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Pico
This is quite a long story, so it has been divided up into chapters. This means that you can read a chapter at a time, so you won't forget where you left off next time you come here to read more!! Chapter One - Our Friend Pico
Chapter One - Our Friend Pico Some dogs seem to be born trouble finders. Pico seemed to be one of those dogs.
If something was knocked over, Pico was usually close by. It was not that Pico would
directly cause the accident. It was as if Pico knew there was going to be an accident
before it happened.
Now, take for instance, the day the five gallon container of milk just happened to
tumble to the ground just as the man was putting it on the back of the horse drawn wagon.
Pico was under the wagon. The puddles of milk on the ground were too much to pass up.
Pico immediately began lapping up milk in the puddles.
The man just muttered something about not crying over spilled milk. But he shook
his lowered head as he
walked to the barn. His family needed the money the milk would have brought them.
Another time, when the man's oldest daughter was bringing a basket of eggs from the
chicken coop, the handle on the basket broke.
Pico was ready to have an egg breakfast.
The man chased Pico away because he did not want Pico to get a taste for eggs. The
man's father had told him that if a dog eats a raw egg, the dog will become an egg
thief.
The girl got a bucket of water from the well and washed down the ground where
the eggs were broken. Breakfast that morning was short about 10 eggs.
There were many times that accidents happened and Pico just seemed to be around.
The last straw for the man was the day that the preacher's horse got spooked and
broke the wheel on the preachers buggy.
The preacher blamed Pico. Poor Pico. He had
really been an innocent bystander, but who was going to tell the preacher he was wrong?
Pico had a strong rope tied around his neck and Pico was taken to the old tool
shed and penned up there. The next day when the man went to town to sell the milk he took Pico with him.
Pico had never been very far from the farm house. Not
that Pico was lazy, mind you. Pico just was not curious about things. He did not
explore things. Mostly he just lay in the shade. He was just a small, short haired,
brown dog, so he did not need much shade.
Pico rode to town on the seat of the wagon, lying beside the man. It was not until
they came in sight of all the buildings of the town that Pico sat up and looked at
the buildings.
Pico could smell new smells coming from the buildings. Some smells were very good
smells. Some smells were very bad smells. All the way to the market Pico looked
around and sniffed at the smells.
Occasionally a dog would bark at Pico. Pico would look at the dog as if to say,
"What are you barking at?!". Pico was not used to being around other dogs.
When they arrived at the market, Pico made no move to get down from the wagon.
Pico was too busy looking at all the people and all the things they were selling.
The man took two of the milk containers from the wagon and walked up to one of the
stalls.
The man in the stall took the cans into the stall and brought two empty cans back.
The man from the stall handed the cans to the man with the wagon along with some money.
The man put the empty cans in the wagon after he talked to the other man for a minute.
He had waved his arm in the general direction of Pico and the wagon. The other man
shook his head and went back to his stall.
They rode in the wagon down the street a little farther and stopped beside another
stall. The man had only one can of milk left. He took it from the wagon and walked
over to the stall.
There was a young woman at this stall. She gave him an empty can
and some money. She shook her head when the man waved towards the wagon as he spoke to her.
When the man climbed back on the wagon he looked at Pico and said, "Pico,
what am I to do with you? I just cannot take you home." Of course, Pico did not
understand the man and he could not answer the man.
As they were riding along the street the met a small boy and girl walking along.
The man asked them if they would like to have a dog. They said they had two dogs
already and their papa would not let them have another dog.
When they got to the stable the man asked the blacksmith if he would like a dog.
The blacksmith asked some questions about Pico. The man did not tell him why he wanted to get rid of Pico.
Finally the blacksmith said that he would take him, because sometimes people ask
him where they can find a dog.
So the blacksmith gently reached up and took Pico and the rope. The man said he
would come back for the rope the next day. Instead the blacksmith gave the man another rope to replace the rope on Pico's neck.
Pico spent several days lying on the ground in front of the stable. The blacksmith
gave him table scraps after each meal, but there were not so many scraps.
Whenever children came by the stable Pico would stand up and watch them go by. Most of them
did not pay any attention to Pico.
One small girl with long blonde hair would always
stop and pet Pico for a minute. When the blacksmith told the girl that his name was
Pico she said that the name was just right for Pico.
Amazingly, Pico did not get into trouble.
After Pico had been with the blacksmith for a week, the blacksmith took the rope
from around Pico's neck.
Pico was very content to lay in front of the stable every
day and watch people and their animals go by. Once in a while a dog would go by but Pico did not pay the dog any attention.
Whenever Pico did not get enough to eat from
the blacksmith he would visit any nearby buildings to look for something to eat.
