Summer Time and the Water's Fine

June 15, 1966
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Well, actually I'm reporting from the swimming hole out in the county. A lake swimming hole. A beautiful place to swim and now that school is officially out - Yay!! - I can go swimming there with a couple of girls from church. Their grandparents own a house alongside the lake. Betty and Candace are great fun. And good swimmers too. I took some pictures before I hung my camera up in a tree way back from the water. Then I jumped in too. Took my breath but in a positively fabulous way. 

I love getting in the water. I'm not great at swimming like Betty and Candace, so I stay where the water's not over my head. Drowning isn't on my to-do list for summer. Swim lessons are. Candace tells me anybody can learn to tread water but first you have to get in the deep water to learn. Seems like to me that makes for a little problem. You know, like drowning in water over your head while you're trying to learn to do something to keep from drowning. 

So, I'm learning that this summer at the pool. I know I'm kind of big for swimming lessons, but Dad says I can act like an undercover reporter and learn to swim while getting the story. Dad's the best. Anyway, at the pool, you have a side to grab hold of if things get dicey. Like you sinking to the bottom of the pool. I can sort of dog paddle, but I like to imagine myself swimming across the pool with graceful even strokes. I picture some kind of Olympian swimmer.

But the imagination sometimes works better than reality. Even a choppy swimmer is better than a no swimmer. 

I'm using a little more imagination to see what's going on with Bailey and friends this week. They are nearing the end of their adventure.

BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
(Last week Bailey and Lucinda had about given up hope. Skelley is trying to straighten them out.)

   "For a truth, I'm surprised at the both of you." Skelley lifted his head to stare at them. "After all the three of us have come through, ye let one minor discouragement get you down."
   The tip of Lucinda's tail twitched back and forth faster and faster. Bailey summoned his courage and spoke up before she jumped on Skelley with her claws bared. 
   "But what can we do?" Bailey said. "Reid didn't know me. He patted my head and didn't know me."
   "Folks have their shortcomings, for a truth. Even me own master had a few. Ye just have to come up with a way to get your boy to open his eyes a tad wider."
   "How?" Bailey asked.
   "Do a trick only ye would know to do. Something he taught you. In the circus, we each had our own special trick that nobody else did. Signature tricks me master called them. Me, I walked on me front paws, easy as pie. Always made the children laugh."
   "But I don't know any tricks." Bailey thought about the red plastic toy he used to chase, but it was back at the Robinsons' house.
   The tip of Lucinda's tail stopped twitching angrily. Now her whole tail swayed back and forth. "You could be right, Skelley," she said after a minute. "All may not be totally lost."
   "I knew ye would see the possibilities, Miss Lucinda." Skelley sounded pleased but tired. "Me thinks I'd best lie down a while. I'm feeling a wee bit strange."
   The old dog collapsed on the ground with a huff of breath. He kept his head up for another moment to stare at Bailey. "Ye do know a trick, lad. Ye told me about it yourself. How your young master taught you the circus trick where Miss Lucinda rode on your back."
   "That's it." Lucinda sounded like somebody had just given her a can of tuna. "It was such a complete disaster Reid would have to remember it."
   At the sound of hope in Lucinda's voice, Bailey's tail started swishing through the leaves again. For a few seconds, he thought about how she'd stayed up on the top bookshelf for hours after they tried the trick, but decided against mentioning that. Instead, he started to thank Skelley for getting them to thinking right again. But Skelley's eyes were closed and his ribs were shuddering with every breath.
   Bailey crept over beside him, but Skelley still didn't open his eyes. "But you have to go with us. We can't leave you here."
   Skelley eased open his eyes. "Ye won't have to, lad. I'll be leaving you first."
   "What do you mean?" Bailey asked.
   Lucinda moved closer too. "We need you, Skelley. To be our ringmaster to make sure we do the trick right."
   "For a truth, I'd like that. Even without me master's baton." Skelley raised his head a bit to look at her. "But this adventure is over for me. I'm ready to start a new one."
   "You can't go on an adventure without us," Bailey said.
   "The two of ye aren't ready for this adventure, Bailey me lad." Skelley raised his head up and his ears perked up. "Do ye hear the music?"
   Bailey and Lucinda looked at each other. There was no music.
   Skelley wobbled his head back and forth as though keeping time with some tune and got a dreamy look in his eyes. "Tis our coming on song. I'll be having to go. I see my master waving me on."
   The old dog laid his head on his paws and closed his eyes. He looked to be asleep, but his bones weren't trembling the way they usually did when he slept. His chest was too still.
  Bailey gently nudged Skelley with his nose, but the old dog took no notice. Lucinda swiped at Bailey to make him back away. Then she leaned down and washed the old dog's face with her tongue. Bailey raised his nose to the sky and howled once, long and sad. Then he rested his nose lightly on Skelley's back.
   For just a second, he thought he heard circus music. Bailey shut his eyes and there was Skelley. He looked young as he ran out to jump through the hoops his master held while a host of children laughed and clapped.

