Chapter Eight (Electrifying Passion)

The Tuesday after Charlie's spectacular track opening found him lounging in the sunshine on a hammock in the neighbor's yard. His mind was hazy and he drowsed, not really asleep, but not quite awake either. The weekend had wore the indolent shepherd to his bones and he had done nothing Monday after handing Rupert his promised $75 as well as $10 more to find a freezer in which to store the last of the uneaten meat stock than lie about the house, trading sleeping places between David's bed, the couch and his favorite warm spot next to the dryer. Tuesday was already geared up to be much the same and despite coming face to face with the evil his debauched actions was attracting, he just wanted to put it all out of his mind.

One thing that Charlie couldn't put out of his mind, and didn't really want to, was the knowledge of his success Sunday night. In his most secret of hiding places, inside a loose rock of the basement wall under the stairs, Charlie had stashed his earnings, a princely wad of beautiful green bills the size of his head that was definitely worth more than a grand. The black and tan dog shook his tail thunderously just at the thought of it. More than the fact that he had almost doubled the amount of money he had put in, despite start-up costs, on the first night, there was the sensation that he had won. He'd taken a spin with his mistress of chance, rode the surf and wound up on top; there was no better feeling in the world.

Still… Charlie was not able to enjoy his success as he had envisioned he would have just a week ago. He had wanted to bring Sasha to the track, show her all the money it was going to bring them, all of the dogs who were crawling over each other just to join in the newest distraction in the city. They would have been living it up, going to parties every night, him with her by his side, meeting dogs who really mattered. And yet, here he was, lying in a hammock and still keeping his establishment a secret from her. He didn't want to believe that what he was doing was bad, and if it was… he wouldn't know what to do with himself. So he had sent Rupert home not really caring if he would steal the leftover ice chest of meat, and told him to come back that weekend. There were still three and a half days before he would have to decide on anything… and he just wanted to relax…

A short while later, the loose wooden board which was the canine equivalent of an unlocked door wiggled to the side and a lithe, red furred beauty crawled through the enlarged opening they had dug under the fence to sidle up under Charlie's hammock. Her scent enthralled him, banishing the worries hanging over him like a strong breeze might clear a foul miasma, while at the same time left him excited and even more relaxed all at the same time.

"Hey, doll." Greeted Charlie while he stretched on the hammock and breathed deeply.

"Hi, Charlie." Said Sasha, her voice belonged on an angelic choir (not that that was much of a compliment, they took anyone. They had to, just to be nice). She nosed Charlie's flank through the fabric of the hammock, "You going to just lie there all day? Let's go do something; it's been so long since we went somewhere together."

Charlie noticed the tenseness of her shoulders, the way her back arched and he grinned down at her, "Someone's chipper today…" A slight doubt nudged at Charlie's mind, the sense that he was missing some small but vital detail, but it slipped before he could even start thinking about it. "Want to go to the pier?" Offered the big shepherd.

Sasha cocked her head as she mulled it over, but the slight frown already told Charlie she wasn't into the idea, "I was thinking some place closer to home. And I'm hungry too. Let's walk to Chinatown and see if we can find some take out… just like we used to."

Sasha needn't have tried so hard, she could have cut through Charlie's heart with a butter knife so warm was it with renewed feelings of passion and past romance. He got shakily to his feet inside the hammock and attempted to dismount with a single bound, but his lost his footing at the last second, being around her always made Charlie clumsy for some reason, spun half way around and landed right on his back. "Ah!" he exclaimed, panting afterwards from having the breath knocked from him, but then they both burst out laughing. "Sasha… I'll go anywhere… you like… you take my breath away…"

With the $20 note Charlie secreted away on his person before the couple exited the yard space through yet another excavated hole, he and Sasha enjoyed a rich and sensational dinner sneaked directly out of the kitchen rather than by rooting around in the garbage.

Already through a container of noodles, Sasha reached out greedily for the white paper box containing the mushu pork. "Charlie, this is delicious!" She said, not longer bothering with the chop sticks, which were clumsy in a dog's paw at the best of times, but lapping the chucks out of the box with her tongue and delicately carved canines.

