4-29-21

For the last several months G3 has been working on a short story. It was not an assignment, just something he felt driven to write. Every day, at his insistence, school begins with twenty minutes (although sometimes he requests extra time) of free writing. He had been using that time to work on what he called his “Oyster Bay” story. It’s long — for an eleven year old — and I was impressed that he stuck with the story for as long as he did. He never wrote more than a paragraph or two a day, but he kept at it, adding a little more each morning until he had a complete draft. He then gave it to me and asked me to please make comments and fix his grammar. Yep, his writing has come a long way, but he still has a long road to travel with grammar. At least his sentence structure is pretty sound. It’s commas he needs to work on the most. Commas and sticking to one tense. It drives me nuts the way he fluctuates between past and present — sometimes in the same sentence.

The dogs, Emma and Lily, are based on his Uncle’s dogs. It’s remarkable how well he captured their personalities. Apollo is a golden retriever because Fireball — the dog Dad loved — was a golden. Now, here’s were I’m not sure if I’m reading too much into this story. Apollo, in my opinion, is based on Dad. He certainly has Dad’s personally and his relationship to the little pups is a mirror of Dad’s relationship with G3. Do I think G3 intended this? Absolutely not. I think the comparison to Dad was completely in G3’s subconscious. Perhaps his way of working through his grief. I don’t think he meant for Apollo to be his grandfather, but it’s hard to miss it once you see it. That’s why the ending did not trouble me as much as it might have otherwise. Yes — spoiler alert here — the ending is sad. But — okay, I may be the only person to actually sit and analyze the writing of a fifth grader — I do believe the man in the “cameo suit” is a metaphor for COVID. 

I won’t say more. I’ll let you read and decide for yourself if you think I’m crazy in my interpretation of G3’s work. 

A Gush of Wind and a Howl

Out on a vineyard in Oyster Bay there was a young golden retriever. His name was Apollo. Every morning, he loved to lay on his master’s porch and watch the boats come in and out of the harbor. Apollo always danced around when he got his chicken meals and back rubs. He took walks around the neighborhood with and with out his master. His master’s name was Reynolds, Master Reynolds. Since Apollo was a good dog, his master loved and trusted him to be very independent. He loved to take naps in the vineyard with the crickets. Crickets were his own little orchestra.

This story begins on a damp night in late August 1939. All day, Apollo had been scaring crows away from the grapes. Apollo loved the taste of grapes and he would always get one before bed if he kept them safe from birds the whole day. The sun was setting which meant his master would be home soon smelling like fish since he enjoyed fishing. When the dusty red convertible came up the driveway and pulled into the carriage house Apollo could hear a faint snore from within the automobile.  

His master walked out of the carriage house and up the porch stairs carrying a basket with a blanket covering it. He did not smell like fish, but when Apollo thought for a moment, he realized Master Reynolds smelled like dog. At this point, Apollo was truly confused. Master Reynolds started to lightly skip over to the back of the house still holding the basket, nothing like his usual routine. Apollo followed. 

After he reached the back, Master Reynolds immediately headed to the grapes. As he reached the middle of the grape field, Apollo’s master turned around and congratulated him for keeping the crows away from the vineyard. “Why get a scarecrow?” he said to himself. “I have Apollo.”  Then he plucked off two red plump grapes to give to Apollo. He plucked off two more and put one on each side of the the inside of the basket. Apollo thought, why put only two grapes in the basket? Why not fill it to the brim? After this quirky move, Master Reynolds headed toward his house. Since he was in an unusual jolly mood he began to sing, “John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmitt his name is my name to…” Apollo did not know what to think of this. His master smelled of fur, he put only two grapes in the basket, and he was singing! 

Apollo was so lost in thought that he forgot he was walking back to the house. When he came back to reality, his master had already unlocked the door and was calling for Apollo to come inside because it was getting too damp to sleep outside. There was also the possibility of rain because the clouds grew dark. Even though it would be a slow cricket chirp due the humidity, which Apollo preferred, he chose not to sneak back outside because he was dying to see what was in the basket. 

Inside the house, there was wallpaper with yellow trees and a green background. There was a trophy case with all of master Reynolds’ awards to map out his accomplishments in baseball when he was young. A trophy also was there which declared his was the third best winery in New York State.  Master Reynolds was competitive, but he had a loving heart. This case was one of his most valued possessions.  Master Reynolds took very good care of his house. He would always clean it every Saturday. 

“Hey Apollo,” Master Reynolds called, “I’m gonna take a bath. When I come back, I have a surprise for you.”

