The Great Adventure

It didn’t take long, maybe a few seconds, before Peewee and Tabitha saw the oncoming car. Its approaching headlights were shinning in the gathering dusk. It was still a ways off; the two animals didn’t really know their cars, but it was a big dark SUV. It was careening here and there and seemed to be driving somewhat recklessly, but it was hard to say for sure. Maybe it was just avoiding all the obstacles littering the street.

There was something about the SUV that concerned Peewee. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was but he became completely still and focused. He stared at its oncoming shape, trying to see into it, gazing at it with that otherworldly cat look. Tabitha, sitting next to him, continued contentedly wagging her tail in anticipation.

Suddenly, about half a block up ahead, a golden dog jumped out from behind a fallen tree, and, with his tail wagging as happily as Tabitha’s was, he expectantly trotted up towards the approaching car. He was probably lonely and was excitedly anticipating some human companionship. But, in the next few instants, as the SUV got closer and closer to the golden dog, it became clear that something wasn’t right. The car didn’t slow down. It did nothing to avoid the animal. Maybe the driver didn’t see the dog, but it immediately became clear that that wasn’t the case. In fact, the car must have seen the animal because it abruptly turned and sped up, and headed straight for him. The golden dog, seeing a big SUV with blazing headlights suddenly barreling right at him, became very confused. Maybe his inbred trust for humans was partly responsible. He couldn’t understand what was happening. It was hard to tell if he was cowering or bewildered. His tail stopped wagging and he froze. Tabitha, watching the unfolding scene, couldn’t quite understand either, but her tail, too, stopped wagging.

The golden dog froze at a spot just behind some broken furniture littering the street. That was lucky because the rushing car had to swerve at the last instant to avoid hitting the debris. It screeched as the wheels turned sharply and brakes were applied. The SUV didn’t quite manage to miss the furniture and it hit part of a wooden chest of drawers, splintering it and scattering the contents. The crashing wood, just a few feet from his nose, woke the golden dog out of his frozen stupor. He turned and started to run, terrified, with his tail between his legs.

Tabitha and Peewee watched in horror as the scene unfolded. They could see that the SUV’s windows were all rolled down. Inside they could see men drinking out of cans and shouting merrily. Two of them had long metal sticks which they pointed at the terrified golden dog as he tried to run away. The car swerved past the animal and Tabitha and Peewee heard two loud bangs. They watched dumfounded as the golden dog looked like it had been kicked in the side by an invisible boot and then fell to the ground. The men in the car were laughing out loud.

The SUV then swerved again and headed straight for Peewee and Tabitha. Tabitha, too shocked to understand anything, was frozen just like the golden dog had been. Maybe she too had too much of an innate trust of humans. Or maybe she was just way too terrified to move. But Peewee’s lightning cat intuition understood everything. He leapt up at Tabitha and bit her ear and scratched her nose with a very sharp claw. Tabitha yelped in indignation. Peewee, like lightning, took off straight for the ruins of the nearest house. Tabitha, woken out of her stupor, and only hesitating very slightly, took off after the cat.

Tabitha’s slight hesitation was almost the end of her. As she ran after Peewee there was again the sound of screeching wheels and of several loud bangs. Tabitha heard something whistle past her ear and then some wood splintered just ahead of her. Suddenly it became very clear to her that she was in mortal danger, that these men were not to be trusted, and she began running twice as fast, jumping over or dodging any debris blocking her way. A few more bullets flew by before she was invisible to the SUV in the ruins and in the gathering gloom. She hid, panting, behind a pile of wood. She heard some cursing and then some laughing, and then the sound of the car pulling away.

Tabitha looked around, peering through the dark shadows of the dim light, and saw Peewee’s eyes staring at her from under a jagged pile of lumber that had once been a garage. Tabitha stepped over some debris and lay down in front of Peewee, still panting, and they listened. The sounds of the car receded into the distance. They heard a few more shots coming from far away. And then nothing. All was quiet.

It was now nighttime. The two filthy bedraggled animals stared at each other for a while. It wasn’t clear if Tabitha realized that Peewee had just saved her life, or if Peewee showed any gratitude for having ridden on Tabitha’s back, but there seemed to be a quiet understanding between them that was perhaps deeper than it had been before.

The two animals waited around for another half hour or so. When they were convinced that all was truly quiet and that the coast was completely clear they got up and trotted away. It was fairly dark, with the thin crescent of a waning moon providing the only light. Peewee could see quite well in the feeble light, so he lead the way. They passed the still body of the golden dog. Tabitha stopped for a moment to sniff but Peewee ignored it and kept going.

They traveled through neighborhood after neighborhood, always in a direction away from the water. They passed through zones that were completely devastated, and then through others were still left partly standing. Everything was very empty, very spooky and very quiet. They shunned any open places, always by-passing parking lots, shopping areas and wide avenues. They kept to back streets and places where there was cover. Everything was dark and still. Most of the houses that weren’t wrecked were vacant. They stayed away from the ones that weren’t, and avoided any other sign of humans. They occasionally saw the shadowy forms of other animals, mostly scavenging dogs and cats, not too unlike themselves. But they avoided them as well and just kept going.

They trotted along through this strange and unfamiliar landscape for an hour or two, or maybe three or four. They had no idea about time. They just kept going, feeling that somehow they had to. There were fewer houses now. They passed a huge parking lot with some big buildings in the middle of it, and it took them a long time to circle around it. It all looked so unfamiliar and strange.

They crossed some railroad tracks and they noticed a strange orange glow up ahead. It was very eerie in the otherwise dark, shadowy and mostly uninhabited world they found themselves in. It seemed to flicker ever so slightly and subtly. And as they got closer, they heard the faint sound of human voices. Tabitha’s instinct was to charge ahead, tail wagging, and greet the humans that were undoubtedly up ahead. But she had learned a lesson that day, and so instead she just followed a very cautious Peewee. They crept up closer and then stopped in their tracks. They could clearly and distinctly hear the Old Man playing his harmonica. Tabitha cocked her head, her ears sticking straight up and forward.