Читать книгу Reward, Lost Cat, The Search for Spock - Donald Jr. Weiser - Страница 5

I'm the kid who volunteered to take home the science class's guinea pig for the summer. It ate Mom's rugs, furniture, and electrical cords. Thanks, Mom, for putting up with us. The kid who gave turtles, parakeets (mine slept with me on my pillow), and our dog Tippy proper burials with a few words about being loved and missed along with the kid tears. We had a dog because Dad wouldn't allow cats in the house. I've certainly made up for that attitude.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself." Josh Billings.

Tippy was my first dog. He was a "mutt". He was wonderful. Part Chow, I think, because his tail curled up over his back, always, except when he was reprimanded for something when his tail would drop between his legs. We lived in the woods in upstate New York but along a busy road, (Route 209). Tippy always greeted me when the school bus would drop me off and then greet my Dad when he'd come home from work. Tippy always met Dad in the driveway, that great tail wagging. Dogs seem to have an ability at expression that cats wouldn't be caught dead exhibiting. They wear their hearts on their sleeve much more than cats do. One evening Tippy outdid himself and thought he'd meet Dad one better, in the road. I don't think he ever saw the car coming in the other direction. We buried Tippy that evening.

So you don't think the kid was all piety and love, I should add that I grew up in the woods and one thing kids that grow up in the woods do is hunt. I personally assisted birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels in leaving this world before their time. I also hunted deer as an adolescent. I am grateful now for being too fidgety, smoking too many cigarettes, and being too cold to ever see one to shoot at. When I reached what I would call a minimum level of consciousness, I sold and gave away my guns. Hunting is a barbaric sport. Hunters break the First Commandment. Take a camera into the woods and shoot all the game you want. You'll get all the spiritual benefits of being in the woods close to the animals without all those nasty marks on your record. I know, they'll only starve to death anyway and you're doing some great Darwinian thing by killing animals but really, aren't you just being sadistic for taking a life that is perhaps more deserving of living than you are? Marksmanship is a wonderful thing. I was the only Conscientious Objector in my Army unit to score Expert on the rifle range. I could kill 'em if I wanted to Sarge but I choose not to. For that little belief, I served three months in the Stockade at Fort Belvoir, VA. So, go and shoot at some targets or some skeet. Life is sacred; you should not take it away.