Returning to Base

Brandt rubbed my left ear as I glanced around the front room. There was nothing in this room that I needed, nor was there anything in the closet, or the kitchen. Brandt's hand dropped when I entered the bathroom. I pawed open the cupboard doors and sniffed around. Nothing in here either.

Brandt was pulling on one of the shirts I had purchased when I entered the bedroom. I pulled the fleece blanket he had used from the closet and a small bag of odds and ends. I no longer remembered what was in it, but for some reason I felt I needed it now. Brandt picked up the blanket as I jumped onto the bed and pawed his dog tag and broken chain. He stood next to me and pet my head.

"Thank you for keeping it," he said.

I barked once before he pocketed the tag, but not the chain.

"Is there anything else you need?"

I picked up my bag in my mouth and carried it out of the room. Brandt followed, his own little bag over his shoulder. We left the apartment and walked several blocks to the nearest pet shop. Here, Brandt bought a harness and got cash back with a credit card number he had memorized. He held the harness out to me and I sniffed it before letting him put it on and attach the leash to it. Then he called a taxi and took it to Fort Hood.

As we neared the gates, I whined. What was Brandt doing? His fingers brushed the top of my head.

"I need to care for you as you cared for me," he said softly. "This is the only way I know how to do that."

I touched his hand with my nose then walked beside him onto the base. As the gates closed behind us, we were surrounded by several soldiers and escorted to a prison cell. Brandt sat on the bed and I sat on the floor beside him.

"I don't know what will happen now, Carolynn. I've been missing for about a year and a half because of the curse."

I rested my head on his legs and he pet my head until his commanding officer arrived.

"Captain Hawkins, Sir," he said, standing and saluting.

"Lieutenant Quire," he replied. He said nothing for some time and Brandt never moved. "At ease, soldier."

Brandt stood with his feet shoulder width apart and his hands clasped behind his back.

"Where have you been?"

"Lost, Sir."

"I know you better than that, Lieutenant. Why did you disappear two weeks before your scheduled deployment?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Sir."

"Try me?"

"I was cursed, Sir. Turned into a dog—a Dalmatian—until twelve hours ago."

"And yet you have a dog with you. Long enough to be obedient, I take it?"

"Her name is Carolynn, Sir. She helped me become human again."

"A dog helped you break this supposed curse?"

"She didn't used to be a dog. She was a business woman."

Captain Hawker laughed. "That is the most ridiculous story I've heard yet."

"It's true, Sir."

"If that dog is a woman then have her speak."

I turned for my bag and pulled the strings open as Brandt said, "She can't, Sir. That is part of the curse."

I moved the contents of my bag around with my nose before finding a small doodle pad and magnetic pen. Taking these in my mouth I put them on the floor close to the bars of the cell. Then I sat, watching Captain Hawker.

"What's this?" he asked, crouching down and looked at the doodle pad. "Your dog knows how to write?"

"No, Sir."

I could feel Brandt's eyes on me. I knew he expected my writing to be like his had been after a year and some months, but I needed to try something. Maneuvering the pen from its clip I held it in my mouth, waiting.

"How long have you had her?" Captain Hawker asked Brandt.

"Twelve hours. Before that she owned me, while I was a Dalmatian."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're still set on that story?"

Since Captain Hawker seemed intent on ignoring me, I bent down and slowly, but carefully, dragged the stylus across the pad. I found I really had to focus to try and maintain the correct lines to form the letters—Captain Hawker. Then I looked up at the man and he stopped.

"What kind of trick is this?" he asked, reaching for the doodle pad.

I growled.

"Call her, Lieutenant."

"Come, Carolynn," Brandt said.

Keeping the stylus in my mouth, I returned to Brandt's side and sat.

Captain Hawker lifted the doodle pad from the floor and studied it before he erased it and set it back down. Then he turned to me. "If you really are human, Carolynn. What is your last name?"

Slowly I approached the doodle pad, hoping I could pull it off long enough for him to at least agree that the story wasn't so farfetched. My lines were becoming a little more scrawlly as I wrote—Bitters.

He reached in and erased it.

"What is your occupation?"

—H&R Block, phone—

"Name of a coworker."

—JoAnn Andr…— then I could no longer form the letters. Whining, I dropped the stylus.

"Andrews?" he asked.

Barking and wagging my tail, I hoped he understood.

Captain Hawker stood. "I'll give you time to rethink your story, Lieutenant." He left and a few other soldiers came in to take him away.

I stood and growled, the hackles on the back of my neck raising.

"Carolynn, stop," Brandt commanded. "Sit."

I sat, but didn't stop growling.

Brandt started to leave with the soldiers when a sense of unease came to me and I whined.

"It'll be okay," he assured me. "Stay."

I still stood to follow, but he stopped me.

"Stay, Carolynn."

Brandt disappeared from sight and I lay on the floor beside the bed. I hoped he'd be alright. He was gone for a long time. A soldier came in several hours later with food and water for me, but I ignored it. Something wasn't right. I lay on the floor all day and all night, but Brandt never returned.

In my dreams, I wandered base. Searching for Brandt. He wasn't in any of the buildings, nor was he out training with the rest of the soldiers. I ran the length and width of the base continuing to search. As I neared some white boxes with small vents in the door, I could smell him. He was worried about something and I woke.

It was still dark outside, but I needed to reach Brandt. Digging through my bag, I searched for something helpful, but there didn't seem to be anything. So I pulled the strings tight to close the bag. I would need to keep it with me. When the sun started to come up, one of the soldiers came. As they opened the door I grabbed my bag and ran out. I slipped between people's legs and out of the prison before racing across the dry dirt to where I knew Brandt would be. Several shouts followed me as I ran. I didn't slow until I reached the boxes. Barking, I dropped my bag. Which one was he in?

"Carolynn?" I heard him ask.

I barked once and watched the vents for movement. A few boxes down from where I stopped, his fingers barely fit past the vent openings. I went to him and licked his fingers. My tail wagged excitedly.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

I barked once then whined.

"I'll be okay."

I turned away long enough for my bag before lying on the ground next to his isolation cube. The soldiers surrounded me and I growled.

"Come on, Mutt," one of them said to me, reaching for the harness around my body.

I nipped the hand and moved out of reach.

"Ah! Come here."

I dodged their hands until a jeep pulled up.

"What's going on here?" Captain Hawkins asked.

"The dog, Sir. We were trying to get her back inside."

I growled, baring my teeth. They would not take me back inside; not while Brandt remained in the box.

Captain Hawkins watched me for a moment before stepping out of the jeep. "Carolynn, sit."

I sat, but didn't stop growling.

"Soldiers dismissed," he said, standing a few feet from me, hands behind his back.

The soldiers left and he remained.