June 8, 1966
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Do you like cats? I like dogs better. But you know that if you've read those books about Hollyhill. I wanted a dog so much I said a dog prayer and the Lord let me find a dog over in the woods and bring it home. I named him Zebedee, Zeb for short, because when he barked he sounded loud like thunder.
As soon as we got home and before I had even had a chance to ask, well, more like beg Dad to let me keep him, Aunt Love's cat, Jezebel, had tried to attack him. She doesn't call her cat Jezebel. That's my name for the cat from you know where. But Jezebel is sweet as sugar to Aunt Love and since she's also white all over that's what Aunt Love calls her. Sugar. Take my word for it. Jezebel suits her better. At least around me. She does not like me.
So when I started writing Bailey's Bug and came up with my cat character, Lucinda, it could be that I used Aunt Love's cat as a model. Except I made Lucinda be black all over instead of white. But Lucinda has grown on me as I've written Bailey's story.
She hasn't exactly turned into a sweet cat. Far from it. She gripes at Bailey and might swipe at his nose, but she hasn't deserted him. And Bailey likes her and thinks she's smart. But is she going to be smart enough to figure out a way for them to be welcomed home? She's tired of having to climb trees to get away from coyotes. If she never has to hunt for another mouse or bug to eat, she'll be happy. Cats need cat food. Out of cans. Or saucers of milk. She wants to curl up in the sun and forget adventures. But when we left her and Bailey last week, both of them had lost hope. Guess it's time to see what happens next.
BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
(Continued from last week. The entire story so far is under the Bailey's Bug title up top of the page. We start here with Bailey waiting for Lucinda to tell him what to do next.)
But Lucinda didn't say anything. She didn't even start licking her paw to wash her face the way she always did when she was thinking. She just kept staring at him while some of the light faded out of her eyes.
Bailey's tail stopped dead, and his heart sank even lower than it already was. All the way back through the woods and across the fields, Bailey had been sure Lucinda would know what to do next. But now he saw his own lost feeling reflected back to him from her eyes. They'd come miles and miles. He'd found Reid. That should have been enough.
When he couldn't stand her silence a second longer, he said, "You could go. They'd know you. Your fur's always short and black."
"There are probably hundreds of cats in that town. Half of them black like me." Lucinda sounded very, very tired.
"I'd know you from any of those other cats," Bailey said.
"Of course you would." Lucinda's voice rose. She sounded cross the way she used to sound when he did something to accidentally wake her when she was napping in the sun. "But people don't look with their noses like you. They'd think I was a stray. I would be a stray."
"That's what they thought I was. Mrs. Alexander even called the dogcatcher, but I took off before he got there. But they don't call the dogcatcher for cats, do that?"
"For a truth, lad, sometimes they do." Skelley spoke up. "I knew a cat once. Never bothered a soul. Lived off what he caught. Jock did love to hear my circus stories, but one day the dogcatcher caught him in a net and carted him off."
That wasn't a story Bailey wanted to hear. "We've got to do something." He looked at Lucinda.
The cat was no longer looking at him. She seemed to be seeing something far away. All of the sudden, she let out a terrible yowl. Bailey thought she might be remembering saucers of food and windows full of sunshine.
"Reid's got a porch with a railing. That will be a great place for you to lie in the sun." Bailey wanted her to feel better.
Lucinda let out an even louder yowl. She had never yowled like that before. Never. He wanted to put his paws over his ears. He didn't want to hear what her yowls were telling him, but he couldn't block it out.
It was hopeless. They would never have a family again. They would be strays forever, raiding trashcans for food and dodging the dogcatcher. Worse, when Lucinda got all her yowls out, she was going to hate him. It was his fault they'd left the Robinsons where she had food and sunny windows. Bailey raised his nose and added his howls to her yowls.
Bailey didn't know Skelley was beside him until he felt teeth clamping down on his ear. He was so surprised he swallowed his howl and stared at the old dog. He was even more surprised when Skelley let go of his ear to bump Lucinda with his nose. That stopped Lucinda's yowls as she turned to glare at Skelley.
