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Title: 12. Search and Rescue Summary: A family picnic and a call from Search and Rescue gives Belun a chance to shine. The kids in Jeff's family had gone all out for a celebration. My brother in law's face was so red that it gleamed. His grin stretched ear to ear. I loved seeing Jeff like this. Jeff is one of the least complicated relationships in my life. I may have manipulated the hell out of him, but I had saved his life and helped him find out who he was. Our canine family had been invited as well. They romped on the lawns of the institute. We had decided to have the father's day picnic here because it had the most room. The pack careened on the lawn minus Chance, who was at Matilda's side. The scarred pit bull wasn't dog aggressive, but his joy wasn't play. His joy was work. Her brown hands rested on his huge boulder of a head as she directed the older kids in a sack race. I saw Mervin hopping in one of the traditional potato sacks along with Paul. Mervin's adoption was finalized yesterday along with Kit's adoption. He and Paul were legally brothers now, but it was just gloss on what had been truth from the start. Mervin's mother had relinquished her parental rights. His father, Billy Ray Rogers, had opposed the termination of his father's rights. The judge on the bench had not only terminated the rights; he had required the state agency to file child abuse charges after hearing Mervin's testimony. The charges were still pending, but I expected that Billy Ray was going to spend more than a few years in jail. Too bad we couldn't just feed him to the dogs he abused. Mulder's arm snaked around my waist. He grinned at me and whispered, "I wouldn't mind getting in the sack with you." "Trust you to make an innocent childhood game sound pornographic," I said. I turned my mouth into his kiss and said, "I knew there was something I like about you." Mulder rolled his ice cold glass against the back of my neck. I shivered with the sensation, my body so conditioned to react to him that I could feel the beginnings of a hard on. Not appropriate to Jeff's father's day bash. Walter's deep voice shouted from an impromptu tag football game. I grinned and said, "Want to get in on that? Play a game of grab ass?" Walter was looking good, wearing a pair of cutoff jeans that rode his ass tightly. He had his favorite sleeveless sweatshirt top on. A baseball cap protected his scalp from the sun. A dark line of sweat ran down the heather grey fabric...it reminded me of the way I liked to run my tongue down Walter's spine. Must be the sun turning a guy's heart to lust. I nuzzled Mulder's neck. Before we could join the football game, my cell phone rang. "Alex..." Mulder complained. "You couldn't have left that home?" "I'm still on call," I said. I looked at the number before I answered. It was Search and Rescue. I sighed and said, "Alex Krycek, what's up?" "Sorry, Alex," Deb's voice said. Deb was SAR's weekend emergency intake. She was in a wheelchair, her health fading day by day with MS, but that didn't stop her from volunteering. She was indomitable. "We have a three year old girl who wandering away from her birthday party. They were at Occoneechee State Park. Parents were squabbling and when they decided to stop fighting long enough to see what the kids were doing, the youngest was missing," Deb said. "That was two hours ago and they haven't found her yet." Shit. There was no way I could refuse this one. I called for Belun and walked toward our van. We had to take the van today. No way out of it with four big dog kennels and three big men. I had planned to go out on my own with Belun, but Walter showed up as I put Belun in his working harness. "Trouble?" Walter asked. "Little girl missing at Occoneechee Park," I said. "I'll get the boys," Walter said. I could have said that it wasn't necessary and that I was the one on call this weekend. I could have wasted my breath. I smiled instead and said, "At least, Belun is happy." "Makes you wish you were a dog," Mulder grumbled. "Deliriously happy because someone interrupted your day off to put you to work..." Walter grinned and said, "I should have supervised dogs. Some of my agents were pissed when I interrupted their work for work." "Hey, I liked my work," Mulder said. "I just didn't like the paperwork. Pluto, Mars, and Belun don't have to file reports." "I knew you had paper training trauma," I snickered as I tightened the last knot. Mulder smacked me on the ass and said, "Good luck." I helped Walter harness up the boys. Pluto gave me a big kiss on the face. You have never lived until you have been kissed by a bloodhound. Pluto's tongue was the size of a small washcloth. His velvety flews trailed wetly across my face. I felt a trail of slobber. Nice... Wiping my face, I put Belun in his kennel and opened the door for Pluto as Walter finished with Mars. Spooky whined and tried to get in the van too. "Not this time, guy," I said, leaving out the comment to Mulder that he should train Spooky for SAR too. I watched Mulder bound across the grass with Spooky, who had already forgotten his momentary disappointment. The sun hit Mulder just right, lighting his long legs, his lean back, and his tight round ass. Spooky jumped up on him and they stopped to romp together. Never thought I would ever see a happy Mulder. It was good. Looks like the parents of little Helen were getting their act together. They were holding onto each other and to the poor older brother who they thought was watching the little girl. The father had thin dishwater blond hair, a mild paunch, and was wearing blue shorts. His legs were a blinding white as if they had never been touched by the sun before today. He had a long nose and an upwards tilted chin. The mother was pretty enough, round face, pert nose, and tiny mouth. She had big brown eyes...currently framed with smeared mascara and red rims. She wore a white halter top and tight fitting cutoffs. Her hair was caught back in a pony tail. The son looked about nine or ten, thin, worst of both parent's features, eyes like a pound puppy. He had a scab on his right