating in words, in body language and in silence. After awhile they came to the end of the road and climbed the big hill to the road above and started the return trip home.
Suddenly Young One stopped and quickly brought his gun into firing position! Almost as quickly Uncle Jerry realized there was another grouse just in front of them in the middle of the road. Without hesitation and without thinking Uncle Jerry charged forward, barking his loudest. The grouse rose into the air on a whir of wings and disappeared from sight over the hill and down into the trees below. "Jerry!" cried Friend. "Oops", thought Uncle Jerry as he gazed longingly down the hill. "Jerry what did you do that for?" cried Friend, "I had him in my sights and you scared him away!" Uncle Jerry thought, "Yes I did and the fact that he probably would have missed anyway will never enter his mind, so I better pretend that I’m sorry."
With that Uncle Jerry allowed an embarrassed expression to come on his face and slowly with head hanging walked back to his young friend. Friend glared at Uncle Jerry for a moment and then his face softened and he said, "Oh well that’s OK we each had a turn messing up and the grouse are all happy and we had a good afternoon, so what the heck, lets go home".
Uncle Jerry immediately gave his best doggy smile and headed down the road, his head high and his tail at a jaunty angle.
"Yes", he thought, "we did have a good afternoon and I always thought looking for and chasing was the best part anyway."
As I finished organizing and tidying up all the preceding pages I suddenly was impelled – by a noise or a feeling – to go and open the front door. There was nothing nor anyone there, but as I hesitated I distinctly felt a push on one leg and suddenly something like a lick on my hand! Did I also hear a dog’s whine?
Of course not, how could I? It was just my imagination being poked by what I had written.
Wasn’t it?
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