Angus the Lab.

about 14 years ago I wrote a rough draft as a treatment for an animated movie. Here’s the first chapter.

Once upon a time, down the coast of Maine, in a seaside village, inside Penobscot Bay, there lived a little black lab puppy named Angus.  Angus lived with his mother, a striking black Labrador, named Millie.  They in turn lived in the house of the captain of the mailboat.  The mailboat ran each day through the islands inside and outside the bay and up the coast a ways bringing people their letters, packages and other happy things.  In the mail boat captains house they all enjoyed a certain popularity being associated with the mail and the anticipation, surprise and joy that came with it.  Particularly for the people, living on the islands, letters from far away loved ones were a great treat. 

The captain of the mailboat, known amongst the town and to those along his route as Cappy, was a tall thin man, with a toothy smile, a long face, great grooved dimples and a kindness nestled in his blue eyes.  He was proud of his work and looked forward to his daily trips to get the mail from the city and bring it back distributing it along the way.  Dealing out the joy and sometimes sadness as it came. 

Millie was proud too.  She traveled with Cappy in the mailboat daily.  She loved being out on the open ocean. She sniffed the brisk air and looked after Cappy.  She was famous in the region for being the good and loyal dog that she was.  She’d been running the route since she was a little pup that fit in the top pocket of Cappy’s overalls.  Now full grown, she had a responsibility to get the mail done and look after her master.  After all, he had a wife and new baby girl. 

She had specific duties on the boat.  She could pull the bowline, put out the fenders when pulling into a dock, she could pull mailbag across the deck. Millie was sensible and knew how foolish humans could be, so she kept an eye out for all of them. 

 Because Millie was so well known in the area, when she had a liter of puppies everyone was quick to grab one for their own.  Everyone except Angus. Angus was a strong little puppy with big gentle eyes.  He loved to play and romp and roll and tumble and sniff the air, but he made no noise.  He was completely silent.  Nobody wanted a dog that was so silent.  So he tugged on ropes and dashed and skidded across the linoleum tile floor of the kitchen. He trotted through the grass and flowers of the backyard and watched his brothers and sisters go off to new homes one at a time.  And when his mother would return from her day on the mail boat he would run to her and skid and jump and play. 

She was always happy to see him but she began to be concerned about his inability to make noise.    She wanted him to have a nice home like his brothers and sisters.    Where she could see him and watch him grow.  She was afraid that Cappy would send him away because she knew they didn’t want another dog with the new baby.  She told herself that Angus was a late bloomer. And everything was fine today. 

Then one night It was early evening and there was the loud rumble of a pick up truck with squeaky brakes coming to a stop in front of the house.  The mailboat captain’s wife peeked through the curtains to see who it was. 

“It’s an old pick up truck with a lot of cages piled up in the back.”

“What? Well that’s odd.”

There was the loud slam of the truck door shutting and the shuffle of feet to the front door.  And then a knock.

Cappy opened the door, revealing a man in a worn denim shirt and dirty blue jeans.  His Hollowed cheeks were covered with several days of stubble. His front teeth over lapped and were a fuzzy green. He had dark circles under his eyes and his black hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a week.

Can I help you?  Cappy asked.

“Bill O’Reilly, Live inland a bit on a farm. I hear you got a dog you’re looking to unload.”

“Folks call me Cappy”.

Cappy looked past the man to his pick up truck.  It was an old black pick up truck with rust around the fenders.  The bed of the pick up was piled high with metal cages. Cappy didn’t look too closely. He assumed they were lobster traps.  Then he saw something move inside one of the cages.  He realized each cage held a different dog.  They snarled and growled at the man at the door.

Millie trotted up to Cappy’s side.

She sniffed the air around  the man and stiffened. The cage dogs all snarled in unison.

The man turned to the snarling dogs and snarled back at them, “You’ll Shut up if you know what’s good for you.” They all snapped their snouts quickly.  The silence was followed by a small whimper from some cages.

“Well, Millie’s got a pup, but...”

“So, this is Millie.  The famous Millie.” The man bent down and offered his hand for Millie to sniff.  “Everybody talks about how strong you are and loyal.  Hard working.  I could get a lot of mileage out of a work dog like you.

Millie growled deep within her body.

The mail boat captain looked down and said, “Millie be polite.”

“Where is the little guy?” 

Well, we’re not sure we want to get rid of him.

From what I hear no one else wants him.

Angus was anxious to see what all the commotion was.

And he padded between his mothers back legs and stood under her chest.  His little tail wagging.

So this is him huh.  He looks strong.  Darn strong.  I could get some good work out of him. 

Angus started to walk out to get a better look at the truck.

Come here little fella.  You wanna come live at my house.  Lots of other dogs for you to play with.

Millie grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.  Lifted him off the ground and brought him back in the house Then turned and sat stiffly in the door way to block this mans entrance. Lest he try.

One of the caged dogs barked. 

“Shut up, I’m warning you,” the man barked back

The dog barked again. 

The man turned and whacked the cage with his broad flat hand then  whispered something into the cage and the dog began to whimper a bit He turned  back to the door. 

“I’ll take that little work house off your hands right now.” 

Cappy stared at him. He tried to be as polite as possible.  “No, I don’t think so.”

“What do ya mean no?  I know you gotta get rid of him and I’m here to take him off your hands.  No worries.”

“Well, I think you know...er...um that we really aren’t ready to part with him yet.”

The man just stood there and stared at the mailboat captain his eyes narrowed.  “Suit yourself.  I’ll be back in about a week.  No one else wants the little mutt.  You got no choice.”  He turned and got back into his pick up slamming the door hard.  He engine choked and grumbled into running.  Then the man sped off down the narrow street.