Watchers

Travis had stored cans of beer, Diet Pepsi, and V-8 vegetable juice. It plucked another Coors from the supply, dropped to the floor, and let the refrigerator door slip shut again as it came to Travis.
    He took the beer from it. Standing with a Coors in each hand, studying the dog, he said, more to himself than to the animal, “Okay, so somebody could have taught you to open a refrigerator door. And he could even have taught you how to recognize a certain brand of beer, how to distinguish it from other cans, and how to carry it to him. But we still have some mysteries here. Is it likely that the brand you were taught to recognize would be the same one I’d have in my refrigerator? Possible, yes, but not likely. Besides, I didn’t give you any command. I didn’t ask you to get me a beer. You did it on your own hook, as if you figured a beer was exactly what I needed at the moment. And it was.”
    Travis put one can down on the table. He wiped the other on his shirt, popped it open, and took a few swallows. He was not concerned that the can had been in the dog’s mouth. He was too excited by the animal’s amazing performance to worry about germs. Besides, it had held each can by the bottom, as if concerned about hygiene.
    The retriever watched him drink.
    When he had finished a third of the beer, Travis said, “It was almost as if you understood that I was tense, upset—and that a beer would help relax me. Now, is that crazy or what? We’re talking analytical reasoning. Okay, so pets can sense their masters’ moods a lot of the time. But how many pets know what beer is, and how many realize what it can do to make the master more mellow? Anyway, how’d you know there was beer in the fridge? I guess you could’ve seen it sometime during the evening when I was fixing dinner, but still . .
    His hands were shaking. He drank more of the beer, and the can rattled lightly against his teeth.
    The dog went around the red Formica table to the twin cabinet doors below the sink. It opened one of these, stuck its head into the dark space, and pulled out the bag of Milk-Bone biscuits, which it brought straight to Travis.
    He laughed and said, “Well, if I can have a beer, I guess you deserve a treat of your own, huh?” He took the bag from the dog and tore it open. “Do a few Milk-Bones mellow you out, fur face?” He put the open bag on the floor. “Serve yourself. I trust you not to overindulge like an ordinary dog.” He laughed again. “Hell, I think I might trust you to drive the car!”
    The retriever finessed a biscuit out of the package, sat down with its hind legs splayed, and happily crunched up the treat.
    Pulling out a chair and sitting at the table, Travis said, “You give me reason to believe in miracles. Do you know what I was doing in those woods this morning?”
    Working its jaws, industriously grinding up the biscuit, the dog seemed to have lost interest in Travis for the moment.
    “I went out there on a sentimental journey, hoping to recall the pleasure
    I got from the Santa Anas when I was a boy, in the days before . . . everything
    turned so dark. I wanted to kill a few snakes like I did when I was a kid,
    hike and explore and feel in tune with life like in the old days. Because for
    a long time now, I haven’t cared whether I live or die.”
    The dog stopped chewing, swallowed hard, and focused on Travis with undivided attention.
    “Lately, my depressions have been blacker than midnight on the moon. Do you understand about depression, pooch?”
    Leaving the Milk-Bone biscuits behind, the retriever got up and came to him. It gazed into his eyes with that unnerving directness and intensity that it had shown before.
    Meeting its stare, he said, “Wouldn’t consider suicide, though. For one thing, I was raised a Catholic, and though I haven’t gone to Mass in ages, I still sort of believe. And for a Catholic, suicide is a mortal sin. Murder. Besides, I’m too mean and too stubborn to give up, no matter how dark things get.”
    The retriever blinked but did not break eye contact.
    “I was in those woods searching for the happiness I once knew. And then I ran into you.”
    “Woof,” it said, as if it were saying, Good.
    He took its head in both his hands, lowered his face to it, and said, “Depression. A feeling that existence was pointless. How would a dog know about
    those things, hmmm? A dog has no worries, does it? To a dog, every day is a joy. So do you really understand what I’m