A Dog in the Sewer

            As children, suspicion falls on us far less than it should. The 70’s were a prime time for kidnappings and murder, which I suppose makes some sense as to what happened. It seems so weird looking back; how carefree and trusting everyone was. I guess that’s partially why it happened: my friends and I were just too trusting.

            I grew up in a small no-name town in Oklahoma, the kind where everyone knew everyone and us kids had a tendency to flock to each other. School was a week behind us as we basked in the summer sun, taking our fill of all the fun we could have. Jimmy suggested swimming, but since none of our parents owned a pool and we owned no money, our next best bet was spending time down by the quarry.

It was just the four of us that day: Jimmy, Adam, Ed, and me. Most folks thought it weird that a girl liked to spend her time wrestlin’ and rumblin’ with the boys, but I was just as much a boy as them, my mother liked to say.

“TSUNAAAMIIIIII,” Ed yelled, shoving a wave of water into me.

It hit me like a brick and I tumbled underneath the surface. I opened my eyes and grappled his leg to pull him under with me. I popped out of the water, gasping for air, eyes burning. The boys were laughing like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen. I caught my breath, rubbed the water from my eyes, and curled my arms up in a flexing pose.

“And the Mermaid Princess of War wins again!” I flashed a grin at the laughing duo. Ed popped up behind me with a gasp.

“Dang Marjie, you did it again,” said Adam, his face still bright with laughter.

“Dang right I did! Strongest in the west.” I pretended to blow smoke from the tips of my fingers and holster them. Adam and Jimmy laughed again as Ed grabbed my shoulder for balance.

“Marjorie, you pulled me too hard,” he whined, rubbing his eyes. I rolled mine.

“C’mon you big baby, you’re okay.” He held onto my shoulder as I guided him back to dry land. The other boys joined us as I threw a towel over his head.

“Another round anyone?”, asked Jimmy. “I feel the fightin’ spirit in my BONES.” He posed like Terry Funk.

“Eehh, it’s getting kinda orange out,” replied Adam, hand saluted to his head, staring into the sky. He was right, the day was ending and our parents wouldn’t want us out for much longer.

“Man, I almost had her this time,” said Ed, patting sand off his feet and putting his sandals on.  Adam punched him jokingly. We laughed.

Adam’s house was on the other side of the river from ours, so soon it was just Jimmy, Ed and I. I lingered behind them, daydreaming as they argued over who would be a better superhero. We passed an old sewer tunnel, and something from within caught my attention. Faint as it was, it was enough to make me stop. The noise came again, clearer this time despite the echo. It sounded like a hurt animal crying out – sorta like a dog, but I couldn’t be too sure.

“Hey guys,” I called, “come here!” The boys as they ran up to me, further away than I expected. I kept my gaze on the dark wall of the sewer’s inside, listening intently.

“What’s happenin’, Marj?”

“I heard somethin’. I think it’s a dog.”

“A dog?”, asked Ed, as I began to set my bag down. “In the sewers?”

“It sounded hurt,” I said, seeing the disbelief on their faces. I crouched and cooed into the tunnel. The sound came again, and Ed jumped. This time it sounded more clearly like a whimpering dog, possibly injured. Jimmy stood there, peering into the tunnel.

“We can’t just go in, Marjie,” he said. “What if it’s rabid or somethin’?”

“We can’t just leave it in there, it sounds hurt.”

Jimmy and I locked eyes – he knew I wasn’t about to leave any sooner than Ed was about to go in. He sighed and reached into his sack. Out came a pack of beef jerky.

“It’s gettin’ too dark to go in there and help,” he opened the pack and set the jerky a little ways into the tunnel entrance. “But we can try and lure it out with some food. We’d best tell the firemen so they can come tomorrow and try to save it.”

I huffed and looked at Ed who nodded his head in a cowardly agreement. The dreamy hues of sundown glinted off Jimmy’s eyeglasses. I sighed.

“Fine. I’ll talk to my daddy and get him to call the fire department. I just wanted to save the little guy.” Something tugged at my heart.

“What would we even do with a hurt dog? We ain’t adults.” Ed looked back and forth between us. He was right. We didn’t know the first thing about taking care of animals.

With that, it was decided.  I would talk to my dad about saving the sewer dog, and we would all enjoy the rest of our summer. I took one last look at the jerky as we walked off, the faintest sound of the dog whimpering echoed distantly.

Once I got home, I ran inside and quickly took a shower. At dinner I talked about my day, all the fun had, and after everyone had eaten, I went to my father to talk to him about the dog in the sewer. Dad scrunched his face up in a way that told me he wasn’t too sure about what I was saying. I held my breath, knowing it was a long shot. Eventually, after a few long seconds, he patted my shoulder.

“Sure, Marjie,” he said, “I’ll call the fire department and let them know.” I hugged him tight. I gave him all the information he needed to lead the firemen to the right place.

“And tell them that we left jerky by the tunnel entrance to try and lure him out. If it’s gone they don’t have to worry.” He kissed my forehead and I ran to my room, ready for bed.

It’s exciting, the feeling of doing the right thing. I remember thinking to myself how good it would be to be the hero of the day. Scenarios played out in my head. Thoughts of the dog, a sick emaciated thing that would be carried from the sewers and given a new life. Everything was perfect in my mind, and slowly the world faded.

Adam didn’t believe us when we told him. He thought we were pulling a prank.

“There’s no way a dog made its way into the sewer. Especially if it was hurt.” He stood with his arms crossed, skepticism plastered on his face. The sun beat down on us from the park swings.

