he Hard Way Round

A bio epic of the hardened life shared between a man and his dog. both born into a life with no resource but here own resilience.

The Hard Way Round

By:Jake DeVries Gray

Old Bourbon Dog huffed back at the wind, with a satisfied half smile. He carried a magnificently massive bull shape, hardened by hard work and age. He didn't do much hard work these days, except for the rare occasion, to prove to pup or manpup alike he was still the strongest and bravest. However most of his days were spent sitting on his well eared rug on the porch next to his man, in his well earned rocking chair. His man shares his aged hardened form, and has just been blessed with the news of his first grandson. Bourbon dog has fathered many pups, born countless grandpups, and understood the joy he felt. The two had been sitting there all day long sharing sly smiles of joyous accomplishment. Every so often the man would push his archaic leather hat out of his eyes and tell Bourbon “how nice it'll be to have an pair of small hands around the shop, once The kid learns to use em”, or “how much the misses will love having a baby to fond over”. Neither of them breaking a smile throughout the duration.

Not much was known about either of there age or breed, although they both had there guesses about age, neither could be certain. There shared sense of joyous accomplishment wasn't simply because of this momentous occasion, or even an accomplishment of age. It was something more, that even they didn't understand. It was some kind of truth they both lived. Having been born into this world, with no destiny, and no purpose, yet possing some great strength that cannot be taught or explained. They have used this strength to carve there own destiny, to create there own purpose. They saw there grandchildren and grandpups, as proof of this. While they all gathered together, on the land they earned, and worked, As there families grew, they knew without any doubt, that they had succeeded. These thoughts brought forth the memories of the hard years they fought together, and in almost perfect synchronicity, the two lost there smiles and carried identical looks of hardened fortitude. The two sat there, man and beast, and recalled all the adventures and battles. These memories always had the same ending destination. Traveling to a time years ago, when they were both barely more than child and pup. As his heavy eye lids covered his old eyes, Bourbon Dog began to feel the agony of the sharp burning dessert under his paws, feeding his adventurous determination.

The man stared strongly into the vast openness of the Arizona dessert, he looked as if he was sizing up the entire dessert, they way boxers stared each other down before a bout. He finished rolling a cigarette, and lit it with a Zippo pulled from a leather case on his belt. He looked back down at the map in his hand. He had no real understanding or experience in reading a map, but he had the controlled patients of someone who understood the uncontrollable nature of life. He knew if he stared at the map, and the dessert long enough he would start to make sense of it. He was far to young to be traveling across the dessert into Mexico, in his Chevy Silverado he got in trade for summers labor on a cattle farm, and Borbon Dog, The biggest, scariest dog he had ever met at his side. As far as he knew he was to young to have a license, having no real notion of his age. He never bothered to guess. He had been on his own since whatever age it was when he could get up and run. He had bought some papers from someone the “illegals” he flung hay with had introduced to him. This held up to the occasional traffic stop, but he wasn't willing to risk it with border patrol, which is why he was currently attempting to navigate his way through the dessert.

The man stumped out his cigarette on the hood of the truck, folded up his map, and shouted out a loud high pitched “ooowweeee” sound. From over a bank comes barreling towards the truck, a beast so large he blocks the setting sun. Bourbon Dog ran with more power and speed than one would imagine a dog his size to be capable of. The man had saved Bourbon Dog from certain death recently, and Bourbon swore to repay the effort whenever possible. As the dog reached the truck he didn't wait for the man to open his passenger door, he effortlessly leaped through the air with unbelievable grace, and somehow barely flying through the open window in which his girth almost filled, he lands perfectly in his seat. This never failed to impress the man. The man looked at Bourbon with a smile, and said” I think were headin southeast”, as he turned the truck off the dirt road, and into open dessert. Bourbon Dog returned his smile, and responded in kind with a low happy growl.

They drove for two days stopping at night for camp, and to refuel from the gas cans he filled at their last glimpse of civilization. Then when the man decided they were close to the border, They prepared to finish the last trek of there trip at night. The Dessert can be a dark and lonely place when night falls, this night was particularly dark since there was no moon, something the man was relying on. As the loneliness of this darkness began to set into the souls of both man and beast, They both let out a small gasp, and shiver considering all the unknown horrors that existed beyond the gaze of there headlights. This fear caused the man to speed up and navigate the rough terrain less cautiously than planned. As the night grew darker, and the fears inside the truck grew stronger. The man, almost unknowingly pressed harder on the gas pedal, until a sudden crash drove them both flying forward, crashing through the windshield and landing on the hard cold dirt, almost on top of each other. They both slipped in and out of consciousness throughout the night.