elbow and a scattering of freckles over his crooked nose. If they had been yelling at the boy, I might have knocked the dad on his ass. It would have reminded me too much of Mulder. He still woke up screaming, "I'm sorry, Mom." He usually yelled that right after screaming his sister's name. Walter and I unloaded the dogs, Pluto and Mars already whuffling in the air as if they had an inborn knowledge of what scent they were searching for. Belun pranced up to the boy and play bowed. He tried to look away, but my dog hooked a paw around his leg and pulled on it. "Is he a real search and rescue dog?" the kid asked. "He is," I said. "I thought they were supposed to be like those dogs," the boy said, pointing at the nobly posing Pluto and Mars. "Sometimes," I said. "I know a pit bull search and rescue dog. He's a good boy." "What kind of dog is he?" the boy said. "He's mixed breed," I said. The kid responded to one more nudge of Belun's nose and hugged him. Belun kissed him back, wagging his crooked tail. He left a few mottled colored hairs on the boy's black tee shirt. By this time, Pluto and Mars had already sniffed at the girl's sweater. It was Belun's turn. He cocked his head, that one ear that never managed to grow upright flopping towards his eye. He looked up at me and wagged his tail. I smoothed down the cow lick of fur that swirled around his rear. He might never be an elegant dog, but I thought he was beautiful. His soul was lovely. All three dogs sniffed the ground in circles. Pluto took the scent first. He swiveled his head, gigantic ears waving in the breeze, nose working the ground he moved toward the lake. I could hear a collective sigh. I think we were all hoping she went towards the woods. Once we reached the water's edge, the dogs all continued to sniff. It looked as if the little girl had played in the lake, wandering around with a stick. Pluto and Mars bayed, an awesome, soul chilling sound. They pointed their noses toward the water. I heard the parent's sobbing. The police officer, who had called Mecklenburg SAR, said, "We'll drag the lake." Pluto and Mars strained toward the water and Belun gave a wiggle, surprising me by breaking loose. Before I could stop my dog, Belun plunged into the lake. I yelled, "Not now, Belun!" Ever since Spooky joined the pack, Belun had decided he was a water dog too. You couldn't keep him from swimming. There went a couple hundred dollars of equipment. Damn! Belun didn't listen when I called him back. He swam like a dog on a mission. He seemed to be headed for a floating dock with a row boat tethered to it. A wild thought ran through my head. Could Helen be on the dock? No, a three year old couldn't swim that far. Belun was just being contrary. Belun had no interest in the dock. He was pawing the row boat in a demented fashion. The boat floated away from the dock and suddenly a tiny head popped over the edge. "Doggy, doggy!" a small voice said. "Helen!" the girl's mother cried. "That's Helen. Oh, thank God!" Walter was pulling off his Mecklenburg SAR tee shirt and the long pants he had put on to go on the mission. He still wore his cutoffs beneath. I admired his torso and his long legs as Walter ran into the water. My man was fine! Walter hit the water with his strong, steady over hand stroke when he was deep enough. Meanwhile, Helen leaned over the side of the boat. Belun barked, nudging her back. The boat drifted away from the floating dock, demonstrating what had happened. Someone had forgotten to tie the boat to the ramp. It had drifted out to the lake until it bumped into the floating dock and stopped. Naturally, we assumed that the boat was tied to the dock and had been there the entire day. Walter reached the row boat. Between Walter and Belun, the rowboat was guided back to the dock. Walter then crawled onto the dock, emerging from the lake like some demi god, droplets of water dancing off his broad shoulder and that back I loved to kiss. Using the more stable platform, Walter climbed back into the rowboat and took out the paddles, rowing back to the lake shore. Belun followed, but beat Walter back, running out of the water and drenching everyone. The little girl's mother couldn't wait to hug someone or something. She grabbed Belun and hugged him, ignoring the effects of long haired, shedding dog and lake. Her halter top and shorts would never be the same. The father ran out to help Walter bring the boat to shore. A moment later, daddy was whirling the toddler around in his arms. "Helen, Helen, Helen!" The ruffled sun dress was a little worse for wear. The girl's ribbons were coming untied from her light brown hair, but she was cute as a button anyway. Her mother hugged Helen and then the entire family was embracing. "What were you arguing about anyway?" I asked when the celebration died down. "He promised Helen a puppy," the mother said. "I didn't want to take care of a puppy and two kids." "Oh," I said, my hand stroking Belun's wet fur. "I always thought they were useless," the mother said. "They're good friends," I replied, thinking of Pluto and Mars keeping me warm when I was hiding in the kennel and spying on Walter. "I can see that," the woman said, hugging Belun again. Writing down the phone number for Gina's kennel, I said, "We give a free lecture once a month on responsible dog ownership. Why don't you come? Make up your mind based on facts?" "Thank you," the mother said. "Ready to rejoin the party?" Walter asked me. "More than," I said. "Do you think Belun knew the girl was in the boat or did he just want to go for a swim?" Walter asked me. "Who cares?" I said. "Sometimes being a hero is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Belun found her. That's all that counts." We headed back to the father's day celebration, arriving in time to grab the last steaks off the barbecue. Mulder could tell by our grins that it was one of the good missions. As for Belun, once I had his ruined harness off, he found Spooky and the two dogs went swimming. Life is its own reward for dogs. Not a bad way to live... The end (Happy Birthday, Helen)
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