All that effort seemed to take all the old dog's energy and he had to sit down to catch his breath. Then he said, "Forgive me, Miss Lucinda, but I did have to get your attention."
"You might have asked. Nicely." Lucinda stood stiff-legged with her tail straight up in the air. The very end of it twitched back and forth. Bailey backed up a couple of steps just in case she decided to swat his nose, but Skelley didn't give an inch.
"It could be that I was mistaken, but it seemed to me that all this caterwauling the two of you were doing was keeping ye from thinking straight." Skelley stared at Lucinda.
"I'd rather not think right now." Lucinda sounded fierce.
"Now, Miss Lucinda," Skelley started.
Lucinda didn't let him finish. "What's there to think about except having to live out here with the coyotes and never having anyone set out a saucer of milk for me ever again."
Bailey wished Lucinda hadn't mentioned food. It made him want to start howling again.
(To be continued.)
May 30, 1966
Jocie Brooke reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. This picture wasn't taken in Hollyhill, but you knew that. It's a picture Dad showed me of a cemetery in France to help me think about what Memorial Day really means. It's not just picnics and the local swimming pool opening for the summer and school being out. Memorial Day is for remembering the men and sometimes women who gave their lives fighting for their country. But look at all these crosses. And this is just a little part of the graveyard in the picture. All those people lost to the world. All dying in a war. Fighting for freedom.
Dad fought in World War II and I'm so glad he came home. He was in a submarine. He doesn't talk about it much, but he gets really sad on Memorial Day as he remembers those that didn't make it home. He told me we should all say a prayer for those soldiers' families. So I did. But I also said a very thankful prayer that my dad was one of those who did make it home. I went with him to our local cemetery and while we don't have rows and rows of crosses like the cemetery in France, we do have some men's graves there who gave their lives in service of their country. So we took roses from Aunt Love's bushes and laid a bloom on each of those graves and Daddy prayed.
I've almost finished with Bailey's story. Right now it's pretty sad for Bailey since his boy didn't recognize him. Do you think Lucinda is going to be able to figure out a way for them to get back with their family?
BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
(Continued from last week. The complete story so far is under the Bailey's Bug title up top.)
Chapter 16
The sun was going down when at long last Bailey pushed through the bushes back to where Lucinda kept guard in a tree over where Skelley was sleeping. The cat looked down at Bailey from her perch and then beyond him to where no Reid was following.
Bailey placed the scraps he'd found on the ground. "I brought some food."
Skelley woke and raised his head to look at the meat. "That was good of ye, lad." The old dog's head wobbled a bit before he dropped it back down on his paws. "I'm sure I'll feel like a bite of two later."
Lucinda pounced down out of the tree and landed inches from Bailey's nose. "You didn't find him."
"I did find him." Bailey scooted back a couple of steps. "It's not far from here. A town. Lots of trashcans." Bailey nudged the scraps toward Lucinda.
The cat didn't even give it a sniff. "Then where is he? You were supposed to bring him back with you."
"I tried." Bailey felt like a ball losing its air. His tail and ears were dragging the ground, but even worse, his heart had lost hope.
"You tried?" Lucinda looked ready to spring at something.
"They didn't know me. Reid fed me his sandwich and rubbed my head but didn't know who I was."
Lucinda stared at him for a few seconds and Skelley raised up his head again to listen. Finally Lucinda asked, "Did you do your silly hopping dance?"
"I tried everything. I hopped and bounced and jumped and barked. I even licked Reid's face, but it didn't help. Reid said I sounded like Bailey, that I ate like him. But I didn't look like him. Too skinny and not even the same color as his Bailey."
Lucinda twisted her head this way and then that as if to get a better look at Bailey. Her eyes were glittering strangely in the dimming light as night was creeping closer. Skelley was staring at him too. For a few seconds, Bailey was fearful they were were going to decide he really wasn't Bailey too.
