The One – #10: City Secundum – Segment 2

Originally published January 27, 2020...

Once again, our hero is escaping from a less than ideal situation – this time with a canine companion. Clarity arises that places Skitch and his small crew in the clear light of who they are; however, it has taken Hertwig in contrast for the MC to gain this insight. Immediately after the escape, a canine-related dilemma arises, but between the MC’s ingenuity and Argose’s courage, the small event has a happy ending.

Be ready for the nature of travel, the surprise and the boredom of continuing, ever continuing.

Leashless, Argose, and I hurry away

            down streets to harbor to pier and to boat

No one follows – the Dragon prize not worth

            enough for these three to break a sweat 

I feel young and fleet and on adventure

But now standing on the pier looking down

            I see a dilemma I hadn’t thought of

I can scuttle down the vertical ladder 

            but Argose has the wrong appendages

                        for handling even a few downward steps

I look around for help, but none comes forth

Hart’s line bobs against the thick, wood piling

            but I could never lower Argose down 

                        without fear of hanging him, not helping

Only one way fits the situation

A few dead fish float white-eyed down below

I scurry down and haul one out – back up

            to show the same to Argose’s bouncing nose

I smear his snout and let him lick my hand

Descending again, I waft the smell up

Argose’s focus bores a stuck lighthouse beam

Boarding Hart and waving fish, I look up

            calling my dog with a pack leader’s howl

Argose paces the pier edge whimpering

I howl again, throw the fish, clap my hands

Suddenly Argose launches into air, 

front legs tucked, back paws pointed, tail out straight

It appears to me he hangs suspended

            mid sky and water, hovering like a gull

I stand, mouth agape, frightened by what I’ve asked

He seems to hang forever in mid-air

            perhaps he is taking flight – a moment

                        passes and he hits the water splashing

                                    spume like a gigantic whale surfacing

He goes down for many moments – longer

            than his maiden flight above – I fear

                        Argose has gone to bottom – I panic

                                    leaning over the gunwale, I peer into

                                                the muddy river water hiding him

He breaks the surface spluttering, coughing

            four mad paws thrashing to stay afloat

I thought dogs could swim, but he proves me wrong

In that instant, I jump in, make three strokes

            and I’m with him, my arms under tummy

                        going down as I struggle to secure him

He’s frantic, and the fish is all-forgotten

The boat floats a few yards away, waiting

            patiently for her passengers to board

I swim round behind Argose, push his rump

            and kick my feet to motor to safety

I tip to port and lift Argose’s front legs

            inside while I go under and somehow

                        using my head, get his rear in as well

I almost founder the boat as I claw up and over

            we both lie heaving in the boat’s bottom 

                        and we are aboard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We drift most contented for several weeks

            often under sail, sometimes pulling oars

Argose shifts from port to starboard each time

            a slight ripple passes beneath our hull

But soon we both gain our sea legs on this

            gentle rocking river grown wide and rich

Many hours we pass – makeshift pole and line

            dragging with its own tiny wake beside

                        a most modest, fading red boat gliding

                        me plucking out the fish silver-sided

                        Argose politely waiting for his share 

                                    when evening comes and fish combine with stores

Only after dark do we approach land

            to tie up and sleep near deserted shores

Far out in the stream, I pass river towns

I raise a hand to passing vessels, nod

            and smile ‘all’s well,’ but do not speak to them

This boat and my own company enough.

Fish submit themselves to my trailing lines

            and supplement the supplies still lasting

The days rise wet and sultry, and snakes

            claim the shoreline now too often for my taste

                        I must find my sleep at anchor floating

                                    distant from the silent fangs in the dark

With no map I cannot name where I am

I prefer it so, heading only South

This one-pointed river-road needs no chart

            nor do I so long as I’m south of North

            putting distance between that town and me

This wrinkled river could flow straight to hell

            and I would enter and not look back once

I may have already crossed that border

            and be far inside some black dragon’s lair

Truthfully, I am getting rather bored

            and a hot dance with a flame-spitting beast

            might brighten up the routine of these days

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In such a mood I approach another

            river city, larger than the last, straddling

            colossal, bristling on both riverbanks

Its great harbor must connect to the sea

            judging by the size and draft of the ships

                        crowding the docks and tied out at moorings

My boat is dwarfed by these massive sea-beasts

            tugging at their thick chains and lines, eager

            to be sailing in their native waters

            captured here for passing, impatient hours

            until they ignite their sailing engines

                        and break quick foam from bows and quaking ribs

But now a new thought strikes me as I glide

            like some mouse creeping below a lion’s gaze

                        slipping beneath these anchored fortresses,

Something larger than themselves has lured them here.

Their seasoned captains are ashore when they

            might be sailing full-strong before the wind

            crossing harborless immensities

Of course! These ships must give up their cargo

            and take on paying loads for the passage

But the City must hold secrets deeper

            than its harbor to gather so many 

            brilliant arks under one common banner

Suddenly I know I must puzzle out

            the answer to this matter, so I will

            go ashore here to gather evidence

My whole body tingles at my resolve

            my steady prow pointed toward this City

            its power a magnet for my iron needle

                        the sea now a delayed destination

                        that will be there when I am finished here

                                     with more revealed through explorations

I take money from the stern storage box

Before I can hop into the water

            Argose leaps and lands on the sand shoreline

I leap after him into the shallows

A second time in this second city

            I tie Hart secure to an encrusted rock 

                        but this time very near the shore, so to

                                    wade in and prevent hoisting Argose up

                                     which would certainly end badly for both of us

Background

I’ve probably said it before, but my love for dogs is not secret. Argose, in this epic, has and will play a larger role than most canine characters, barring Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. Still, it has been a challenge to development dog character with no speech (or not much) and a mind that operates solely in the present moment. (On the later, we could do worse for ourselves.)

This segment is obviously part of a transition, the continuation of the odyssey. The travel seems to bring the MC both boredom and satisfaction. Perhaps this is the nature of all travel. The thrill of being part of unfamiliar people and places. Yet, perhaps, the desire to relax, to not be on guard, to take pleasure in the familiar.

Exploration 1: What do you make or Argose’s place in this narrative? What part do you expect he will play as time goes on?

Exploration 2: After the escape, the MC thinks at one point that the, “. . . river could flow straight to hell and I would enter and not look back once.” What fires this kind of bitterness and deep desire not to return to the native town?

Exploration 3: What do you suppose the “deeper secrets” the new city might hold for the MC?