When Apollo heard the water running he headed straight for the basket. He knew that if he looked now, he might not get in trouble. He slowly poked his head above the basket and saw four brown ears under a blanket. “What,” he thought, “are ears doing here under a blanket?” He lifted his front right leg to lift the blanket, but before he had a chance, two small white and brown pups came dancing out. For the third time that day, Apollo was confused. And, according to the looks on the pups’ faces, so were they. 

“Who are you?” was the first thing they asked Apollo? “I’m Lily.” She was the one with no spot on her head. “I’m Emma.” She was the one with a spot on her head. After that, Apollo told his name. The three dogs began to have a blast playing tug of war with a pillow, rough housing, and playing many other games. After a few minutes, Master Reynolds came out of the bathroom tying his bathrobe, and if he didn’t sweep all the time, his bare feet would have been incredibly dirty. “Ah,” he said, “I see you have meet Emma.” His eyes were directed to the less energetic pup. “And Lily,” his eyes moved to the energetic one. “Emma and Lily, this is Apollo.”

Master Reynolds started a fire in the fireplace. It was cold in the den (for an unknown reason). Emma did not have much energy until master Reynolds went into the kitchen to cook. Lily soon worked herself into exhaustion because she had been playing like a highly caffeinated gerbil. The game she enjoyed most was who could do the better impression of Emma hungry. The golden retriever had not known Emma long, but one step in the kitchen told him all he needed to know. Emma was addicted to food. Apollo could not wait to catch a mouse for the pups tomorrow so Master Reynolds could put it in their meals. Mouse was better than that terrible venison.  

Lily curled up on a pillow on the sofa and tried to go to sleep. She was shivering even with a roaring fire. But maybe she was shivering because she was scared of the roar and the crackle of the fire. Whatever the reason, Apollo jumped onto the sofa and curled around her little body. Master Reynolds came out of the kitchen with two bowls of food — one for Apollo and one for Lily. Emma had already eaten because she would not stop begging. He didn’t have a chance to speak because Emma saw that Apollo and Lily were asleep and she started begging for the extra food. Emma eventually got more food, and when she was done eating, she hopped up onto the sofa with Lily and Apollo and went to sleep. 

When Apollo awoke, the first thing he saw was Lily with her muzzle squished up against the arm of the sofa. When she moved away, her muzzle was still squished. He looked out the window and saw that the sun was not already up, so by the time they got out side, it would be the perfect time to hunt a mouse. Apollo gently awoke Lily and then Emma. As they got up, Emma fell off the side of the sofa, but popped up very stirred, as if a small tsunami hit her while she was awake. It took Lily a little bit longer to wake up (for she had not fallen out of bed). However, when they had all risen, the sun was slowlycoming into the sky. Across the room, Master Reynolds sprawled on his recliner. When he sleeps that way, he stays in that position all night and sometimes into the morning. This meant that Apollo could teach them how to hunt mice. He lead them out of the back door to the vineyards. It took a little while to get Emma and Lily all the way to the back of the vineyards because they had to look at everything, and who could blame them. It was their first time seeing the outside.

“Okay, who should I teach first to hunt a mouse?” Apollo asked.

“Why not teach both of us together?” Lily questioned.

“Because mice don’t usually come out in pairs,” Apollo replied. 

“I am older,” Emma told Apollo.

“We are twins,” Lily responded.

“I’m two minutes older.” 

“I’m cuter,” Lily spoke with confidence.

“Hey.” 

“Hey ” Lily loved to tease her sister.

“Stop copying me.”

“Stop copying me.”

Apollo just laughed because he never had sibling squabbles. This reminded him of two seagulls fighting over an oyster.   

“Aright, alright,” said Apollo raising his voice over the pups. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” 

  “Yah, okay Lincoln,” said Emma.

Emma knew who that was because Master Reynolds was drafting his historical novel about Abraham Lincoln. Last night, he spoke to himself while he was cooking.  Of course, Emma heard him because he was working with food. Apollo knew Lincoln because he once read some of Master Reynolds’ novel when he fell asleep typing it.  

“Who is Lincoln?” asked Lily. 

“A president who freed the slaves,” replied Emma.                                                                              

“Impressive,” said Apollo

“What are slav-“ asked Lily. 

