Read Online Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle - Free Book Online Page B

feel
    like I’m sliding
    down
    Â Â Â Â Â down
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â another
    steep
    Â Â Â Â Â mountain slope
    before climbing
    back uphill
    one granite boulder
    at a time
    until I’m level and calm
    instead of scrambling
    and scared.
    I don’t know all the details
    of how I’m going to feel
    about losing Mom
    and gaining a family
    that’s sort of unusual
    but also pretty normal.
    I do know how I feel
    about Gabe—he’s brave, goofy,
    smart, silly, bouncy, and I love him
    like a brother.
    Gabe and Tío both help me enjoy
    our first Thanksgiving
    as a family.
    With snow on the trees
    that surround the corrals
    of Cowboy Church, the forest
    looks like it’s draped in lace
    or spiderwebs
    or magic.
    The wedding is months away,
    so for now it’s just me and Tío
    and Gabe, and this feeling
    of finally understanding
    a few simple words
    like safety
    and hope.
    At night, in the cabin,
    while Gabe and I gaze
    out the window at stars
    I find myself wondering
    if the lost-and-found hunter
    will decide to stop killing
    when he’s not hungry,
    now that he knows
    how it feels to be lost
    in the wild.
    I hope the hound is healthy
    and happy, and I hope I can really
    learn math
    so I can study science
    in college, maybe even get into
    veterinary school.
    I could figure out new cures
    for dog wounds, and learn how to heal
    bear diseases and elephant injuries …
    but I’ll need great grades
    in algebra and geometry,
    all the tests of number courage
    that stand between me
    and my future.
    I sleep with fine dreams at night—
    running dreams—racing toward
    something happy, instead of running
    away from fangs and claws.…
    Then, on a cold, clear morning
    between Thanksgiving and Christmas,
    there’s another burst of amazement
    in my life, an unexpected gift.
    Magic, real, living, breathing
    trail magic—a puppy!
    Gabe is already six. He can only work
    for a few more years, so Tío has decided
    that I should help raise our family’s
    next hero, a puppy that will need
    nearly two years of training
    before it can rescue the lost.
    Quickly, I figure out the math.
    If we start teaching a puppy now,
    it will be six when I reach eighteen,
    the wizardly number
    that will make me an adult,
    allowing me to join a real search-and-rescue team.
    12 + 6. It’s so hard to believe.
    In just 3 + 3 years I’ll be able
    to volunteer as a SAR dog handler,
    instead of a make-believe victim
    who hides.
    Choosing a puppy is an art.
    The lowland animal shelter
    is so crowded with homeless dogs
    that I have to remember: looks
    don’t matter! Cute and cuddly
    or bony and rat-haired, it’s the nose
    we need, along with a brave,
    loyal temperament.
    Sorrowful eyes. Mournful whines.
    So many lonely dogs, all hoping
    to be adopted! I wish we could
    take them all.
    We have to choose.
    It’s part of adult life, this constant
    narrowing of wild wishes
    down to one calm task
    at a time.
    Tío shows me how to follow
    the scientific process of puppy testing.
    We have to figure out which pups
    are calm enough to let us teach them,
    curious enough to crave work-play,
    bold enough to explore,
    and attentive enough to persist,
    no matter how challenging
    the hide-and-seek-game.
    Puppy testing is the best work-fun
    I’ve ever had in my 6 + 6 years.
    At the back of my excited mind,
    I’m already writing an article
    for the school paper,
    and a poem for my blog.
    There’s no rule that says
    a scientist can’t also
    love words.
    Puppy testing is simple—
    I cradle each pup to see
    if it’s friendly and trusting.
    Then, since a SAR dog can’t fear
    sudden movements—umbrellas,
    crumpled sheets of tumbling paper,
    or spooky, windblown plastic bags—
    we test their courage. And we play!
    We check to see which puppies
    love to chase toys,
    and which won’t give up
    in a long tug-of-war game,
    but we also need a