Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller

Author:Carol Emshwiller [Emshwiller, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, novel
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Published: 2010-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: The Call of the Wild

Daphne has escaped the god's embraces, which, promising love would but result in ungraceful fertility.

—T. E. Hulme

Is not virtue, after all is said and done, invariably triumphant?

Or is it?

Pooch wonders whether, first, one wouldn't have to define the terms. One would probably have to interpret triumphant quite broadly in order to make it invariably triumphant. And therefore wouldn't it often happen, in the end, that the triumph might be just in the mind of the virtuous as she falls in defeat? But also, how would one define virtuous? And, whatever it is, has she herself, though always trying hard, really been it? What of the episode with the sybarite, for instance, and of the fact—yes, it is a fact—that she ... well, more or less, wanted to? What of her vicious attack on the doctor? Though was it not for the baby's sake? Has she not always remained faithful to the baby and to her beloved master as well as to his principles? But has she remained faithful to her sex ... to her sisters? Lived up to the SPCAC standards? Has she remained faithful to the earth in the way that Rosemary was talking about it—the earth as the mother of us all? Has she had the presence of mind to worship, now and then, the sun as well as the dirt she walks on? Has she ever hugged a big tree? Or even a small one for that matter? Has she chewed grass recently? Perhaps today can be a day for all those things and not to worry about how she's dressed. Virtue, after all, wears many faces. She should be proud, even without her earrings and such.

By now the baby seems to have gotten over its first fear of her in the Rosemary mask and paint rags. Or maybe bouncing along outside with plenty of things to see has distracted it. Also it has another dog biscuit to chew on. In fact, Pooch herself is chewing on one too, though reluctantly. She read the list of ingredients on the package and they seem to be made mostly of cereals and dried milk, being specially formulated for puppies, but there was also mention of bone meal. Whose bones? she wonders. Still, she must keep up her strength if she's to be any good to anybody. Would her comrades at the pound deny her this? In similar circumstances she would be only too glad to help a hungry friend as long as the friend had no other source of food and was actively trying to prevent the whole business of pet food from animal sources. Pooch hopes soon to be involved in that struggle as well as in promoting social change in many other areas, if only things would settle down and she could be free for such activities. But right now she is happy enough to have a nice little bag full of the biscuits. She promises herself she will not eat more than just this one because, anyway, they must be saved for the baby.

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