The Prodigal Dog, parts 4239 - 4242

 4239. He wanted to run away, but he had no idea how it might be carried out. The world seemed too big, and the imaginary door he wanted to pass through into it was too small. His desire filled him with dread.

 4240. He did not fear he would be harmed, what he feared most was being brought back home by his mistress’ servants in ridiculous disgrace. He would never have been punished for running away, on the contrary. 

 4241. There was no one who could have guessed that Remo had any intention of running away, nobody that is except the Rooster who perceived in the tone of Remo’s voice, his desires and so made him a proposal without bothering to consulting Otis about it.

4242. “Run away with us,” the Rooster suddenly proposed to Remo, to the shocked astonishment of Otis. The wolf said nothing at first because he expected that Remo would refuse, but the little dog did not refuse but stood wondering and tilting his head from side to side which dogs always do when they pondering.

 

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4235 - 4238

 4235. Remo’s life consisted of being looked after and coddled from morning until night, and he had never experienced any other form of existence. For three years he had never given it a thought. Remo was three years old by the way.

 4236. Over the past month, following the terrifying moment when he had been dropped into the dog fighting ring, he began to be perturbed by inexplicable feelings of longing mixed with anxiety.

 4237. Some door had been momentarily opened in his mind and then shut again, and he remained standing outside the door wondering. In short, Remo wanted to run away from home.

4238. Exactly why he wanted to run away he could not have said, but Otis and the Rooster noticed his embittered frustration in his description of his luxurious, opulent life.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4231 - 4234

 4231. The three of them sat down in the grass and had a long chat. The Rooster related how he was almost made into dinner by the Fowler, and how for a moment he thought he was dead and ran around with his head not chopped off.

 4232. Otis related how he had attacked the Fowler at the last minute and set free the Rooster, and how they fled into the woods. There was an explanation of the games played to entertain the crows and the pigeons and then it was time for Remo to explain what he had been doing since the dog fights. 

 4233. Remo said, “Since I saw you last my fur has been shampooed fourteen times, I have been taken five times to the vet to cure a small rash on my hind leg. I had my portrait painted, for which I had to attempt to sit still for hours, and my claws have been trimmed and filed several times.”

 4234. Remo could have gone on with a list of the pampering attentions his owner had subjected him to, and the list would have taken as long as the entire time since the three of them had seen each other.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4227 - 4230

 4227. The competitions were well along and many of the runner-up show dogs had been chosen. Otis and the Rooster entered the grounds at a time between competitions during which many of the competitors were allowed to run free and fraternize with their peers. 

 4228. Needless to say Otis went unnoticed in the throng, and as for the Rooster, his perch on Otis’ back was perceived by anyone who might have noticed them as part of some trick Otis had been trained by his masters to perform.

 4229. So it happened that, on a festive Saturday afternoon in the midst of a confused large crowd of men, women, and dogs, Otis and the Rooster came across an acquaintance, the dog Remo.

4230. Do you remember Remo? He had been pitted against Otis in one of the dog fighting matches, and had almost died of fright. The fight had been theatrical, and no harm had come to the dainty Italian Greyhound, but it had changed his character in ways imperceptible to his owner. 

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4223 - 4226

 4223. If a series of decisions about one’s direction is completely accidental, one would expect that a traveler would never make any progress because the random changes of direction would add up to simply going around in circles.

 4224. Even going around in circles would not happen because a circle would indicate the presence of a pattern. No, the path of the wolf and the rooster was like an endless scribble that can never leaves a page.

 4225. Even so, they came across something very interesting one day in their travels. They came across a racetrack, and in the huge grassy center of the oval of the track a ceremony was going on involving hundreds of people and thousands of dogs.

4226. They could not tell what it was the people were doing, but seeing so many various dogs in one place they felt emboldened to approach and have a look to see what was going on.  What they found on closer inspection was an annual dog show. 

Otis Escapes, parts 4219 - 4222

 4219. I have heard it said; “To a sparrow an X and an 0 are essentially the same thing and are both classed in their brains simply as “Odd looking shapes that signify nothing of any consequence.”  There is said to be a bird textbook with a chapter titled “The Alphabet, Shapes of no use to Anybird.” 

 4220. I know for a fact that the book in question does not exist, but I will not venture to prove it because it would take too long, and Otis and the Rooster are preparing to depart from the riverbank, and we do not want to lose track of them.

4221. The Rooster rode on Otis’ back when they traveled. The bird could not have kept up with the wolf even when the wolf went at a leisurely pace. They had no destination except Rome, and since neither of them knew where Rome was they decided on directions by using games they invented on the spot.

 4222. Arriving at the crossing of two roads they had to decide which way to go. They had four choices, straight ahead, left, right, and back they way they came. Sometimes a roll of some dice gave them a direction, but at other times they decided by following the movement of clouds or birds.  Every decision was accidental.

Otis Escapes, parts 4215 - 4218

 4215.  “If crows can’t anticipate the result of a simple board game, how on earth could they be expected to predict the outcome of a clash of armies?” This is what people are wondering, and it is a question I will have to try to answer, someday.

 4216. The inability of a crow to see an implied line (an implied line is a line suggested by a series of points) seems to prove conclusively that they can’t predict the future, and therefore, when they do, they must be acting by divine inspiration, rather that with any conscious comprehension.

 4217. This is the conclusion we are forced to accept, and yet I will not accept it. Why do I not accept it? Because I myself am a bird, and so I know from personal experience that it is all just some strange misunderstanding, that will have to be explained eventually.

4218. I do however draw the line with those individuals who make so bold as to claim that birds can’t perceive the difference between an X and an O.