Chet The Dog

Blue Collar Work

Back in Death Valley: me, Bernie, Addie, a big truck we’d rented and a bulldozer we towed on a trailer. Bernie loves Death Valley. He’s read lots about it – he likes a book called Death Valley and the Amargosa by Richard Lingenfelter, also likes to explore old mines.

“Here we are,” said Bernie. We stopped and got out by a pile of rubble at the bottom of a bare hillside. “Smell that air!” Bernie said. I looked at his nose, not small for a human nose, but still …

“I don’t smell anything,” Addie said.

“That’s the point,” said Bernie. “The air’s so clean.”

Whoa. They didn’t smell anything? Not one single thing? I took a quick sniff, didn’t know where to begin.

Soon Bernie was in the dozer. “You know how to operate that?” Addie said.

“Learned at taxpayer expense,” Bernie said. “In the service.”

Bernie didn’t talk much about those days. I waited for  more, but no more came.

“Where’s your hard hat?” Addie said.

“Oops,” said Bernie. “We’ll have to go home and get it.” Addie looked at him in surprise. Bernie laughed too and cranked up the dozer. It was fun being with Bernie.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:03 am and is filed under Chet The Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.