Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Addie’

DNA, Whatever That Is

DNA comes up a lot in this job, but what it is exactly, don’t ask me.

We were in Addie’s apartment in College Town, which is near the downtown towers, but very different, with lots of grass and none of the downtown shadows. Addie’s apartment was full of light. A couple of tennis racquets stood in one corner and under the couch Bernie and Addie were sitting on lay a tennis ball, no doubt about that, even though I couldn’t see it.

“The DNA results came in,” Bernie said. “The lab says we’ve got a match.”

“Meaning it’s my great grandmother’s sister Betty?” Addie said.

“They can’t say that precisely,” Bernie said. “Just that it’s a female related to you on your mother’s side.”

“But who else could it be?” Addie said.

Bernie nodded.

“So,” Addie said, “Betty was a script girl and she was killed on the Greed shoot and no one was punished?”

“That’s it,” Bernie said.

Addie was quiet for a while. Bernie just sat there. Me, too, although I wanted to root around under the couch for that tennis ball pretty bad. Finally she said, “Should I be crying? It was so long ago.”

Bernie nodded. Then he opened up the film can with the Martin Ramirez painting inside, took out the painting – that strange picture of trains and tunnels – and said, “Can’t think of anyone else who should end up with this.”

He handed her the painting. Addie cried then, but not much.

On a Mission

We were playing fetch, me and Bernie, when the DNA results came in, at least I think that’s what happened. Bernie threw a tennis ball way down Mesquite Road and I took off after it. I heard Iggy – back inside now at his window – going yip-yip-yip. The ball was still bouncing when I snared it and then wheeled around and raced back, dropping it at Bernie’s feet. But he was distracted, as humans often are, talking on the cellphone.

Soon we hopped in the car and headed for Addie’s place. She had an apartment downtown, near the college. I love the college kids, have I mentioned that already? They’ve always got time for fun. I snatched a Frisbee right out of midair as I got out of the car. Hadn’t had quite enough fetch, that was the problem.

“Hey, mister, do you think you could get your dog to, uh …”

“Chet?”

Making Friends

It turned out Bernie could run a bulldozer, had learned in the Army. Bernie doesn’t talk much about what happened in the Army – which is where he got the wound in his leg that makes him limp sometimes – although I think there’s something about his Army days in Thereby Hangs A Tail.

Bernie ran the dozer. Addie and I stood around. She looked at me. “I’ve always been scared of dogs,” she said. Whoa. I didn’t like hearing that; from a perp, sure, but Addie was no perp. I wagged my tail and tried not to look scary. “Your teeth are so big!” What was this? My mouth was wide open for some reason? I closed it. Addie reached out, slow and careful, and gave me  a pat. I pushed against her in a friendly way. She lost her balance and almost tipped over. Humans and their two-leg problem – it always amazes me that –

“Hey!” said Bernie. “What’s that?”

Story Structure

“Yes,” said Addie, great granddaughter of Addie Kline, twin sister of Betty, script girl who disappeared. “She went for a hike and never came back. Search teams looked, but they didn’t find her.”

“Where was this?” Bernie said.

“Death Valley. She was working on the Greed shoot. My great grandmother Addie was never the same, my mom told me. Apparently she felt that part of her soul was missing. I just wanted to know if you found out anything. I don’t like stories without endings.”

“Stories without endings is the modern way,” Bernie said.

“I know,” Addie said, “but that seems perverse to me. Our lives have a beginning, middle and end, so why shouldn’t the stories about them have the same structure?”

“I don’t know,” Bernie said. “This is above my pay grade. Are you a professor or something?”

Addie smiled. “In training.”

“Got any money?”

“Some. Why?”

“We’re going to need some heavy equipment, a backhoe maybe, for a day or so.”

“What for?”

Bernie turned to me. “I think Chet knows.”

Oops. Hadn’t really been following this, mostly on account of some interesting scraps I was finding under the table.