Anticipating the Great Northern Peninsula

After next week, when I'll be in Fredericton (New Brunswick, obvs), I'll be spending a lot of time in the Northern Peninsula. I just spoke with a woman from Conche, where I'll stay for the first week. It was our second conversation; the first ended with me uncertain about whether she understood that I wanted to stay in her basement apartment. She's L, for lady.

Me: I called you before about staying in your apartment?
L: Oh, yes, I knows.
Me: Great - do you have a room for June 6?
L: Oh yeah. You want to rent for the mon?
Me: [what is a mon?] Oh, no, just the week, I don't need it for the month.
L: Okay. I t'ink yer young and all, so I t'ought you'd like it for the mon. It's cheaper.
Me: That's okay, I'll just be there for a week.
L: You gots a dog, right?
Me: yeah, he's a nice one.
L: I'd like to take him fer walks.
Me: Great, yes, that would be excellent.
L: OH! Deyre's an iceberg out da window.
Me: That's wonderful! It must be beautiful!
L: No. We t'inks dey're ugly. You would t'ink dey're beautiful, 'cause you've not seen 'em.
Me: Yeah, only in pictures. I think they're beautiful, though.
L: Well, bring yer camera.
Me: What's your address?
L: [laughs] They's no address.
Me: So I just show up and ask for where L lives?
L: Yeah, dat's what you do. It's a small town. You'll like it. Quiet [pronounced "quite"] and peaceful.

So that's where I'll be, Conche.

The Story of Marvin, Part II

Marvin continued walking away from the ship, across the spongy, green ground. So many smells! Such colors! His tail wagged so vigorously that his whole body moved back and forth as he ran from smell to smell, taking the world in through his nose. He reached fast-flowing water and stopped in wonder. It was endless! He drank from it until he thought he would burst, then lay down for a while next to it, his face in a pile of rotting vegetation.

After some time, he realized how hungry he was. What would he do without the people and the cat-queens? He started to feel lonely, and sat gazing at the water for some time. Finally, he saw a quick movement out of the corner of his vision: a rat! When he turned and looked, though, he saw that it had a huge tail, and it was so fat that it could hardly run.

He sprinted after it, catching it just before it tried to leap up a tree. Overjoyed, Marvin shook his head in glee, and the squirrel died in an instant. Marvin dropped its lifeless body at his feet. Then he ate it.

He continued walking through the light-dark-light of the towering trees. He looked up and wondered at their height, and the birds in their boughs. He didn't know what they were, but he knew that they would taste as sweet as they sang. He felt that nothing could go wrong in this magical place of slow, fat food and quick-running water.

Then he heard a sound more frightening than any in his life. He could only think that a terrible creature was making the sound: a roaring, tearing sound that increased in volume, until the creature appeared, like a shiny demon. Marvin cowered in the bushes, as the creature sped away, on some unthinkable task of doom. Then another came! And another! Sometimes they traveled in packs, of twos and threes.

He stepped out into the sunshine, onto the road, and another one came and let out a shriek. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK! And Marvin dashed to the other side of the road; but not before seeing that the creature was carrying other creatures - people! He knew people, and he knew these people were angry with him. He slunk into the bushes, feeling ashamed.

Marvin continued walking through the woods, but with less hope than before. This place also had people, who probably would banish him to the walls. But if there were people, there were cat-queens, and maybe (maybe) there were even other dogs! He almost didn't dare to hope, he hadn't seen any of his kind in so long.

He came to a field, full of giant four-leggers with pendulous tails. He ran under a sharp fence and over to a four-legger, and barked a greeting. The horse just gazed down at him, until he understood that the horse didn't want to speak with him. He kept moving along, tasting some of the delicious and warm horsefood, until he reached a house. He heard yelling. People!

Two little people, children, came running out of the house, chasing each other. Marvin became excited and ran after them, but the girl child turned and yelled at him. He backed away, unsure of what to do, and then a woman came out of the house, and he let out a sharp bark, his fur standing in a mohawk on his back. She wielded a long stick and looked scared of him, which made him even more scared. He barked with all his might, and she hit him across the shoulders, and he ran, as fast as he could, across the field and past the horses and then along the fence until he was far away from those people.

Marvin reached a cluster of houses, more magnificent than anything he had ever seen. On the ship, the ship was the whole world. Here, the people lived in houses better than any ship, and he could smell that they were full of food and people and probably dogs and... and... he turned a corner and it was a cat-queen! His heart leapt and he chased her, until she disappeared under a house.

He was busily digging the dirt to get to the cat queen when he was roughly pulled back. He tried to get away, but then he felt a loop around his neck, and he was thrown into a creature, a car, all metal and cold surfaces. Other dogs were in there, and though he was first happy to see dogs, they were barking so loudly he couldn't talk to them, and he could smell that they were scared. He barked with them, but nobody could hear him over the din, so he eventually just lay down, and put his head on his paws.

He was taken to a place like a ship, but where the floors were concrete and he stood in the sun all day. The walls were wire and he could see the bright world just beyond them, but he couldn't escape. At night, he went to sleep in a giant room with all the other dogs, most of whom were mean and stupid. They made fun of his small head and they barked threats to him, and when the food was thrown into the room they got it all and Marvin had to watch the big dogs eat all the food.

One day, a white, fuzzy dog approached slowly and sat near Marvin. He leaned over, you're new here.
Marvin was so surprised - it was the first dog who'd spoken to him. Yes, he said, my ship landed near here not too long ago.
The dog didn't reply to that, but said, you need to make friends with the people who come here. Just as fast as you can, make friends with them.
Marvin agreed, because the dog seemed to know what he was talking about. The dog continued, the people come and take the dogs and they're nice to them. But if you don't get taken, then the lady in the white coat comes. And when she comes, a lot of dogs don't make it.
What do you mean? asked Marvin.
But then the other dog got excited. Look, it's people!

Marvin watched as a group of people came to the wall-fence. He sat quietly, trying to be friendly. But it was hard when they were far away. He couldn't smell them, or beg from them, so he sat still. Like a good dog. It's what his mother told him to do. Be quiet and still.

The people moved on, picking a dog from the next cell. Marvin strained to see them over the concrete wall dividing the cells. He jumped up, again and again, to watch the people choose a dog, and take the dog, and leave with the dog. Marvin knew that he had to get people to take him, or he wouldn't last long.

Day after day, the people came and looked, and Marvin stood in the sun. He got skinnier and skinnier because he couldn't get to the food fast enough, and he felt sick all the time. He could hardly sleep because his bones hurt, and one day a lady in a white coat came, and he didn't see the friendly white dog after that. But he could hardly think about it, because he was so hungry.

One day, a person came and stood in front of his cell. Marvin sat quietly. The other dogs barked, or scratched themselves, or just wandered around. Marvin watched the person. A lady. She was big and scary, and he couldn't see her eyes because she had on a hat and sunglasses. She pointed at him and he started to lay down, afraid to follow her. But the world outside must be better than here!

He straightened up as the human-keeper put a leash on him, and he trotted, as best he could, out to the lady. She put a collar on him, to mark him, and then a leash. She gave him a tasty piece of crunchy meat. He followed her to her car, and climbed in. He decided to never leave this lady, and to follow her everywhere she went. As she drove down the road, he put his head out the window, sniffing as hard as he could.

The smells were overwhelming and they were hard to understand. But he thought that he had found home.