(To be continued. Remember, you can read the whole story under Bailey's Bug up at the top of this article.)

Tests are the Price You Pay to Get out of School

May 23, 1966

Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. 

School is almost out! Yay!! I really do like school, but I'm always really, really glad when summer comes calling. We have about one more week. Five and one-half day to be exact. We have tests and more tests. You have to take tests or summer can't come. But nothing much else is going on. No field trips. We did that last week. We went to the park over in the next town. Hollyhill doesn't have much of a park. Just some old swings at the Legion Field. And you have to be sort of brave to swing in those. They're getting very old. My dad says he used to swing on those when he was a kid. 

Anyway we went to a different park for a picnic. I don't know why we went to a playground park. We aren't exactly kindergarten kids. Maybe they wanted us to check out the physics of seesaws and monkey bars. But it was kind of fun and there was a softball field. I am the worst player on the planet. You'd think anybody could hit a big old softball. Most anybody can. But I'm not much of a hitter. I can run pretty good so if I can get my bat on the ball at all, I usually get to first base. May not be pretty, but as long as you get a score, right? And I'm usually not the very last person picked for a team. Almost, but not quite last. A few of the girls wouldn't play. They might get their shoes dusty. Eew-wee. Poor things. 

Like I said, I'm not the best player by a long shot, but at least I'm playing. Wes says that's what's important in life. Playing whatever game you find. Oh yeah, and noticing the flowers as you pass along the road. That's Queen Anne Lace in the picture. Did you know if you put food coloring in water and then stick the stem of Queen Anne's Lace in the water, that will turn the bloom whatever color you put in the water? Well, it will. You should try it. It's fun.

Poor Bailey isn't having much fun. Do you think he's going to find a way to make Reid believe he really is his dog? Last week we left poor Bailey with Reid's mother calling the dogcatcher.

BAILEY'S BUG by Jocie Brooke
  (Continued from last week. Remember the whole story is under Bailey's Bug in the menu.)

   Reid's mother came back to the door with a piece of rope. "The dogcatcher says I should tie the animal to a post somewhere."
   "Aw, Mama, you can't just tie him up for the dogcatcher to get," Reid said. "He's a nice old dog."
   "He tried to bite you, remember?" Reid's mother frowned. "And it's the dogcatcher's job to take care of strays and locate their owners or find them new homes."
   "What if they don't find his home?"
   "I don't know, but whatever it is, the old thing will be better off. Just look at him." Mrs. Alexander pointed toward Bailey.
   Bailey flapped his tail back and forth but without much energy. He wanted to look like a dog she could like even if he couldn't look like the old Bailey she knew. But his eyes caught on the rope in her hands and he remembered the awful leash that had tried to yank him under the monster bulldozer. 
   Bailey's neck began to burn, his ears drooped, and his tail didn't have a wag left in it. Worse than all that was how a little growl gathered low in his throat as he looked at the rope.
   He tried to keep the growl inside where Mrs. Alexander couldn't hear it, but the rope swung in front of his eyes. It taunted him. His growl got louder. Mrs. Alexander stepped back. 
   Bailey knew it was wrong to growl. He knew they'd never know he was Bailey if he growled, but the growl wouldn't stop. It just keep rumbling out of him.
   He'd come miles and miles. He hadn't had a good meal for forever. He'd crossed wide rivers of roads, dodged monster cars, and braved the unknown in the woods. And now Mrs. Alexander wanted to tie him up for the dogcatcher. That woke up the growl inside him. 
   What would Lucinda tell him to do? Stop growling for sure. She'd probably swat his nose for good measure. 
   Reid watched him from the door. His eyes were sad. Maybe because Bailey was growling. So Bailey swallowed his growl and wished he could think of what else to do. He couldn't think of anything. Nothing at all. Except that he better not hang around and wait for the dogcatcher to get there. He wasn't exactly sure what a dogcatcher did besides catch dogs, but no dog he ever knew wanted to be the dogcatcher's friend. 
   Skelley and Lucinda were counting on him. Bailey looked at Reid and stopped panting long enough to pull in as much of Reid's scent as he could before he turned away. There was nothing to do but go back and ask Lucinda what to do next. 
   Bailey slinked away from the house, his tail dragging in the dirt behind him. He looked back once. Reid was standing outside watching him. Bailey wanted to go back and try one more time. He even stopped and started to turn around, but it wouldn't do any good.
   The growl started up again in his throat and this time Bailey let it grow until he happened to pass an unsuspecting cat out on its morning prowl. Bailey let out a big woof that sent the cat flashing for the nearest tree. That made Bailey feel just a wee bit better, but he didn't think he would tell Lucinda.
   Not that scaring the cat solved anything. He was hungry and tired even though Reid's sandwich had been tasty. He still had a long way to go and with no help for Skelley when he got there. 
   He knocked over three trashcans and finally found a package of meat scraps. He didn't eat even one scrap, but instead carried it in his mouth as he headed back out to the woods to give it to Skelley and Lucinda. 
   It was a long walk back.

(To be Continued)

Thanks for reading.