Soon, Pico was a common sight around the area of the stable. The blacksmith's
neighbors would put scraps out for Pico sometimes. Pico was very content to stay
with the blacksmith.
One day a tall man came into the stable and asked the blacksmith if there were any
dogs for sale. The blacksmith pointed to Pico and said that Pico was the only one.
The tall man said that he was looking for a bigger dog to protect his
crippled son. His son need crutches to get around and needed a dog for
protection and company.
He asked if he could take Pico for a couple of days to
see how the dog would work out. The blacksmith readily agreed and said the tall
man could pay one dollar for Pico the next time he was in town.
A dollar was a
whole weeks wages. That was a lot for a small brown dog.
The tall man got on his horse and the blacksmith handed Pico up to him. Pico settled
down between the man and the saddle horn. The tall man laughed and rode away.
Pico enjoyed the ride. He liked looking at all the country and the animals as
he rode with the tall man.
It was almost dark when the tall man turned off the main road and rode through a gate.
He guided the horse up a little travelled track of two ruts from a wagon to a small house.
There was a light inside and smoke rising slowly from the big chimney at the end of the
house.
Pico jumped down from the horse and stood looking at the tall man. The tall man
climbed down from the horse and tied the horse to a hitching rail in front of the house.
As he walked to the front door he looked at Pico. Pico fell into step behind the tall
man and followed him right into the house.
It was warm inside the house. There was one big room with a table in the middle of
the room. To one side of the fireplace there was a large table with some pans and a
water bucket sitting on the table. There was a large piece of cloth hanging from the
edge that hid anything under the table from sight. On the other side of the fireplace
there was a small bed.
As the tall man closed the door, a young boy laying on the bed
raised up to look at the man. "Daddy," he hollered.
The tall man walked over to the bed. "I have brought you a new
friend",
the tall man said to the boy. "The blacksmith said his name is Pico."
When Pico heard his name he immediately ran to the side of the bed and jumped up on
the bed, landing squarely on the boy. The boy grabbed Pico with happy, laughing
enthusiasm. Pico wagged his tail and licked the boy's face. The tall man smiled down
at the boy and the dog.
The tall, very thin woman who was working at the table with the pans came over to
look, too. She wiped her hands on the pretty apron she was wearing. The boy said to
her, "Mommy, look a dog. And his name is Pico." To the dog the boy said,
"Hello, Pico. You are going to be my friend forever."
Pico must have agreed, because he wagged his tail harder than ever and licked the
boys face and hands as fast as he could. The tall man put his arm around the woman as
they watched the dog and the boy with obvious delight.
That night Pico slept with the boy. The boy's name was Samuel, or Sam for short.
Sam had insisted that Pico have a plate of food just like his plate of food.
Pico could not eat everything on his plate because he had never had so much to eat at one
time in his whole life. Sam could not eat all the food on his plate because he was
too excited that he had a dog. It seemed to be the beginning of a true friendship.
The next morning the thin woman was up very early making breakfast for the family.
The tall man got up and went outside to get more firewood. Pico went outside to
watch the tall man.
When breakfast was on the table, the thin woman went to the door
and called the man to come eat.
Sam heard her call his father and woke up. Sam
immediately looked around for Pico. He yelled Pico's name and Pico quickly ran to
the boy with his tail wagging very hard.
Pico knocked the boy over in the bed and stood
on his chest licking Sam's face. Sam was laughing very hard.
The tall man came and
picked Pico up and set him on the floor. "Down," the man said. Pico sat on
the floor watching the boy.
Sam sat up and took off his nightshirt and put on his shirt and pants. It was hard
to put on his pants. One of Sam's legs did not bend at the knee. Sam's foot on the
other leg pointed to the side instead of straight ahead. But the boy did not seem to
pay attention to that.
Once he had his clothes on he reached under his bed and pulled
out two long sticks. The sticks had a short stick on one end with some cloth wrapped
around the short stick.
Holding onto the long sticks the boy stood up. He put one
stick under each arm and leaned on the padded part. Reaching down with each had he
grabbed the sticks and put them out in front of him. He swung his body forward past
the sticks and put his feet down.
As he rocked forward he swung the sticks ahead of
him and put them down again. Pico watched the boy very closely. The boy went to the
table and sat down and ate breakfast. Pico had a small plate of food, too.
When the boy finished eating he got his crutches and started outside. When he got
to the door he stopped and looked at Pico.
"Come on, boy," Sam said to Pico.
Pico bounded after the boy with his tail wagging very hard.
The tall man sat down at the table drinking a cup of coffee. Outside he could
hear Sam's voice laughing and talking to Pico. "Think the dog is a good idea,"
the thin woman said.