Skelley spoke up first. "For a truth, lad, ye don't look the way ye did when I first laid eyes on you behind that trash bin. We've had a lot of adventures between then and now."
"Bother the adventures," Lucinda hissed. "You may look different, but you're still Bailey. Are you sure you were at the right house?"
"It was Reid. I'd know him anywhere. But he thinks we're still at the old house with the Robinsons. Guess nobody told him we ran away."
"Surely they told them. That's been days ago. Weeks ago. A lifetime ago." Lucinda's tail shot up straight into the air.
"But we know where Reid is now." Bailey perked up a little. His tail swished back and forth in the dry leaves behind him. Lucinda would think of something. She was the smartest cat ever. "I came back so you could tell me what to do next."
(To be continued)
April 25, 1966
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It's Monday. A quiet day at school. All the teachers wanted to talk about was finals and that we better study. I do study. Or at least I will before the tests.
Didn't have much time for studying this weekend. We had a dinner at church Sunday. That meant I had to help Aunt Love cook and stuff on Saturday. Aunt Love has some things she always makes, but since she's gotten sort of forgetful - Dad says it's hardening of the arteries and it happens to old people - Tabitha or I have to be in the kitchen with her when she cooks. We have to make sure she doesn't turn the burner on under an empty pan and then forget it. We have to watch and tell her if she's already put the sugar in her stewed tomatoes although the more sugar the better if I have to eat them. That's one of her most requested dishes. That and pineapple rice. Pineapple and butter does make rice better. And then she makes raisin pies. Not my favorite, but that's okay. Always lots of desserts to choose from at a church dinner. I picked Miss Sally's chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Delicious.
Miss Sally also made banana croquettes. I LOVE banana croquettes. What? You've never heard of them. Well, if you live in the south you surely have, haven't you? Or maybe they are a Kentucky special. Aunt Love won't make them. She says it make too big a mess, but sometimes she lets me do it. It's easy as pie. Well, except for that messy part.
You take a banana and cut it into sections. Then you roll that around in a bowl of salad dressing or take a knife and slather the stuff on every side of the banana piece. Then you roll that around in a different bowl full of mashed peanuts. I like it better if you don't mash the peanuts too fine. Just let them be chunky all over that banana piece. Yum! Got to be angel food. Got to be. I gave Miss Sally a big hug when she brought a big bowl full of them in. She made so many I actually got to go back for seconds. Everybody else was going for those dressed eggs. I don't understand that. Not when they could have banana croquettes instead.
Did you ever go to a country church dinner on the grounds?
Have you eaten banana croquettes?
Okay now it's time to see what Lucinda is going to do to Bailey when he tells her he's lost the bug in his ear. Oh dear!
BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
(Continued from last week. The whole story is up top under the Bailey's Bug title.)
Twas a grand adventure.
The old dog's words echoed in Bailey's ears long after the fog closed off any sight of him and Lucinda. Bailey had never felt so alone. He couldn't hear his hum. He couldn't hear any kind of bug. No bird either. The fog kept closing in on him.
When he spotted a smooth round rock that reminded him of his plastic toy, he stopped to rest his chin on it. Maybe that would help the hum come back. It didn't. After a while, he got up and walked some more.
The fog was beginning to lift when he saw that same smooth round rock. He tried to tell himself it was another rock. Just one that looked like the first one, but then he spotted his paw prints in the soft dirt around the rock.
He was going in circles. He might keep going in circles all day and all night. Forever. With Lucinda back there somewhere in the fog waiting for him to bring Reid back. He couldn't do that.
With his nose to the ground, Bailey tracked his way back through the fog to Lucinda and Skelley.
When Bailey bushed back through the brush to where they were waiting, Skelley looked up. "I knew ye'd find the courage to do what you must."
Lucinda was asleep after her night of hunting. Bailey sat down beside her to wait until she opened her eyes.
Skelley limped over to poke his nose against Bailey's side. "Best go on and wake her, lad."
"She gets mad if I wake her up."
"It'll be okay. She'll understand."