Charlie ate, although with somewhat less enthusiasm, and fewer table manners, from a box of orange chicken. His snout was already smeared with orange goo and dyed with black patches from the strong soy sauce that had laced the almost instantly devoured pork fried rice. "I only want the best for you Sasha." He managed before plunging his snout back into the take out as the two lovers slurped and gobbled together in a tiny, pungent alley behind a Chinese restaurant.

She ate voraciously, Charlie noticed. Heh, I bet she's getting tired of the kibble. She hardly picked at it this morning. But jeez, I don't know if I can afford to keep this up regularly… thought Charlie as he sacrificed the last of the eggrolls by nosing it towards Sasha. As she ate, he moved behind and reared back on his heels to rub her back. She growled softly in pleasure even as she crunched the last of their heavy meal. Her shoulders are so smooth, her fur like silk… How'd a mutt like me ever end up with a gal like this? Thought Charlie as he hugged her close. She turned her head and licked up the left side of his snout; Charlie felt like he was melting.

The two of them did end up going to the pier… or at least a pier. On the north coast of San Francisco, Charlie and Sasha sat below the wooden planks. The water washed gently back and forth, caught between rising and falling tides and across the eastern sky soared the Golden Gate Bridge, scarcely 500 yards away. It's bright orange frame and the way the dimming light reflected off it as the sun was setting never ceased to cheer Charlie up.

Together they lay in the sand, Sasha's head on Charlie's thigh and his forepaws draped casually over her lower back. They took in ocean breeze, the bay and the distant shore across from them and to the west.

Charlie didn't know how long they laid there together and it didn't matter. But finally, it was Sasha who broke the silence. After a few moments' fidgeting, she said, "It's so nice out… I love the ocean, so calm… so quiet."

Charlie didn't feel the need to mention that with his pricked ears, the din of the city was a constant hum in the background. Instead he said, "If you like the Pacific, you should have seen the Gulf of Mexico. The water was crystal blue… at least in the winter when the Mississippi wasn't spilling the silt."

Sasha was quiet for a moment as if taking in the moment, then she spoke, "Can you tell me about Heaven, Charlie?"

That made Charlie uncomfortable. Annabel had been very clear on her stance concerning Charlie walking around and telling everyone that he had risen from the dead. "There would be dire consequences for everyone involved" she had said, "Just be thankful you are not to be reincarnated with no memories of your prior life… We can still make that happen if you don't want to cooperate…" She had added when Charlie voiced his recalcitrance at the restriction; Charlie had immediately swallowed any further complaints at that last remark. And so far, everything had been swell. He kept his past to himself in public, but with Sasha, he told her stories of the late 30's and of New Orleans, tenetively at first, but when no divine retribution befell him, he had begun speaking more openly about his prior life. What she was asking now, however, was very clearly crossing the line. Well… maybe a couple details couldn't hurt. She already knows a couple of things, just from when we met. How could it hurt? Charlie thought.

"Well…" he started, thinking about how to phrase what he would say next, "Let me tell you first of all; it's not all it's cracked up to be.

"There's clouds, the air's nice… it's cool, but not cold, there's music usually, but not if you don't want to listen, food and water if you want it, but you don't really need it… But then… that's kinda what's wrong with it too," Charlie scratched an ear as he struggled to put into words his strange dissatisfaction with Heaven, "there's nothing missing if you want it there and there's nothing that can't be gone if you don't want it around; just by thinking about it! It's dead, dead boring." Charlie sighed and let his ears drop to either side of his head; it was still a long way off, but he still wasn't looking forward to returning and knowing that his second vist was likely to be permanent. "And that's not the worst part," Charlie straitened his spine a little in conviction, "Being there… like when you've been there a long, long, long time changes you. You… you… oh there's a big word for it… you become… complacent. Like you lose your drive to do things, at least new things. Why I remember this one dog, Todd his name was, he'd just sit and stare all day at the clouds. Only time I ever saw him doing anything, he would polish that halo over and over and ov-ah!"