The tall man just said, "Yup."
After he had finished the coffee the man went outside to the small barn
and put a harness on the horse. Next he hooked up a strange looking machine to the
harness on the horse. By the time he had finished and was coming out of the barn, Sam
and Pico were just coming out of the house.
The tall man told Sam to stay close to
the house today. He slapped the reins on the horses back and the horse started walking
around the group of trees beside the barn. In a moment the tall man and the horse
disappeared from sight.
Sam picked up a small piece of firewood from the stack at the side of the house. He
held it out for Pico to smell. Pico sniffed at the piece of wood.
Holding onto both
crutches with one hand, Sam threw the stick with the other hand.
Pico just watched the
stick fly through the air. No amount of coaxing from the boy would make Pico chase the
stick.
The boy hobbled on his crutches to where the stick landed. Holding on to both
crutches with one hand the boy bent over and picked up the stick. He held the stick
toward Pico and called Pico to him.
Pico came up to the boy and smelled the stick.
Sam threw the stick again. Pico did not move.
Sam was very disgusted with Pico. Sam started off on his crutches in the direction
the tall man had gone. Pico followed a short distance behind the boy.
The boy would
look back at Pico once in a while. Sam was still mad that Pico would not go get the
stick he had thrown.
Sam walked, with Pico right behind, quite a ways from the house. Sam always had
followed his father to watch him work in the field.
When it was time for his father
to come back to the barn, Sam would leave before him so that he was back at the house
when his father came in sight of the house.
The thin woman, Sam's mother, knew that
the boy watched the tall man work. That is why she wanted the dog for Sam. She hoped
that playing with a dog would keep Sam closer to the house.
Sam was still upset with Pico. What good was a dog that would not chase a stick,
anyway. Sam knew it was time for his father to come back to the house, so Sam started
for the house. Sam looked back at Pico as he was going along.
Just then one of Sam's
crutches slipped into a gopher hole in the ground. The boy fell to the ground very hard.
He landed with his head by a large bush. There was a large flat rock on the other side
of the bush.
Suddenly, Sam could hear the warning rattle of a rattle snake. When Sam
looked up the snake was looking at him, ready to strike.
The tall man had started back to the barn early this day. He had finished what he was
working at and wanted to see how Sam and Pico were getting along. He had seen Sam walking
with Pico.
He was angry at the boy because he had told him to stay close to the house
today. Well, new dog or not, he would have to give the boy a stern slap on his
backside to let him know that he had to mind.
The tall man had slapped Sam only once
before. Actually it was more of a soft thump, but it was enough to let Sam know that
his father was very serious. The man hurried the horse up in an attempt to catch up to
Sam. He saw Sam fall down.
The man was too far away to do anything about the snake. But before Sam could
move Pico raced past the boy and grabbed the snake just below its head.
Pico shook its head to the side one time very hard. When Pico had stopped shaking its head
the snake hung from the dog's teeth limp and lifeless.
The tall man threw down the reins and ran to the boy. Pico stood there with the
snake hanging from his mouth. The tall man grabbed the boy and held him to his chest.
"Dad," said the boy excitedly, "Did you see that? Pico got that
snake before that snake could move!" To Pico the boy said, "Good Dog!
Come here."
Pico dropped the snake and slowly walked over to the boy being held tightly in
his father's arms. When the boy grabbed Pico and hugged him, Pico began wagging his
tail and licking the boy's face.
When Sam's father started petting Pico, too, Pico
started licking his face, too. Soon all three were rolling on the ground and laughing.
The thin woman had walked to a place where she could see the boy several times that
day. She had expected to see Sam playing with Pico.
Instead, the boy was sitting under
a tree watching his father work. Pico sat a short distance from Sam. She knew something
must be wrong, but Sam and Pico would have to work it out.
Every day the tall thin woman walked toward the field where her husband was working
at the end of the work day. That way she could walk back part way with him.
She always
let Sam go on to the house and pretended that Sam had been at the house all day. She
knew her husband knew that Sam watched him work.
She was walking to meet her husband this day, the same as every day, when she saw
Sam fall down. She also saw the snake. She put her hands to her mouth and screamed.
She saw Pico grab the snake and kill it. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down
her face in happiness.
Slowly she got up and walked to where the man, boy and dog were
rolling around in the dirt. For a moment she stood there with her hands on her hips
watching them. Then they spotted her. They stopped what they were doing and looked
at her.
Suddenly she laughed and ran up and threw her arms around all of them. They
all had a good time in the dirt.
The thin woman was putting the meal on the table when she asked the man how much
the dog cost. He told her the blacksmith had said one dollar.
The thin woman said, "Worth five dollars."
The tall man simply said, "Yup."
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