Sue’s Scent

The snow is gone, so I can finally pee in peace. My mommy and daddy have taken me to a place called the dog park. They take me once a month ‘cause they love me. This is the only place, other than home, where I can run free and it’s my favorite place, ’cause I can smell all the other dog’s pee and poop and mark my territory to let’em know I’ve been there. Now, I’m a smaller dog, but love big dogs; I love smelling them, chasing them, having them chase me.  Then, though, I see a young lady with regular sheets of paper and she’s making all the people sad. I don’t know why she’d do that, this is supposed to be a happy place. Then, though, one of the sheets falls to the ground and I see a picture of a young dog who used to come here and a strange symbol which looks like this: “$”. But, again, I’ve seen that dog lots of times. Her name is Sue.  

Now, I’m a miniature bloodhound, so I’m really good at tracking scents and I remember her scent. As you know, us male dogs tend to pee on trees to mark our territory whereas female dogs tend to go on the plane. The female dogs do this to claim their territory for their puppies. But, I can still smell Sue. Then, I see it: there’s a small hole near the side of the fence, which was hidden by the snow last month. So, when my masters are busy talking to the other humans, I quickly dig near the fence, so I can fit through the hole and I make it to the other side. I pee lightly as I walk, ‘bout every 20 feet, so I can find my way back, just like Hansel and Gretel, but I doubt anyone will pee over my bread crumbs.  

So, on the other side of the fence is a forest full of deciduous trees. . There are also different breeds of plants blossoming now: grass, ivy, fern, and moss. They’re just coming back and I really like the one that’s yellow and turns into thousands of small white seeds that young men blow out. 

It’s later in the day now, my master said 4:00 o’clock, but I’m sure Sue misses her masters the same way I would if I lost mine. But again, I can smell Sue and her pee smells fresh. The sun is starting to go west, though, and the dawn is almost at it’s crux, but the pee smell is fresher, which means Sue was just here.  

There are many dangers to us dogs in the forest. Things like poison ivy, raccoons, bears, certain steers. But, I think about how I would feel if I lost my masters and keep going.  

Then, I run into the first of my problems. Some dumb human left something called a rope trap on the grass. This trap lays flat, and when someone walks over it, it lifts up into a tree. Maybe this is where Sue wound up, too. So, I try different methods to get myself down: I try wiggling my body, jumping up and down so I can break the branch, but finally I try gnawing on it the way I gnaw on my rope toy at home, and am able to gnaw through the rope and jump down. I land hard on my back. I get back on my feet, though, and continue to follow Sue’s scent.  

As I follow, I notice something strange: there are slightly different scents near Sue’s scent, but they’re smaller and there are about eight different scents. Weird.  

Us dogs not only have a better sense of smell but our hearing is better, too. My heart hurts when I hear my dad call, “Frankie! Come here, Frankie. Where the hell are you?”

I tell him I’m looking for Sue, but he doesn’t understand. Then, though, as I’m smelling, it starts to get darker and I have a great nose, but my eyes aren’t very good. But, I can still follow the scent. As. I follow the scent, I run into a raccoon. Raccoon’s are mean. They’ll bite you hard and most have rabies. I growl at the raccoon to warn it to stay away. I can still smell Sue on the ground. The raccoon leans forward and tries to bite me, so I dodge right and run. I follow Sue’s scent, but the dirty raccoon is still behind me, trying to attack me. Then, though, it gets winded and can’t keep up with me. I am still on the path of Sue’s Scent.

Then, though, I see a half-in-half.  Maybe you’ve never heard of a half-in-half before. A half-in-half is a half wolf, half dog. Part of them is wild, part of them is domesticated. You never know what a half-in-half will do. But then I smell the smell of sex on the half-in-half and I smell Sue. I look carefully behind the half-in-half and I see her: I see Sue, but not just Sue. She is surrounded by nine puppies. By the looks of the puppies, I can tell they’re the half-in-half and Sue’s. I am also a herding dog/sheep dog, but I speak in dog and I explain to the half-in-half and Sue that Sue’s master misses her, and she should come home to her master. I again hear faintly in the background, “Frankie. I got a treat! Come here, Frankie”   But, master, I found her. I found Sue!

Through calm persuasion and because they were all hungry, I convince them to follow me back to the dog park. I know my master took one of the flyers and’ll know what to do when Sue comes. It’s dark. The moon is only a quarter lit, but I left my pee crumbs and follow them back. The main problem right now is herding. The pups are weak and having trouble keeping up. Also, suppose I get there and my master’s given up and gone home. I don’t hear him calling me. Thank God it’s spring and not winter.  

Then, I hear different sounds. I hear crickets and then I hear an on and off hissing sound.  I don’t recognize this sound, which isn’t good. Then, though, I see them: snakes. There are ten of them and I don’t know what to do about snakes. But, I stand in front of the half-in-half, Sue, and the pups, and defend them, ‘cause that’s the right thing to do. But there are garden snake and poisonous snakes and these turn out to be garden snakes and they just go by.  

A few other animals, smells like squirrels, peed in the areas where I peed, but I follow my scent, and after a while, I find the hole to the dog park and I show the half-in-half, Sue, and the puppies the hole is and we climb through it and, taking some pups by the neck, we get all the pups back into the dog park.

And, thankfully, there they are: my masters. My daddy says, “Frankie! There you are. We’ve been looking . . .” Then he sees the half-in-half, Sue, and the puppies and he sighs. “Really. So, that’s where you’ve been.”  So he gets out his cell phone, pulls the sheet of paper from his pocket, and makes the phone call. In half-an-hour, the lady with the flyer comes back, hugs my master, gives him some money, and takes the half-in-half, Sue, and the puppies home and I go home with my masters.