Mountain Dog Read Online Free PDF

me a two-way radio
    so I can call him for help
    if I get scared.
    He marks the spot on his GPS—
    a Global Positioning System gadget
    that uses beams from satellites
    out in space—to show him exactly
    where I am at all times, so that even
    if the most experienced dogs
    and their handlers
    happen to have a bad day,
    I’ll be found.
    So I’m safe, and the forest sounds
    are soothing, and there are squirrels
    and birds to keep me from feeling
    completely alone
    and I know that no matter how long
    I have to wait to be found, Gabe
    and the other dogs will take turns
    and while they’re searching,
    they’ll learn how to find
    real victims.
    Even though I enjoy all that oddly
    comforting quiet time, alone
    and relaxed in the wild,
    wondrous woods,
    I’m always relieved to hear
    the eager pop-pop-pop
    of a panting dog’s breath
    as it races toward me,
    helping me feel
    like such an important
    part of the heroic
    Rescue Beast
    team.

 
    12
    GABE THE DOG
    TEAMWORK
    All I need are my energetic nostrils
    so I can follow
    the hiding boy’s
    scent trail.
    As soon as I find Tony, I run back to alert my Leo,
    who follows close behind me, paying his own special
    human attention, with eyes and mind instead of a smart,
    twitching nose.
    At the end of our practice search, all three of us
    know that we’ve done our best seeking
    and hiding.

 
    13
    TONY THE BOY
    LOSER
    I would hide in the wilderness
    forever if it meant avoiding
    prison visits.
    Mom’s arms
    are crisscrossed
    by new tattoos
    of paw prints.
    As long as I can remember,
    she’s always had a few
    dark blue designs
    on her skin
    but now there’s a mark
    for each fighting pit bull
    that ever won a battle
    and a teardrop
    for each dog
    that lost
    its life.
    Does she actually care
    about the dogs that lost fights?
    She used to call them losers,
    the same name she gave me
    each time
    I tried
    to turn away
    from the sight
    of blood.
    I hate visiting the prison,
    but each time Tío assures me
    that I don’t have to go, I always
    decide to give Mom
    one more chance.
    I don’t have much to say
    when she chatters
    on and on
    about all her new
    prison friends.
    I don’t even want her to know
    Gracie’s name.
    Or Gabe’s.
    I come away from those visits
    feeling like such a loser.
    If I turned into a tattoo
    on Mom’s face,
    I’d be
    a teardrop.

 
    14
    GABE THE DOG
    BOY TRAINING
    How do I train a boy? I try to show him
    how to be joyful just walking and running
    and chasing
    roundness
    but each time Tony goes back down
    to the flatlands
    he comes home smelling
    like sorrow.

 
    15
    TONY THE BOY
    LONELY SMELLS
    Prison visits are getting harder,
    but helping Tío and Gabe solve
    their search-and-rescue mysteries
    has given me a new way to face
    the mysterious side of math.
    Compared with trying to figure out
    how Mom’s weird mind works,
    school is almost easy.
    Numbers aren’t always scary anymore.
    They don’t have to remind me
    of mean men betting
    bad money
    at dogfights.
    I understand some types of problems,
    if I go slow and count trees or rocks
    instead of fangs
    and claws.
    Gabe tries to cure my worries
    with demands. He needs attention.
    I throw a tennis ball so many times
    that my shoulder gets sore.
    Then he wants to swim, dive, plunge,
    paddle, drip, and shake.
    All Labs love water.
    Gabe swims like a dolphin.
    I don’t.
    I’m terrified of depths. No one ever
    taught me how to laugh when I splash,
    so I sit on a creek bank while Gabe
    plays in the water, begging me
    to join him, begging me to leave
    my safe shore.
    Heart dry.
    Mind dusty.
    Over and over, I promise Gabe
    that someday, somehow, I’ll learn
    how to swim with him so we can be
    happy
    together.
    Back in the cabin, when the phone rings,
    I’m secretly glad that it’s a call-out
    for a search. I know I shouldn’t be glad
    that a stranger is lost, but I need a chance
    to show my uncle
    that I can