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Sunrise With Maxwell

1/9/1998




Last night Max woke me up with his barking. I was spending a long overdue week out on the sound and was dead tired. My eyes opened to the sight of what seemed an unfamiliar ceiling. For a moment I had forgotten where I was. As I adjusted my eyes I could hear Max running back and forth across the deck at the side of the house. I knew that whatever he was excited about must be in the direction of the dock. The only way on or off my little hide-a-way was by boat and I wasn't expecting anyone, or for that matter, wanting to see anyone. I didn't feel like getting out of bed --that's for sure-- but I also knew that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until Max saw to it that I had sufficiently checked things out to his satisfaction. Max was the type of dog that thought he was my peer. Not just any peer mind you but the type of person who imagined himself more efficient than you. At this hour I felt like a worn out dog heeding my master's plea.

I put on my pajama bottoms as I had already slept in the top, and went out onto the deck. I couldn't see shit, but Max let me know with his dancing front paws that something was still out there. I went back inside and retrieved a flashlight. Max and I headed down to the dock -- he led. The dune grass stabbed the bottoms of my feet and I cursed aloud having forgotten my shoes. We walked about ten minutes and I could see that sunrise was about to slowly explode on the horizon. I remembered that I had written in my journal a note to myself: "Make sure to see a sunrise while out on the sound!". I hadn't planned on doing it this way but I thought to myself: "What the hell? Why not?"

Max reached the dock a moment or two before me and had already sat down and was staring at the imminent concert that nature provides. Enough light was present that I turned off my flashlight. Max, firmly planted on his hindquarters; the boat gently and slowly keeping beat against the dock; Max and I were alone in the world at this moment. The sun began to rise like a blood orange, though spectacular and arresting, it threatened another day.

The dew began to be chased across the sound like ghosts scurrying home and Tiepolo's clouds were forming over my head. I felt like I was orchestrating the day, like I was the only one to have ever witnessed such grandeur; I felt warm and whole inside. Max seemed happy too and as the sun rose his tail kept a syncopated beat with the rhythmic merging of the dock and boat. I felt a big, almost hysterical laugh well up in my throat. The sound tumbled out rather abruptly from between my lips as it merged with the splendor surrounding me. Max howled and wagged his tail in tune with his own joy. I knew then that Max had brought me down here to watch the sun rise. 

I was happy that I had headed my master's plea.

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