Mason's Transformations - Chapter 6

Mason's Transformations
The Desert Walk


Mason lay there on top of his wool bed as Adam shut the door. The sun was now beaming into the window and Mason stared for a moment into the desert sky. From the kitchen, Mason could hear Adam's footsteps walking to and from each cabinet and then up the staircase to the second floor. The only other sounds had been Cruiser, who was now gently sleeping on Mason's back, and snoring large lung-fulls of air. For a brief moment, it seemed like time had been forgotten and Mason felt comfortable in his position. Adam and Cruiser felt closer to him than he could express and he lay there in this perfect moment, listening to the sounds of the slumbering pup and his handler's footsteps.


"Is this how I am going to spend the rest of my life?" thought Mason, as Cruiser repositioned his head to rest in the small of Mason's back. Although Mason felt happy, he still didn't want to be a dog for the rest of his life. He wanted to find his lost memories and regain his sense of self again. But there was something inside of him that also wanted to stay with Adam and Cruiser. Internally, he felt as if two forces were at war with each other and the only outcome was a harsh stalemate. And even more strangely, there were moments when he felt like both forces were fading away. With a shudder Mason thought if emptiness was the feeling that "successful experiments" had, forgetting for a moment his voice only came out in low barks. "Are you a successful experiment when you lose your sense of self?" Mason thought and dismissed that idea once he thought of Cruiser and all they had done to him. Yet, there he was lying next to Mason, both "failed" experiments.


After that, Mason tried to recollect his thoughts, but nothing had come to mind. Cruiser had awoken from Mason's low barking and he proceeded to lick Mason's back. An action that proved very distracting. But before Mason had the chance to retaliate, Cruiser had already moved to the door and was wagging what Mason had recognized as a surgically implanted tail. Mason stood up and trotted over to the door, while Cruiser sniffed around the edges. A few moments later, the door opened slowly and Adam walked in with two leashes in hand. "Good boys!" he said, giving them each a scratch behind the ear. Mason enjoyed this, over anything he had experienced with Adam, thus far. In fact, by the time Adam had finished, Mason still hadn't realized his leg had been kicking in pleasure. He loved being treated like this, and at the very same time, felt it was humiliating. However, once Mason floated back to reality, Adam clicked the two leashes on the dogs and Cruiser bolted forward out of the room. "Come on boy." Adam said to Mason. "We're going for a walk today." And Mason edged his way out of the room slowly feeling the soft tug of the leash around his neck.


The three of them made their way into the living room of the house, where Mason had once stood, frightened and cold. Everything had looked the same, but there were now more objects around that signaled a pup had lived there. And Mason remembered all of Adam's shuffling in the kitchen hours before. Cruiser was beginning to paw at the door and Adam opened it and ventured outside with the two pups. The sun was bright in the sky as they stepped into the desert now, but the cool air made it seem like it was still very early. The slight breeze was perfect on Mason's skin and they all proceeded down the big stone steps and onto the dusty desert floor. Mason, was surprised at how soft the ground felt on his paws. He was sure that the rocky ground would have been unbearable. But as he strode alongside Cruiser, he never once felt the impact and soon it slipped from his mind completely. The three of them continued to walk the dusty brush alongside the road and Mason, once or twice, thought he smelled another animal lurking in the bushes and out of his sight. He stopped to relieve himself on a nearby bush and was oddly satisfied by alerting the other nearby animals of his scent.


They continued further down the path and Mason realized that the dirt road was a gigantic circle around the house. Soon, they would be right back where they started and still have gotten a fairly tiring walk around the desert. Adam stopped for a moment next to the side of the road and peered at something in the distance. From Mason's height it was too difficult to look over the brush and make out what Adam was viewing, but he could still see some type of tower off in the distance. Cruiser's leash clinked, which meant he had found something particularly interesting to sniff and Mason turned to see the pup looming over a pile of bushes. Mason looked at Adam, who realized what was happening and rushed over to Cruiser. Before Mason had realized it, Cruiser had hurt himself and began to yelp and whimper. Once he got in range of the two, Mason looked to see what had happened. Mason glanced over at the plant and realized the pup had stuck his nose in some barbed cactus and a large patch of needles now clung to Cruiser's cheek. Adam was holding the pups squirming paws to prevent him from pawing at his wound, and finding no way to pull out the barbs, picked Cruiser up and held him over one shoulder. Adam asked Mason to follow him, and the two made their way back to the house. Mason very well knew that Adam was no longer holding onto his leash, but he wouldn't run away, he felt too connected. And as his leash dragged on the ground, he would have felt abandoned if he hadn't realized Adam was right there next to him. And as they walked up the stone steps and into the house, Adam opened the door, and although worse for wear, they were back were they had started, the desert cabin.


It took a half an hour to pull out all the barbs from Cruisers cheek, but Adam sat there quietly and consoled the poor pup as he continued to whimper. Mason looked at the tears streaming down Cruiser's face, and thought that even after being "erased" he was still the very same boy from Mason's dream. Once Adam had finished pulling out all the barbs, he placed a salve on top of the wound and a large embarrassing donut around Cruiser's neck to prevent him from irritating it. Cruiser, looked miserable with his donut and refused to budge from his spot. It was only when Adam had placed a treat next to cruiser's face, that he slowly but surely took it in and chewed it enjoyably. And no sooner was the treat gone, that Cruiser lay his head flat and miserably to the ground, this time however, glancing back and forth at Adam and hoping another treat might come his way. Mason made his way over to the new heap and licked the salve on Cruiser's cheek. However, Mason found it tasted rather gross and licked his lip repeatedly to get the nasty taste out of his mouth. His throat still felt a little dry from the walk, but Mason didn't care. He was happy Cruiser was okay. Adam soon placed two bowls of water on the floor for the pups, and both drank happily. But is was Cruiser who had covered the entire bowl with his donut and Mason wondered how much was actually getting into the pups mouth.


Once the bowls were dry, Adam led the dogs back into Mason's room. It took a little extra effort to move Cruiser, after drinking the water, he had returned to a heap on the floor. But a little coercing with a treat changed that very quickly. Once, inside, Adam closed the door again and Cruiser moved to Mason's fluffy wool bed and collapsed. His bright and energetic personality had become mopey and depressing with the donut around his neck. And Mason, although a little territorial of his wool blanket, let Cruiser have possession of it, given his wound. Finding no other spot around the room, Mason made his way over to the recovering pup. And rest his head gently in the small of the other pup's back. Slightly comfortable and feeling the warmth of Cruiser, Mason nodded of to sleep again. And knew the other pup had done just the same.

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