Summer Ending

The suitcases were all wrong. Coal pushed his muzzle into the largest bag, puffed out to clear his nose and then inhaled deeply. The mix of odors -- familiar and strange, faint and strong -- did not match anything in his mental catalogue. Coal anticipated everything about his humans, and the pack traveled often during these longest days. He could sniff out a family road trip from a quick overnight at Grandma’s. This was neither.

The rumble of the returning truck broke his focus. He abandoned the suitcase investigation and trotted to the front door to greet Mary. She entered the house with a swirl of heady summer air that triggered Coal into his own literal tailspin. Mary grabbed the family dog, breaking his spins and pulling him close for a hug. Their greeting was all chaotic joy, until Coal ran past the pile of suitcases and abruptly double-backed to sniff them hard again.

There – that faint, foreign smell matched a trace on Mary’s outdoor paws. Coal remembered a last summer with Mary, her lying next to him, and whispering secrets about the future. Mary had left that summer, and now Coal understood Rosie would soon be leaving too.

Subdued, Coal followed Mary upstairs. He went to his room with Mom and Dad. He lay in a perfect arc, calibrated within a millimeter of his whiskers, so that the bathroom door missed his snout and the closet door brushed the bend of his hock. He closed his eyes and let them step over and around him.

"Mom, look at Coal! He deserves an award for best laying-around," laughed Mary. She sat down next to the dog and rubbed his sides. His dog tags jingled, and he rolled onto his back, enjoying the massage. Stretching out a single front paw, he let his hind legs splay outward. The safety of the pack was a wonderful thing, though Coal doubted his humans appreciated it.

There was so much Coal found curious about humans. For one, they could change their fur and paws, with great implications. His favorite was the special outdoor paws for patrolling the neighborhood. Often it turned into a run, which Coal loved although he and Mom never caught anything. There was also the boring main fur that they wore around and in and out of the house and that signaled no exciting activities for Coal. These outfits only interested him for the scents they carried about the outside world.

Yet for all these superficial changes, Coal wondered that humans themselves did not seem to change. They did not age or weaken. Summer after summer, season after season, immortal. Mom and Dad were strong as ever. Mary and Rosie had only grown bigger and stronger while Coal had begun a slow weakening. During morning patrols, he no longer ran point but lagged just behind Mom. Good boy, Coal. She praised him and credited the obedience training. She did not notice his heavier breathing.

She did not notice the lump growing under his thick, black coat.

No, humans were not so great at noticing things, and so Coal made it his job to fill that gap.

With a twist and scramble of paws, Coal left the trio behind and went to find Rosie. His large ears had picked up tension in her voice, and he padded down the hall to investigate. He found his spot in her room, laid down with one paw tucked so not to hurt the lump under his skin, and fixated on Rosie. She wore boring main fur and had not left the house at all today. Her worried look meant she had a secret to tell him.

Rosie lay down on the floor next to Coal and stroked his body. In a moment of déjà vu from a summer past, Coal felt long hair cover his head and secrets whispered into his soft ears.

“Coal, I don’t know. I’m afraid I made a mistake. This college…I can’t tell anyone...” Coal lay still and let Rosie lean on him. When he noticed the change in her breathing, Coal licked away the salty tears that had fallen on Rosie’s arms. Together they lay on the floor and let the summer light warm them.

The dog was the master secret keeper of the family. He heard all the confessions, like Rosie’s now and Mary’s before. He’d flattened his ears against Mom and Dad’s angry exchanges about money. He witnessed secret actions, like the girls climbing out of their bedroom windows at night and returning before light. Once, Rosie had left the window open, and Coal escaped for his own nighttime adventures. In the morning, Dad blamed himself for forgetting the dog outside. He promised it would never happen again and under his breath added what Mom didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt her. A triple secret.

“Roise Posie! Come downstairs, let’s get loading the car. Mary’s already started!”

Rosie pushed herself up to standing, only to lean again on the wall. Coal rose with her and then walked ahead a few steps, beckoning Rosie to follow him. He led Rosie downstairs. He had a job to do. He would make them notice.

Coal blocked the doorway and stared up at his leash hanging on the wall. He upped his performance and began to whine and lick his lips.

“Oh my god, Coal. Really? Right now?” Mom set down some boxes to grab the leash. Coal did loops around everyone, herding them towards the front door. He ran sideways to keep an eye on his family and nearly banged his head on the wall.

“You crazy dog! Calm down. Ok, ok, we can all go for a little walk.”

One final pack walk before Rosie left for college. Coal walked point but looked back at his humans every few steps. Their human anxiety evaporated under the golden light. It was as if Coal were a puppy again. Mary and Rosie played at jumping over cracks in the sidewalk, and Mom and Dad held hands. They were forever young to him.

“Honey, do you think Coal is breathing heavy?” asked Dad. Mom waved the words off like mosquitos and said it was just the heat and humidity of summer. Dad lifted an eyebrow and looked at the trees swaying in the balmy air.

Back home, Coal laid down in another perfect arc in the kitchen and watched the pile of wrong suitcases disappear. Every summer of his life had been with this pack. Then one summer Mary left. Next Rosie would leave. Another summer was ending. Coal closed his eyes, stretched out his paws, and dozed under the warmth of the sun.