Bailey, The Barking Basset of Benton County Page 2

By Theresa Vann

Bailey had life organized just as he liked it and then summer came. One weekend Kate and Matt loaded six horses into a blue horse trailer and drove away to a horseshow. Theresa came to look after the three dogs, five cats, three ferrets, two llamas, and the forty-four remaining horses. Tony and Shayne stayed with relatives.

Liam and Fay, the big mastiff, were sad that Kate and Matt left but also happy.

"Theresa is almost a dog," said Liam.

"She gives us treats when she finishes chores," said Fay.

"Are Matt and Kate coming back?" asked Bailey.

Bailey was bothered. No Matt; no Kate; no Tony; no Shayne. "I don't think they're coming back," said Bailey.

Fay began to worry too. "Maybe they won't," she said. "What have we done wrong? And what will we do?"

"It's ok, Fay," said Theresa (who was, after all, almost a dog and so she understood Fay.) "You're a good girl, and Kate and Matt will be back on Sunday."

But Theresa was barely a Basset, and Bailey didn't believe her. Bailey was a basket case. He went down the long driveway, past Matt's vegetable garden and the pond and into the street. There he lay down right in the middle of the street so he could see Matt the minute he came back. He also thought that Matt could see him in the middle of the street if Bailey dozed off.

"Bailey!" bawled Theresa. "Get out of the street this instant!"

Theresa seemed really upset, so Bailey looked for other places to wait for Matt. He found the ditch by the side of the road made a fine Basset Boulevard. There he happily promenaded, baying at all the cars and trucks going by in case Matt was in them. From the road the only thing that people could see (if they were looking for it) was his waving tail.

Theresa made him come inside the fence before the neighbors complained. "Honestly," she said

to Nancy, who came to plant a garden for Matt and Kate. "that dog is more demanding than the forty-four horses, five cats, three ferrets, two llamas, Fay, Liam, and the tropical fish all put together."

"Fish?" thought Bailey. "What are they?"

Bailey saw that Nancy was creating a perfect Basset bower just opposite the door. "Aha!" thought Bailey. "I can watch for Matt there while I figure out the fish,"

As soon as Nancy put her tools in her car and drove away, Bailey built himself a Basset bunker under the bougainvillea bush. There he hunkered down, while Fay sunbathed and Liam swam in the pond.

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