Note: I found this story in my Drafts folder as I started writing it in August of 2020. It is quite an adventure that I shared with The Girls. Though dear Soozi is no longer here, I wish to share this memory with you.
Some days are more exciting than others around here. Personally, I prefer a quiet day of puttering around the kitchen interspersed with hammock siestas instead of a morning of machete-ing through dense undergrowth in search of my dogs. Pinta and Soozi's golden brown eyes and expressive faces portray a world of innocent playfulness, however, they
have the heart of a relentless hunter. There are days (mostly rainy) when they laze about the house, napping in the sunshine with an occasional foray into the forest. During their forest forays, I can hear Pinta baying as she follows a scent. Then Soozi (the black dog) starts with a high pitched yip, I know that they are tracking some jungle creature. As they travel along the riverbed of the creeks that border the property, the sounds of their excitement melt off into the distance and later intensify in volume as they return. It is when their barking rises in animation and stays in one place for more than 15 minutes that I know that they have cornered an animal.
Today is not the first time that I hustled "the girls" away from a trapped victim. It's not the second or even the third time. Each time, as I'm whacking away at the thick undergrowth while climbing up a steep slope, I think, "I must be crazy! There are snakes, spiders and other dangerous forest dwellers that might spring upon me." Pinta and Soozi are agile, athletic and smart with much more jungle experience than I. For the most part, I'm reasonably confident that they are not in danger. My actions are more for the benefit of the poor creature that they are taunting.
After almost a half hour of their animated vocalizations, M and I donned our tall rubber boots, each grabbed a machete and walked to the bottom of the property following the direction of the noise. The area around the house and halfway down the lot is wonderfully landscaped with many fruit trees, hibiscus bushes and pineapple plants. The lower half is mess of native plants mixed with a non-indigenous tree called Melina. A previous owner operated this property as a tree farm. Melina is a fast-growing softwood used for various purpose with the detriment of being an invasive species and very hard to eradicate. M and our friend Lilo who works on maintaining the property for us, are working to clear a portion of the lower lot. A few months ago, Lilo brought his chainsaw and felled many of the trees. M painted the stumps with poison, however, the species is strong. Instead of killing the stumps, there are hundreds of "sprouts" growing from the stumps. With the result that the ground is covered with long trunks of deadfall interspersed with new tree growth.
From the "Sendero" (the path through the lower lot), I could see flashes of Pinta's white tail as she darted about in the undergrowth. We could also hear a deep, throaty growl responding to the barking. M started chopping to make a path towards the dogs. Soon M came near to the source of the growling noise and decided to back off up the hill. Now the barking was coming from the creek, I walked further down the Sendero and started hacking away. I was determined to get The Girls back on their leashes. The noon day sun was beating down as I climbed over fallen tree trunks while whacking away. Also, I was carrying two dog collars and leashes. Not an easy task to clamber over fallen trunks and chop at undergrowth with both hands full. I called for them to "Come" but they conveniently forget that training once they have a quarry tracked. They listen only to their hunting instincts.
Finally, I broke through the brush and stepped into the creek. It is a very pretty creek with small rockfalls and the native trees that line the creek are tall and provide a cooling dark green shade. The creek was running with the fresh water of the previous night's rain. I scrambled up 2 meters of a water-slick rock face by jamming the toes of my boots into very shallow crevices. My first attempt landed me butt first into the shallow water. At that point, my curious canines came gamboling toward me with happy faces as if to say, "Hey Mom, what are you doing here." They didn't venture close enough for me to get a collar on either of them. I followed them back up the creek to where I discovered their object of attention. The poor little creature, I think it was a type of possum. It had a long, prehensile tail that was curled up under it. At first sight, I thought it was a snake. I was scared, startled and shouted at the dogs. Each was taking turns at baiting the milk coffee-colored creature. It had taken a defensive position where the creek bed cut into an almost vertical side of the ravine so the dogs couldn't reach it from above. Its back was pressed against the soft dirt that lines the creek and its buff-colored belly was exposed except that its long arms with sharp claws were extended to ward off the lunging dogs. From its small head with pointed noise emanated an intense hissing. I could see from its posture that the creature was exhausted. My goal was to chase the dogs away from the animal to give it a chance to escape. To get The Girls attention, I used the collar and leash like a lasso. I didn't catch either of them but the snap of the collar over their heads brought their attention back to me. They dashed up the creek in defiance and I scrambled after them to eventually secure collar and leash. They spent the rest of the day "grounded" on the terrace. I decided that I won't ever chase after them like that again. I can't protect every forest creature from The Girls. I have to protect myself from encountering any of the dangerous inhabitants out there. And I can only hope that they are smart enough not to get hurt.
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