Author Notes | Chapter Excerpts | Fact or Fiction | Paw Prints

Name: Brandi Breed: Golden Retriever Primary Novel Master: Rett In The Novel: Brandi is a coveted lass of the horny male village dogs. As a dog mostly confined to her property she has only a small part in the novel and was mostly shielded from the free roaming chaos the male dogs created. Though her village residence was a patronized location of the village kids- and where the kids went "dog lovin' chaos" was sure to follow.

MASTER'S FORUM

Carter Hillman on Brandi

I obviously know Brandi the best, so I'll start there. When we moved into Sherburne in June 1978, we still had Boo-Boo, a black standard poodle that was loosing her eye sight and would go out on adventures in our back yard and get lost. I would have to go look for her and she would be caught down by the railroad tracks out in the back fields. One time I caught her floating down the river where I'm certain she would have gotten out sooner or later. I sometimes wonder if it would have more likely been later.

Although Boo-Boo was a loving dog, her heyday was long over by the time we got to Sherburne. About 6 months after Boo-Boo died (late fall '78) we went to a farm and brought home Brandi. (Named after Brandon, Vermont, my mom's parents home town) Kim was off to college, Deb was a junior and I was a hated 7th grader. Deb and I took turns believing it was our personal dog. Deb wanted Brandi to be the poster child for Michelob beer. I wanted someone to hang out with

Probably my first vivid memory of Brandi was just around the time of Kim's wedding (1982). My parents were attempting to get set up perfect for the wedding which was to occur in about a month. Kim had come home for the weekend and we all planned a shopping trip to Utica. At that time our kitchen had this Horrid color wall to wall carpet. None of us liked it but my parents could not afford a new floor treatment and a wedding. Although Brandi was almost 2, she was still chewing on everything: the chairs, the table, our stone hearth, etc. We left around 10:00AM and returned around 4:00PM. The kitchen door was closed and could not be easily opened. Deb and I forced it open. The entire carpet had been picked and pulled out into a huge yarn-looking wad. Brandi was passed out in the middle of it. It looked like a doggie cocoon. Needless to say, My dad was less than pleased.

So to continue with Brandi, I can not say that Brandi interacted with many of the other dogs, but you could say that Brandi was the "slut" dog of our side of town. Because none of the other dogs saw her much, when she did get out Sugar, Sam and Dallas, on occasion would go after her. We never saw Sam unless we were at clambakes trying to get him drunk. But when Brandi was in heat and hadn't been fixed yet, Sam was there... until Sugar showed up.

We had Brandi in the corral when it was still fenced and wired. Sam jumped the fence (five feet high) , cornered Brandi and was attempting to mount her when mom came out with a broom. Brandi didn't even know what was going on. She was always friendly to other dogs and then would frolick away. If Brandi was an actual girl she would have been good looking and seemingly stupid with a tad bit of bitch in her until you got to know her.

Although Deb took Brandi everywhere during her last 2 years of high school, Brandi was really my dog. I had that dog from 7th grade until my freshman year in college. That dog was my companion through out the lean times and the good times. When I didn't want to be near anyone, she was there walking beside me...actually she walked sideways and moved forward. Every day when I came home from school we would race around the milk station road. She would usually get side tracked by the grape leaves. We would walk to the railroad tracks weekly. We got as far as North Norwich one time. I remember that Bob Pickens and I were back there once and a pheasant flew up from the weeds. It was about six feet high when Brandi went after it and got it by the neck. We were in awe and almost didn't stop the dog from killing the bird. Brandi learned to swim in the river under the bridge. She got nipped by a snapping turtle once. As she was trying to swim to the small island, the turtle chased after her right up on to the island. Very strange.