Lost and found_ a novel - Alan Dean Foster [55]
“Do you think so?” Dark, soulful eyes that were nearly as big as the human’s head extended toward him. Walker held his ground. “How can you judge? It is not your manner of speaking.”
“No, it’s not,” Walker admitted readily, “but I recognize true sensitivity when I hear it.” George stared hard at his friend, but said nothing. The human was only doing as the dog had taught him. “Surely you must have songs, poems, composed for purely aesthetic reasons, that have nothing to do with the exchanging of formal communication?”
“Ah, glad I am I did not eviscerate you, and allowed you to eat and drink.” Vertically aligned jaws opened and closed slowly.
“So am I,” Walker replied candidly. One globular black eye was so close that he could see his own mirror image in it.
“Would you like to hear a saga of my people?”
For a second time that morning, Walker settled himself down on the cushiony ground cover. “I’d like nothing better.” As a commodities trader, he had long ago learned to lie with great facility. Though, he had to admit, he was more than a little curious to hear how Braouk would respond. For his part, George winced. The Tuuqalian either did not notice or did not recognize the canine expression.
Walker expected eloquence on the part of the massive alien. What he did not expect, and perhaps should have, was the length to which the Tuuqalian would go to express himself. Anticipating a series of short, choppy poetical phrases, the two captives from Earth were treated to a seemingly interminable exposition in rhyme, meter, and deep-throated quavering song on the loneliness felt by their new acquaintance. That they shared its sense of isolation and separation from home failed to mitigate the ennui that inevitably crept into their minds and threatened to shutter their eyes. Neither dog nor man dared to fall asleep, fearing that the inspired declaimer ranting in front of them might look unfavorably upon such a nonverbal disparaging of his efforts.
After another half hour of solid, nonstop singsong lamentation, however, Walker knew he had to do something. How, however, to bring the recitation to an end without the request being misconstrued? George saved him the trouble.
The dog began to howl. It was at once such a familiar and yet unexpected sound, an echo of an absent, atavistic Earth, that Walker found himself choking up. He did not break down because he was far too concerned with how the Tuuqalian might react to such a response.
Braouk stopped reciting and stared at the dog. Head back, eyes closed, lost in the throes of canine abandonment, George failed to notice that the Tuuqalian had gone silent. Walker tried and failed to get his friend’s attention. Braouk seemed to lean forward. If the giant chose to strike out, Walker knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.
After listening for a long moment, the big alien appeared to fold slightly in upon itself. Then he resumed rhyming, louder than ever, matching his modulations to the yips and yowls of the small dog seated before him. At once relieved and dumbfounded, Walker could do nothing but sit back and listen—and occasionally, when he believed he was not being observed, try as best he could to cover his ears with his hands.
The improbable duet lasted for a very long while, finally ceasing about the time Walker had determined that if it did not he was going to run screaming into the nearest electrical barrier. Something like mutual congratulations were exchanged between Terran and Tuuqalian as the tip of a massive tentacle gently encircled a proffered paw. More than a little numbed, Walker staggered toward them.
“What was that all about?” he asked George, in reference to the bit of muted conversation he had failed to overhear.
George was looking past him, toward the squatting mass of the Tuuqalian. “We were both decrying your lack of sensitivity.” Limpid dog eyes met Walker’s own. “You should have joined in. It would have cemented the relationship.”
“I’ll pick my spots with occasional interjections of poetry, thanks.” He hesitated,