“Shhhh,” Apollo shushed them. “A Mouse. Watch me,” he tiptoed up, then pounced on it. One little squeak and it was gone. “Go on,” he told Emma and Lily. “Taste it.” Lily wasn’t sure sure she wanted to, but Emma, the food lover, almost ate the whole thing before Lily took a taste. Lily took one bite and she instantly liked it. She would have loved a second bite, but Emma had already finished it.

“Emmaaa,” cried Lily, “I didn’t have dinner last night and my stomach is earthquaking.” 

 Apollo laughed some more. 

“Hey, stop making fun of me everybody.”    

“You’re not having an earthquake in your stomach.” Apollo told Lily still laughing. “You’re just hungry. Try to catch a mouse and I might be able to stuff it with grapes like Master Reynolds stuffs one for me on my birthday.”

It took awhile for both pups to catch their own meal. Once they caught their mice, Apollo got annoyed because Master Reynolds makes stuffing grapes in a dead mouse look so easy. Those dang opposable thumbs he thought. Finally, he got the two mice stuffed with grapes by sun-high. The grapes were all mush, but it would still taste the same, hopefully. Emma and Lily began to like scaring away crows. (And Lily had to scare Emma away from the grapes once or twice because she was worse than the crows.) Apollo handed Lily her mouse first so she would not have Emma begging, but Emma begged anyway. Emma inhaled hers in five seconds. When she finished, Master Reynolds was calling. Lily was already running and she announced, “Last one there is a dead mouse.” 

Not long after Lily won the race, Apollo and Emma came up right behind her.

“I see you have already eaten breakfast,” Master Reynolds told the three dogs. (Apollo had eaten some grapes and one acorn.) 

“Let’s take a drive,” he told the three dogs.

They followed him over to the other side of the house, but not knowing what a drive was Emma and Lily were not exited. Apollo was as happy as Emma was with food. Master Reynolds had to go inside quickly to get his shoes because every one knows you don’t go out in slippers.

Emma and Lily had no clue as to what they were looking at. But Apollo knew what they were looking at. “Apollo,” Lily turned her head to look at the golden dog, “Is this what we came home in?” 

“I believe so,” answered Apollo.

It was a newly polished red convertible with leather seats. Apollo loved to go for rides in the convertible where he would feel the wind in his face without having to stick his head out the window. Getting his head out the window was a hassle. That is what Master must have been working on when he woke up, polishing the convertible for the drive today. 

“Hop in,” said Master Reynolds to Emma and Lily as he opened the door. Apollo was too  big to jump into shotgun with the door still closed. Emma and Lily were smaller and sat in the back seat.

Emma and Lily enjoyed their ride. They had never seen seagulls and they liked to tease them for being cowards and for running away when the automobile came around. The two had a tug of war with a rope that always recoiled. Emma wondered if the tiny cups in front was meant for storing food. When they reached Roosevelt Bay Beach, Master Reynolds stopped, grabbed a ball, and then got out of the car and threw it. The ball flew over tiny little rocks and green fur that went on forever. Then it hit the salty water. Apollo chased after it. Emma and Lilly had no clue what was going on so they did what Apollo did, they chased the ball. At first, Emma and Lily found this stupid, throwing a ball and then expecting a poor dog to pick it up. Although, they soon found it enjoyable. They did not know why? It might have been because Master Reynolds threw it into the water, and whenever they chased after it, they got a cooling swim. Or maybe it was because it was whoever retrieved it got a scratch behind the ears. Lily and Emma did not know how to swim so they never got the ball back to Master Reynolds until a while later. The way they learned to swim was by watching Apollo. 

After an hour or two, the three dogs were drenched and tired. Master Reynolds knew that they wanted to take a brake, so he went back to the automobile, took out three towels, and dried each dog. He did not worry about combing them because they were just going to take a bath later and be combed then. 

“Apollo,” said Emma “My stomach is earthquaking again.” 

Even though her stomach was not earthquaking, Apollo knew what she meant. He went over to Master Reynolds who was playing tug of war with Lily. Apollo made puppy eyes and his Master instantly knew what he wanted. Whenever, Apollo made puppy eyes, it meant he wanted food. However, in this case, Emma wanted food. There was no surprise there.  

As they were leaving, Master Reynolds realized Lily was no where on the beach or in the water. They began looking and eventually they found her in the weirdest of spots. She was buried in sand and all that was visible was her squished little black nose which looked like every rock on the beach. Master Reynolds thought a wave knocked her over and like any wave it picked up sand and covered her with it.