A small but very painful static discharge, like a miniature bolt of lightning struck Charlie's hindquarters and a high pitched ringing filled his ears. The sound more than anything hurt Charlie. The sound of the city, the ocean and even Sasha's voice as she cried out to him when he started rolling around on the sand clutching his large ears was blotted out in the horrid screeching. Just as quickly as it came, however, the noise stopped and Charlie heard Annabel's noxiously sweet voice speaking to him, however, he was not sure if she was actually there or if it was some kind of "prerecorded message."

"You are free to speak your opinion of Heaven, Charles, but you must not reveal any knowledge of persons or events gained by your experiences here, however slight. Beware, this is your first and only warning…"

Charlie winced the water out of his eyes while he sought to catch his breath and he rubbed the spot on his haunch where the lightning bolt had struck him; it wasn't worse than a bee sting, but it still stung.

"Charlie!? Charlie, can't you hear me? What's wrong with you?" asked Sasha urgently as she stood over Charlie.

"Ugh… Just another arbitrary law cooked up by those schemers upstairs." Charlie shook to clear his thoughts. "Really the management there is the worst of bureaucrats and sheriffs rolled into one."

"But… what?" Sasha stammered, "I just got all tingly all over when you jumped and when you started rolling around, I smelled ozone. What's going on? Does this have something to do with your mission?"

Charlie gulped down the guilt that rose up the back of his throat. Still, he wouldn't lie to her, "No Sasha, it's… They don't want me talking about Heaven is all. That was just a friendly reminder…" He finished the last with a low growl.

Again, that look on her face, true and undiluted concern, she might as well have put hot plates to all four of Charlie's paws. "Charlie there is something weird going on. I… I didn't really believe when you said you could see ghosts… not completely anyways. But something happened just now, I know it, I felt it. Charlie," She stepped forward, nose to nose with the taller shepherd dog, "You can't just keep me in the dark anymore. What exactly is going on?"

Charlie couldn't help but retreat a few steps, tail slipping uncharacteristically between his hind legs. "I… uh…" He couldn't bring himself to lie to her. A feat that was normally easier than walking with his eyes closed with other people became a sheer impossibility with his life partner. Someone might as well have asked him to walk on water, his brain wouldn't form a story, his teeth clenched tightly together, his tongue glued itself to the roof of his suddenly dry mouth. "Gluh… urhm… geh…" Charlie's eyes darted left and right, as always looking for escape when caught in situations like these.

"Well?" asked Sasha, "Are you going to tell me what's been up with you this last week?" Sasha raised her eyebrows, concern fading to be replaced by suspicion. One did not get that close to Charlie Barkin and not learn how he acted when caught in a corner.

"Well… you see… It's like…" Charlie stammered, tongue loosening, but the shame was still much too great. How could he tell her that he had misled her just to go out gambling all the past few days?

Sasha tapped her front paw with vigor against the sand.

Charlie's ears dropped and his sleek and powerful shoulders sagged. His nose pointed towards the earth and he shook his head.

"What? So you're not going to tell me?"

Charlie looked forlornly up at Sasha, but silence had to be better than revealing that he had betrayed her trust.

Sasha frowned and her ears lay flat against the back of her skull. She growled as she spoke, "What? Do you think I'm not smart enough to understand? Huh, buster? Do you think I'd be better off not knowing what my partner is doing running off until the crack of dawn every night? Do you know what I've been going through? Sitting by that goddamn dog door, praying you hadn't been attacked by strays or hit by a car?" Her demeanor changed like a switch had been flipped and her eyes burst forth with tears, "How could you do this to me? Do you think it's easy sitting in that house all day by myself? I don't care what you're doing at night, it has to be better than being by myself with no one to talk to." Her chest heaved, "I'm still learning how to be a good pet too. I miss the streets too. How could you think I'd be better off all by myself?"

Charlie stood mouth agape as the words poured out of her like a torrential waterfall. Her red furred cheeks were stained dark brown by the stream of tears. Charlie barley shifted his body to take a step forward when Sasha shouted, "No! Just stay away from me! I don't want to look at you right now!" With that, the red coated beauty streaked off around the heavy wooden poles holding up the pier. Charlie sat down and looked at his paws for a long time afterwards with nothing to keep him company besides crabs and seaweed.