Harry and the Otters
Many years ago, before the reign of Blue the dog, there was another dog. His name was Harry, we adopted him from the SPCA in south Sacramento shortly after getting married. Even though he was still a young pup, Harry never forgot where he came from and was always filled with gratitude.
We moved several times during Harry’s life, but he liked best the places that offered easy access to natural spaces. I think he liked living a block from the bay in Vallejo the most, there were several vacant lots and one really nice field not far away.
He enjoyed exploring the natural world and we indulged him whenever possible. Even a grassy lot of no great consequence can yield a treasure of sniffings and possibly birds to flush. He meant no harm to anyone, man or beast, mostly he wanted to play – frolic and cavorting were also welcome.
After Vallejo, we came back to West Sac and lived in kind of a dump just a few blocks from the river. If time and weather permitted, Harry and I would go to the river twice a day, there’s a park on my side of the river. The other side is the touristy Old Sacramento with its paddle boat taking up a big chunk of the view. A stone’s throw upriver is Discovery Park, where the American joins the Sacramento River and it’s a popular waterway for recreational boaters.
But on our side, the riverbank is a small strip of untamed wilderness, always changing with what the river brings forth. When the water is low enough, small sandy beaches dot the strip and those micro beaches were Harry’s premier choice. He always wanted to get down to the river’s edge, to run in the water chasing sticks or butterflies. He loved it when the wakes of passing boats broke over the beach, Harry would try to bite the little waves, try to catch them as he ran along. But for all his trying, my boy never caught a single wavelet. It never dimmed his love of the chase though, and the sheer joy of splashing through the water.
As much as he loved morning walks (or late-morning or afternoon or…), the evening walk was always the best. That walk included my husband and that meant rougher terrain could be trod. They would leap over driftwood and clamber past muddy outcroppings as I picked a slightly cleaner path for myself. Harry would always keep an eye on me though, he always knew where I was and never got too far ahead that I was left unprotected in the wilds.
But many evenings were extra special, if we timed it so we got to the river just as the twilight lost its last gleaming and the soft darkness began to close in, Harry’s best friends would come out to play. The river’s edge is a temporary home for many creatures and a family of river otters carved out a place for themselves. Night after night, it was always the same, Harry always knew where to find them and they weren’t shy about making themselves known. After a flurry of noise and splashes upon our arrival, all would get quiet. Then, a few feet downriver, one of them would surface and get Harry’s attention. The otter would splash and chitter in the dark, making sure it kept the dog looking that way.
Harry would lean and pull, trying to get further into the water as the otter stayed far enough away to tease him. This gave all the other otters the chance to circle back around and take up positions behind the dog. Once some super-secret otter signal was given, the whole lot of them would jump up out of the water behind Harry, all of them splashing and making noise. He would then happily bark and splash around futilely trying to catch one until everything got ominously quiet again.
And then, just a little bit downriver, an otter would pop up and get Harry’s full attention all over again.
There are many special moments with Harry in my memory, he was my most special guy and I still miss him. But lately the memory of Harry and the otters has been on my mind. Maybe it’s because everything seems so dark and awful right now because of my father’s illness, Blue’s illness. Maybe remembering that, keeping that front and center is my lifeline to myself, to remind me that there is never darkness without light. Life is hard, but life is also sweet. Life is full of bad surprises and pain, but it also offers up the occasional otter and makes it all worthwhile.
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