When they finally came to sometime the next day, Bourbon first, the the man. Bourbon limped over to the man, having damaged his leg in some manner. He licked the man's face until he came to life with a few painful coughs, opened his eyes, and bellowed, “ AWWW F**K ME”. The man looks over at bourbon, and halfheartedly asks him” You ok?” Bourbon responds with a low whimper. “Yah, me too” says the man. When the man tries to brace himself to sit up, he feels a stabbing pain in his shoulder and screams out, Which causes bourbon to bark threats to anything listening. The man uses his other arm,which he is relieved to know is undamaged, to pull himself up. As he gets to his feet he looks down and realizes one of his boots is missing, and his foot is cut and mangled past the point of recognition. He hobbled over to the truck, and Bourbon limped behind him, He now realizes that he had planted the truck in a ditch, and the entire front end had smashed into the earth. When he glared into the cab, and saw the engine block sitting where they had been he was grateful to be thrown fro the truck. He reached into the back seat and dug out the last half gallon of water they had. He wished he had brought more water, but he had expected to be there yesterday. He took a long gulp, that made him wanna chug the whole bottle. Instead he put a sparing amount in Bourbons bowl and cleaned his foot what was left. He grabbed what supplies he thought might help, and they started limping in the direction they thought was Mexico. After walking all day in the dessert sun without water, The man started wondering if they weren't just meandering into the vast open dessert. As the sun began to sink, They broke for camp. They shared a can of beans, but it just made them both thirstier. When they awoke the next day, They both felt weak, and sun baked. The mans skin and lips began to peel, and Bourbon fur felt like a heavy wet blanket he was dragging along. As they hiked that day, nausea set in almost immediately, they both stopped in intervals to dry heave empty stomachs, and when the man had dry heaved one to many times, he dropped into silents on the ground. Bourbon lied next to him dry heaving and whimpering. Every so often he would lick the mans face hoping for a response.

As the sun fell, and rose again the man still didn't move. Bourbon hadn't slept in fear that something would attack the man in his sleep. That morning Bourbon decided instead of lying next to the man to die. They were both getting out of this dessert. He bit down hard on the scruff of the mans coat, and began pulling him across the dessert floor. He pulled the man like this for another day and night without stopping, except for when the nausea became to much, he would stop and dry heave for a moment, and then continue his task. The next day, as the sun rose, Bourbon stopped pulling, let go of his bite, and dropped on top of the man, defeated and ready for death. Bourbon shut his eyes, The heartbeat of man and beast slowly faded into a resigned slumber.

Bourbon came to consciousness as he heard someone shouting and running towards them. As he strained to open his eyes, he saw a strange dark man with a rifle running towards them shouting strange words. As the man came upon the and bent to touch the mound of dying man and dog. Bourbon gave him a warning if a low growl, yet the strange mans arm kept coming towards them, his growl got stronger. The strange man slowly pulled back his hand, and chambered his rifle. The strange man said more strange words, and reached toward them again. Bourbon had no more strength that he knew of but he had to protect the man, so with strength he didn't know he possessed he roared at the strange man ripping flesh and drawing him back, vowing to kill the strange man, before he dies himself. He owed the dying man this, and he didn't care the cost. The strange man escaped Bourbon attack just long enough to fire a sing round into his body. Bourbon was thrown threw the air from the blast, and ignoring the pain, began crawling back toward the strange man growling and snapping the whole way, The strange man lifted the dieing mans upper body not being able to carry him, because of the injuries he had just faced, but eventually got him back to his truck, and drove him to his farmhouse over a mile away.

The man came to in a small room, in a hay bed. His head ached and he couldn't lift his head or sit up. He yelled out in pain when he tried, and a minute later an old farmer, with a fresh limp, and bandages on his hands appeared in the door.. “Woo, you might wanna take it easy”. The farmer left, and returned seconds later with a glass of water, and helped the man drink a few gulps, stopping him short. You'll gonna want to pace yourself”. The man swallowed, exhaled, and asked the farmer what happened. The farmer explained finding him while hunting, explained the attack of his dog, and with an apologetic tone, explained why he had to shoot him. Without saying anything, the man shut his eyes, and made a slight whimper just like Bourbon always did. And felt lonelier than he ever had. The farmer saw this and almost smiled. The man saw this and was about to make an angry gesture, when the farmer interrupted him.”You might wanna sit up, you'll have to see this to believe it.” The farmer helped the man sit up as he yelled in pain, and blood soaked his bandages. As his eyes began to focus and take in the room, He saw Bourbon dog lying at the foot of the bed, wrapped in bandages, and unable to rise to his feet, but happy as a dog can be to see the man's tear soaked smile looking down at him with his tail flapping hard against the wood floor. Ignoring the pain the man leaned over and petted Bourbon behind the ear. Bourbon smiled and cocked his head toward the man. The man gave the farmer a questioning look. “It was the damnedest thing,” said the farmer, “You've been out for three days, and after the second day , I was headin up to my place for dinner, and I see this dog dragging himself half dead up the road, and up to the door of this shed. By then he didn't have any fight in him, and I was able to patch em up. The bullet went straight through. I think he's gonna make it. He hasn't tried to kill me since. That dog's got a hell of a way of making friends. In any sense, you too are one tough pair.” This makes the man let out a painful laugh.”I'm not sure tough's got much to do with it” responds the man. Bourbon Dog agrees with the strongest bark he could muster.