Bailey gave Skelley a look. He really didn't know Lucinda very well. She wasn't going to understand at all. Not at all. But it had to be done. Might as well get it over with.
"Lucinda," he whispered. Then he tried a little louder. "Lucinda, wake up. I have to tell you something."
Lucinda opened one eye, saw Bailey and opened her other eye. "Where's Reid?"
"I didn't find Reid." Bailey hesitated and Skelley poked him with his nose again. "I don't think I can find Reid."
Lucinda raised her head and glared at him. "Go on."
"I don't hear the hum anymore." Bailey pushed his words out in a rush. "I'm lost. We're all lost and I can't do anything about it." He winced waiting for her to start yowling and swat him.
Instead, she sat very still and sounded way too calm. "And when did the bug crawl out of your ear?"
"When I ran into the tree. It was just gone. Sudden like."
Lucinda sat up. "I knew something was wrong, but I thought it was the storm." She was still calm as though she were discussing nothing more important than which tree she might nap in. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Bailey's ears drooped and he stared at the ground. "I thought you'd be mad."
"Dogs," Lucinda muttered. She began pacing back and forth, her tail twitching sharply one way and then the other way.
"I'm sorry. Really sorry. You were right. We should have stayed at the Robinsons."
"Of course. That is what we should have done. What I should have done." Lucinda paused a moment in her pacing to glare at him.
"We could go back," Bailey said.
"Go back? All those miles? Are you nuts?" Lucinda shook her head and didn't wait for him to say anything. "But of course, you're nuts. We all are. But we can't go back. Poor Skelley here can barely limp. Of all the dog-brained ideas."
Bailey felt better with Lucinda yelling at him. That's how it was supposed to be, but Skelley took up for him.
"Now don't be so hard on the lad, Miss Lucinda. He simply wanted to find his boy. His heart was in the right place."
Lucinda stopped pacing and put her nose right up in Bailey's face. Her eyes glittered greener than Bailey had ever seen them. He wanted to back away from her, but he made himself sit still.
"His heart, yes," she said softly. "I've wondered plenty of times if he has a brain, but I never doubted he had a heart."
"I just wanted to find Reid." Bailey wanted to lick her face, but he knew better. "I didn't know all this was going to happen."
"How could you? No one could have. Not even a cat. Certainly not a dog. But it has happened. We are out here untold miles from the Robinsons. Probably in another state and we have a friend who needs help." Lucinda kept glaring at Bailey. "You couldn't know that. But you do know something."
"What?" Bailey asked. Lucinda's eyes were getting even greener. And fiercer.
"You know where Reid is."
(To be continued)
)
October 20, 1965
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Well, actually this weekend I've been out visiting Miss Sally on the farm. It's been great October weather. The sun has been shining and the trees are gorgeous. I'm hoping it won't rain for a week so the leaves won't fall off. It's always sort of sad when the leaves fall off. At least until you get used to all the bare branches and the cold weather.
But look at the plant I found. Miss Sally says it's mullein or lamb's ear. I like the name lamb's ear best. Whoever way back when, maybe even Adam in the Garden of Eden, must have touched one of the leaves and thought it felt like a lamb's ear. The leaves are all soft and fuzzy. Miss Sally says that's why frontier folk used it for toilet paper. At least that's what she heard. Plus, she says it made a great bandage when somebody got hurt out in the wilderness. I think that's really neat, don't you?
Miss Sally knows all about plants and what they're good for. She says you can even make a tea out of these leaves or boil it for dye. Doesn't sound like something I'd want to drink!!
Do you like learning about plants and the funny names they have? What's a plant that you think has a funny name?
Now it's time to check in to see what's happening with Bailey and Lucinda. Last week the old dog, Skelley was running back into the abandoned house the bulldozer was about to knock down. Remember, if you missed part of the story, you can read it all so far by clicking on the Bailey's Bug link up top of my article here.
BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
(continued from last week)
Chapter 7
"Stop him!" Lucinda yelled at Bailey.