After each dog was in the car, Master Reynolds drove along the coast. The only building in sight was Bobs Delicate Treats — in this sense delicate treats mean delicate dog treats. Lily did not know how to read, but for some quirky reason Emma could. Apollo did not need to read. He knew where he was because he recognized the smell of dog ice cream and dog treats. 

When the party went in, Apollo went over to his favorite treat, a dog apple turnover. Emma had no idea what to get, but when Emma found the bacon biscuit she immediately fell in love. Lily did not love food as much Emma, but she was hungry. She decided to get an ice cream sundae. Before they went inside, Apollo told them they should stand by the treat they wanted. This was so that Master Reynolds would know what treat to get them. 

 In the same store, there was a blonde haired, tall, skinny, middle-aged man. He wore a green kilt, a tie, and a vest. He was talking to a young worker about where to find a beautiful retriever. At times, Apollo thought he was looking at him. Master Reynolds and the blonde man walked out together. Master Reynolds introduced himself, but instead of replying, the blonde man went over to a Mercedes-Benz’s 680s Torpedo Roster. Master Reynolds was really impressed because he had never even seen 680s in real life. It was the most expensive car. 

Before getting in the car, the blonde man took one last look at Apollo. Even though the man got in his car first, Master Reynolds drove away first. The sun went to bed while the party of four drove home. The three pups ate their delicate dog treat along the way. They had the road all to themselves, except for two headlights a mile or so behind them.

Tonight was much warmer than last night, which meant Emma and Lily would be able to sleep outside and hear the cricket orchestra. The two pups fell asleep before Apollo. To keep them warm, Apollo covered them with crisp dried leaves. 

The moment Apollo fell asleep, the trees woke up and began to dance along with the orchestra music. The rabbits were burrowed and the birds slept in their nests. Nothing was more peaceful.

It was eight hours of peace. At the crack of dawn, the the birds usually woke up and chirped their sunrise warble. But today there was no song. Everything stood still, as if holding their breath, waiting for something. The grass was the only thing that moved. In all this quiet, the dogs could sleep forever if possible.

Then, as if an alarm went off, there came a tug and a howl so loud it woke Master Reynolds, Emma, and Lily. Emma woke up in seconds. The image she saw (and that she would never forget) was a rope around Apollo’s neck. When she traced the rope back to its beginning she was confused. It traced back to a moving tree. In her few days of life, she had seen trees sway and dance, but she never saw them move their roots. The master threw himself out of bed and ran to his casement window on the second floor. He threw it open with such power that the glass shattered. He knew at once that it was not a moving tree at all. It was a cameo suit. For he used them all the time in the War To End All Wars. He sprinted out of his room grabbing his kukiri. Then, on the way out, he grabbed his pump action rifle. He only ever used it in situations like this. He brought two bullets with him. But he wasn’t in shooting range of the man yet. Although, he was able to tell the man in the suit was tall and skinny. “Alas,” he said out loud, “It is the man with the 680.” Due to the fact that the other man was fighting a strong dog, Reynolds caught up to him.

Lily and Emma began running on their short stubby legs towards Apollo. They were yapping and trying to save him. When Master Reynolds fired the first shot the bullet only grazed the man’s ear. Blood poured onto the suit but he kept moving backwards. Before Master Reynolds had time to pump his rile for the second bullet, the man with the cameo suit pulled out a marking knife and thrust it through Apollo. Seeing this, Master Reynolds shot the man right in the stomach. He dropped the gun and grabbed the man’s collar and spoke these three words, “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”* The cameo suit replied, “Amittas.”** At this, Master Reynolds threw the cameo suit aside and rushed over to Apollo. Lily and Emma already stood there speaking to Apollo. Now, if you were a dog, this is what you would have heard them say. 

“Don’t go,” they cried, “You still have to show us how to stuff a grape into a mouse.”

“No, no I don’t. You saw me do it. Now, if you love me, you won’t cry over me. You will  live your life with joy and excitement. Oh, and Lily, try to not get covered in sand. Emma…” with these words Emma turned her head away in sadness. “Emma, if you don’t want to become like Chunky Tom down the road, I would recommend not eating so much.” This made all three of them laugh 

“We will miss you,” they both wailed. 

“Well, I will be here in spirit.” 

Those were the last words this dog spoke, but it was not his last act. A few seconds after the tragedy, there was a gush of wind. This made the front door of the house slam open. When the gush of wind got to the forest, there came a majestic howl. Whenever Master Reynolds or Lily or Emma were in grave danger or in need of help, there was always a gush of wind and a howl and all their problems were resolved.  

* Though shall always be tyrants 

** You loose