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Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 9 - June 15, 2005 Edition
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North Road June 9, 2005 There is no new Off North Road column this week. Canine correspondence June 2, 2005 (I received the following letter from Sally Williams, a fellow member of the Wednesday poets who meet twice monthly in Cynthia Riggs’s breakfast room.) February 28, 2005. “Dear Russ: My dog Hector is an elderly but remarkably strong and clever German shepherd. He has enjoyed my reading to him about your walks with Lilly. Hector came into my household five years ago when he was six years old. He had been grounded by the town of Truro where he was the town stud. Eventually we met at the Edgartown MSPCA. He’s looked after me ever since. “Your walks seem to us to deal a good bit with who has lived in which place or where there has been some sort of human activity. He knows I’m more interested in towhees, mayflowers, blueberries and other such things. “Hector wants very much to write to Lilly. I said I’d act as an amanuensis so Hector, whose paws are a bit large, can send a letter to Lilly in care of you. We would appreciate your passing the letter on to her. “We thank you very much, Sally.”“Dear Lilly, “My Mama Sally said she would act as a scribe so I could write you a letter about my walks with her. Sally says Uncle Russ is very nice helping people and dogs and will read this aloud. “Your walks sound really fun and interesting. I’ve learned a lot from what you’ve seen. Sally and I tend to walk in the fields and woods. She does less people stuff and more plant stuff. “Mama Sally’s favorite walk is in the frisbee field in the State Forest. Fortunately I don’t think much of frisbees – they are no fun to chase. She especially likes birds. A tree swallow sits on top of his house and brags “I’m the king of the castle.” I pay it no attention because that’s the place Sally takes off my leash and lets me run. “We like the birds best. Sally is teaching me the things they can say. The towhees say their name. They also can say their other name which is chewink. They call much more often than I bark, but I make more noise. We hear chickadees a lot, too. They say their name and lots else. I jumped up and tried to catch one once. I got a real scolding for that; Mama Sally says I would not like a mouth full of feathers. “The plants are less fun, but we study them too. Sally likes the trailing arbutus best. We call them Mayflowers. Blueberries are my favorite. They smell nice. Since I’m a carnivore, I take Sally’s word for how good they taste. We are still reading and greatly enjoying your book. I’m sure you are a big help to Russ during your walks. “With my warmest regards, Hector”May 14, 2005 Dear Hector: Thank you for your letter. I don’t often get letters from my canine friends. Lilly was my longtime best friend for 12 years. When she grew too old to walk without pain, I took her mostly for car rides. After a while she stopped looking out the window and fell asleep on the seat beside me. When she died I was really sad. I had no companion to walk with. My wife Mary Ann loves animals but she cannot walk very far because she has arthritis. We were both sad. We wondered if we would ever feel good again. Our friends, Bea and Arthur in Connecticut, knew how much we missed Lilly. When they visited us they could see how lonely and unhappy we were. Their springer named Sassy (for Sassafras) was a very old lady and they worried about her a lot. One day Bea phoned Mary Ann to tell her the sad news that Sassy had died, but a new springer puppy Abigail had just come to live with them and they were happy again. “Why don’t you have a new puppy so you could be happy? We know where you could get one,” said Bea. Mary Ann and I were excited because Bea helped us find Lilly when she was a puppy. Pretty soon we had another call telling us that one of Abigail’s sisters was on her way to Martha’s Vineyard to live with us. We could hardly wait. I named her after the black spots all over her white face and legs because the spots are called ticking. Ticker would be a good name. Mary Ann smiled and said that would be OK. So Ticker is her name and she knows it when we call her. Mostly she comes, but sometimes she doesn’t. She tosses her head up in the air and runs with her bone to the end of the fence. I try to catch her but she always gets away. She is so friendly and playful I can’t get mad at her so I go in the house. In about two minutes she comes to the door and barks to come in. Then we’re really happy again. Now when Bea and Arthur visit us, Abigail and Ticker play together and have a good time. Mostly I like to walk Ticker in the morning to get the newspaper. I keep her on a leash because if I let her run free she chases a squirrel into the woods and I lose her. Mary Ann tells me not to forget she is still a puppy and does not know any better. I wonder if she will ever grow up and not chase squirrels. Then we like to play ball. I throw the ball across the yard and Ticker runs like sixty to fetch it. She doesn’t like to give it back to me, though. So I have a second ball to show her. I don’t throw it until she lets go of the first ball. So far we have lost many balls. I hope she learns to give the first one back to me more quickly. Mary Ann says I need to grow up a little bit too. Ticker has some cousin Jack Russells who live with our son Chris. Uncle Chris brings them to our house sometimes to play. They race all around and roll over and nip at each other. Their names are Daisy and Dolly. Dolly gets real cross with the others when they roll her over. She growls loudly and raises her upper lip to show her teeth. Nobody gets hurt though. Uncle Chris says she is only playing. I’m glad of that. When they are tired they come in to our living room, climb up on the couch and go to sleep. But while Ticker is asleep Daisy and Dolly sneak out to the kitchen and eat all of Ticker’s food. I’m so happy to have puppies around for Ticker to play with I don’t mind getting Ticker some more food. Mary Ann and I are happy again because we have another springer to keep us company. I’m teaching Ticker to spell. When she has learned enough words I’ll help her write you a letter. Good-bye for now, Uncle Russ. |
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