“He coulda been dumped there!” I argued. I could feel my face burning. Adam rolled his eyes.

“Who would be so terrible as to ditch a dog to die?”

 I angrily stomped in a circle and Jimmy stepped in.

“Come down to the tunnel. I’ll bet they already found it.” Alex stared at him for a good while, scoffed, then finally agreed. When we reached the mouth of the tunnel, I immediately noticed the jerky, which sat seemingly undisturbed. The firemen were getting ready to leave. I asked them about the dog.

“Sorry, little lady, but there wasn’t any animal in there,” said the fireman. “Not a single sound all morning. Whatever you heard must’ve left.”

I could feel Adam’s smirk burrowing into the back of my head. My cheeks grew hot as the firemen grouped into the truck and left. When I turned around, the boys looked at me with a mix of concern and relief, Adam included.

“It’s okay, Marj,” said Ed. “I’m sure the dog’s fine.”

“Yeah...”

A part of me was relieved. A part of me was upset. Overall, I was happy that the dog was presumably safe. We left the sewer’s maw, off on another adventure - the likes of which could only be had by young minds during summer. For a while, I forgot about the dog in the sewer.

Two weeks later we were headed home from the arcade. Adam walked with us, munching on a popsicle - he and Ed were slated to have a sleepover that night. We were laughing, telling jokes and doing impressions, when we walked past that sewer tunnel. This time, the sound came loud enough to catch all of us. A whine, the kind a dog makes when it’s hurt. We were all shocked at first, then my brain kicked into overdrive.

“HAH!” I pointed at Adam, then I ran to the sewer entrance. I whistled best I could into the sewers and that distant, echoey whimper came from the darkness. I whipped my head back to the boys, who all looked dumbfounded.

“We gotta save this dog.” It came out more demanding than I expected. The four of us scrambled back to our houses to prepare for the rescue.

We reconvened at the sewer entrance, armed with dog treats and boots. Ed dropped his sack and handed flashlights to each of us. I took mine, turned it on and shone it into the tunnel. It split not far from the opening. I took lead, walking the ten feet to the split and called out for the dog. I heard that familiar whine echo through the tunnel to my left.

“He’s down here!”, I yelled back at them as I stepped into the offshoot. I heard them follow suit, Jimmy shouting for me to wait. They’d keep up; I wasn’t that far ahead. I made my way through the corridor, stopping every minute or so to call out, following whatever direction the sound came from.

After a few minutes of walking, the sewer opened up - the walls moving away as I entered a large open area. I stopped, my flashlight unable to reach any far wall. I called out for the dog, and this time I heard the sound come from close by. I investigated the room until the light reflected back at me from a pair of eyes. I’d missed them before. They were low to the ground and staring right at me. I snapped my fingers, and the eyes bobbed as the whimper came from in front of me.

“Guys, I found-“

I looked back down the offshoot which I came. Nothing. I hadn’t realized that I didn’t hear my friends following me. How long had I been walking alone? I turned my attention back to the dog. Darkness filled every corner of the room, and I began to feel… unsettled. But I wasn’t about to leave a hurt puppy all alone in the dirty sewers.

I cooed, stepping toward the eyes, attempting to lure the dog to me. It didn’t move. It was here that I noticed that the flashlight had only illuminated the eyes; almost as though the whining thing existed outside of my light’s reach. I took another step closer, and the light dimmed. Only faintly though, not enough to impair my vision. The whimper came again and near the eyes I saw a shape in the darkness. I froze. I tried to get my eyes to adjust on the moving shape, squinting to make it clearer. My breath caught in my throat.

After what seemed to be minutes, I finally understood the thing in the dark. It was Jimmy, coated by a sheet of darkness, shadows cutting shapes into his face that made him look something other than human. He spoke in a low tone.

“Come on, Marj. He’s right over here.” Something about his voice unnerved me. He held an arm toward the two shining dots that I’d come for. “He’s in a bad way.” Jimmy’s voice came as a drone. The whimper came again, this time sounding far away, as the eyes began to move.

At first, I thought it was the dog getting up, coming closer, but they rose higher against the darkness, tall above Jimmy. That sound echoed all around me then, and Jimmy looked back at me through the darkness. The flashlight was still unable to pierce through the sheet of blackness. Jimmy backed away, disappearing into shadow and I stared up at the eyes helplessly. A new sound, like panting, started and was audibly growing closer, louder. I turned and ran.

Next I knew, Jimmy was above me, shaking me. I was confused and sweating. The boys stood over me, saying words my foggy brain couldn’t quite make out. There was another person there, an older man. Took me a moment to realize it was a police officer.

It took a few times for me to wrap my brain around the story. According to my friends, I had walked a few feet into the offshoot before collapsing. Took them 20 minutes to wake me up. They had flagged down a couple of officers and told them everything that was going on. One stayed with me and the boys while the other went on to investigate the dog sounds. The boys looked haggard and distraught as they repeated this to me. My head swam.

They never found the dog. The officer that went into the sewers said that it must’ve crawled its way out another entrance because the whining stopped not long after I awoke. 

I didn’t tell them what happened to me. I didn’t know how it could possibly make sense given what they had told me. An officer helped me home and explained to my parents what happened. That night, I laid awake, replaying the events in my head, unable to sleep.

It took a while, but I eventually let myself move on. Lived the most normal life I could. All the while, the events of that day never left the back of my mind. I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that that thing – the dog-eyed thing – really was there, that what I saw somehow really happened. And sometimes, when I find myself alone, I can hear the faintest echo of a dog whining.