Old Dogs & Wild Turkey

So we're heading down to the mailbox and up ahead is this large, gangly necked bird wandering to and fro down the road. Buster and I both notice her just as we get beyond the end of the driveway, and we stop. My guess is that it is a wild turkey.

Since Buster is a bit ahead of me I know he hasn't stopped just because I stopped (not that he would anyway), and I wonder how it is that he knows this bird is there because although large, the bird is basically the same color as the road and the noise it makes is just a light gobble. How can Buster see or hear it? At 15 years old he's not completely blind, but definitely visually impaired, and he is deaf. But right now he is on high alert and looking right down the road at this wild turkey doing a trot, back and forth, a few yards ahead. Does the turkey have a scent? Even before the hatchet and the stuffing and the roasting pan?

We proceed, but the distance between us and the turkey never shortens. She continues to move down the road in her criss-cross pattern and then crosses the T intersection where the mailboxes are into the neighbor's yard where the bird feeders are. Buster stays in front of me, eying the bird's progress, the wisdom of age, perhaps, advising him not to give chase. I retrieve the mail and turn back towards home. That's when the real surprise comes. Queenie, who I thought was a goner back in the heat of May, is right behind me with her ears perked up, all agog over this wild turkey.

I don't remember the last time Queenie walked farther than halfway to the corner. On her, 15 years are not only blinding and deafening but drastically weakening and rickety. Sometimes when she's sleeping her feet and legs twitch, as if in a dream, but in her dreams she must be younger, less stiff, because her legs move more quickly than when she's awake. She gets around, but not without effort, and sometimes her efforts fail.

Heading home, Queenie and I walk side by side. Buster remains at the corner, poking around as usual, then he runs to catch up. As he passes Queenie full tilt he gives her a little side swipe and she stumbles. With a quick step hop she gets her feet back in place. She bucks and prances before returning to a plodding pace. Tonight, maybe she'll dream about wild turkey, and she'll be back down at the corner, giving chase.