Bailey looked from the cat to the hole Skelley had slid through.
On the other side of the house, the bulldozer monster rumbled deeper, and the house shuddered and groaned. Bailey dodged a shingle flying down from the roof. He stuck his nose close to the hole and barked, but if Skelley barked back he couldn't hear him over the bulldozer's growl.
Lucinda slid up beside him. "Do something!"
Bailey pushed his head into the hole, but he couldn't wiggle through. "I can't get through the hole. Not without Skelley holding up the plank for me."
"Dogs!" Lucinda shook her head. Suddenly she perked up her ears. "Listen. That thing sounds like it's backing away. I'll go find that crazy dog."
"You can't go back in there, Lucinda. The bulldozer might come back."
"If it does, you better stop it." Lucinda glared at him, then ducked through the hole.
Stop the bulldozer! How could he stop that monster?
"Lucinda," he called, but she was gone. He whipped his tail around in a circle and tried to think. He had to do something. And fast. The bulldozer's growl was getting louder again.
Bailey raced around the corner of the house and froze in his tracks. The yellow monster was inching closer, its enormous metal front a hungry mouth. Bailey looked behind him. If only he could see Skelley and Lucinda crawling out of the house, but they weren't anywhere in sight.
And the bulldozer kept coming. He couldn't let it bite into the house while Lucinda and Skelley were inside. He couldn't.
Barking as loud as he could, Bailey ran at the terrible bulldozer mouth and attacked. His teeth wouldn't grab on the slick blade. He slid to the ground and landed on his side.
He couldn't let it beat him. He scrambled up and charged again, barking louder than he thought possible. Nothing had ever been afraid of him or his bark, but he was sometimes scared of other dogs barking at him. Like the huge, black dog the day before.
Bailey tried to sound every bit as fierce. He crouched down close to the ground in hopes that would make his bark deeper, more ferocious.
He was about to retreat when all of the sudden the monster stopped moving and simply sat there and stared at him with an angry rumble. With trembling legs, Bailey stayed where he was.
"Hey, I didn't tell you to stop!" Whoever was yelling sounded as mad as the monster.
Bailey peeked out the corner of his eyes at a man waving his arms at the bulldozer.
Someone, maybe even the monster, yelled back at the man on the ground. "A dog's in the way."
"A dog! You stopped for a dog!"
That made Bailey growl.
"I ain't mashing no dog," the bulldozer said and stopped rumbling.
With the monster silent, Bailey's barks bounced off the metal mouth and pounded into his ears. But he was afraid to stop because between barks, he could hear the house creaking and groaning.
Where were Lucinda and Skelley? They should be out by now and he really wished he could stop barking.
The man and the monster kept shouting. Then the man grabbed a plank and swung it at Bailey. He barely dodged in time, but he didn't turn tail and run. Even if he wanted to. Instead, he rolled over on his back and stuck his feet up in the air. That had to make the man know Bailey wasn't going to bite him.
But the man kicked Bailey in the side anyway. Hard. "Get out of here, you dumb dog."
Bailey could keep from yelping.
"Aw, don't hurt him, boss," the bulldozer said. "He's sort of cute. And look there. He's got a collar on with a leash. Somebody must be in the house."
The boss stared from Bailey to the house. "Guess we'd better check it out."
Just then Lucinda appeared in the gaping hole that had been a window a few minutes ago. She meowed her best.
"Look, a kitty cat." A man climbed down the side of the monster.
He must have been doing the talking instead of the monster. Maybe all it could do was growl. But it was quiet now.
"I hate cats," the man who kicked Bailey muttered. Bailey bounced up on his feet, ready to attack again. He wasn't about to let the man kick Lucinda.
But the cat disappeared back into the house before the men got to her. The man who'd been on top of the monster stepped up on a rock and peeked through the window. "Hey, boss. There's an old dog in there with his foot caught under a beam."
"So?"
"We can't just knock a house down on top of him."
The boss looked in the window too. "I don't know why not. From the looks of him, it would be a mercy killing."
Bailey growled and scooted closer to them. He didn't know what a mercy killing was, but it didn't sound good. Not good at all.
(to be continued next week)
July 7, 1965
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill or maybe I should say reporting from Imagination Land.
You have to have imagination to write a book, don't you? Page after page of made up stuff. At least that's what I'm guessing you have to have.
I can't say for sure since I've never written a book. Oh, I've written a few stories and I've written lots of stuff for the Banner. That's Dad's newspaper. But Dad always has to make sure I'm telling the truth in those, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I want to write something where I don't have to tell the truth. I want to make it all up. Throw wide the doors to my imagination and write. Well, I guess I do have to make sure it's decent. I am a preacher's daughter after all and Aunt Love would kill me if I used words she says nobody should use. I don't even know what those words are and I guess that's just as well.
So here are my characters. I'm writing about a dog and a cat. The dog is a little loopy and this picture isn't exactly right for him. His fur is scruffier, but he'll have to do. Zeb isn't happy that I'm not letting him star in m book, but if he could read he'd understand why. Even dogs have personalities and Zeb and Bailey are nothing alike. Zeb wouldn't put up with Lucinda one minute.
Lucinda is the black cat. She's very sure of herself, don't you think? Is that a good name for her? Lucinda? I would ask Aunt Love, but then she named her cat Sugar. That creature is white like sugar, but trust me, Jezebel fits her better. She is the cat from well, you know where. In a weak moment, I did ask Zella about a name for the cat I was going to write into my book, but she said I shouldn't be wasting my time writing a story about a cat and that I'd better be thinking about my future.
I am thinking about my future. What I'm going to name my cat character. Wes didn't have a cat name for me either. He said I should come up with my own names if I'm writing the story. Besides, he said nobody would be able to pronounce a Jupiter name. I asked him if he had a Jupiter name and he said, oh yes, but he could only speak it aloud if he was on Jupiter. When I asked why, he shuddered and said I wouldn't want to know. Of course, I'm not sure if he was shuddering with fear or because he was laughing. Either way, I don't think I'm going to get to hear his Jupiter name.
But back to Bailey's Bug. That's what I'm calling my story and it's going to star Bailey the scruffy whitish dog and Lucinda, the haughty black cat. Hope you're not like Zella and thinking that it's silly to write a story about a dog and a cat.
Here's the first page I've typed:
Chapter 1
At first when Lucinda said the Alexanders weren't coming back, Bailey would just shake his head and scratch his ear as though a worrisome flea had grabbed his full attention. He didn't want to hear what Lucinda was saying. He wanted Reid to be knocking on the Robinsons' door come to fetch him home. Reid was his boy.
Still the days passed, naps piled on top of naps, and when he got hungry there was no one but Mrs. Robinson to feed him and when he needed to go find a bush, no one but Mr. Robinson to let him out into the fenced-in yard.
Inside with the Robinsons was nice enough. When Mr. Robinson came home from work, he always asked Bailey how he was in a jolly, booming voice, and Mrs. Robinson scratched Bailey behind the ears when she fed him. Still neither of them scratched Bailey's neck under his collar the way Reid did. They didn't hide doggie treats in their pockets for Bailey to nose out. They didn't throw the red plastic thing for Bailey to chase down. And even if they had done the same things, it still wouldn't have been the same. Bailey missed Reid.
One day he was trying to explain this to Lucinda when she lifted her nose high and said, "I like the Robinsons. I'm just as glad the Alexanders aren't coming back."
Bailey lifted his paw to scratch his ear, but then stopped, his paw in midair. For some reason he couldn't pretend he hadn't heard Lucinda this time. "Why aren't they coming back?" he asked.
That's it so far, but just wait till next week. I'll have more done then. But meanwhile, what do you think?
So when I started writing Bailey's Bug and came up with my cat character, Lucinda, it could be that I used Aunt Love's cat as a model. Except I made Lucinda be black all over instead of white. But Lucinda has grown on me as I've written Bailey's story. 
