McGee: A tale of a howling hound dog

I awoke one morning this week to hear one of my dogs howling in a back room.

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I came up and looked him in the eyes. Was he trying to tell me something?

I've heard him bark and whine and growl but I've never heard him howl.

My grandmother believed a howling hound was a sign death was nearby. She believed in signs and omens and had sayings like, “A sunshine shower never lasts an hour” or “Ring around the moon, trouble here soon.”

I was living at my grandmother's house one long ago night when the neighbor's dog stopped her endless barking and started howling.

“She's howling at the moon,” I said.

“No boy,” said my grandmother as she sat in her easy chair and took a drag off her filterless cigarette, “Death is somewhere nearby. There's a sayin', 'Howlin' hound, death's in town.'”

My grandma had a flair for drama, most storytellers do.

That's when she told me the tale of her brother Jack, killed in an industrial accident many years ago.

Jack lived at home with his mom and dad, my great-grandparents. Jack worked at the iron mine and smelter where my great-grandfather was the superintendent.

My grandmother told me that one evening while my great-grandmother was making supper Jack's dog Blackie started howling out in the back yard.

Great-grandfather came into the kitchen and stared out the back door at the howling dog.

“Mother,” great-grandfather said slowly, “I believe our boy won't be coming home anymore.”

About that time the emergency horn sounded from up the mountain. Great-granddad put on his coat and headed off to the mine.

It turned out Jack and a co-worker had been horribly burned by molten iron at the smelter.

And indeed, Uncle Jack never came home.

So when my dog was howling the other morning I thought of Jack and my grandmother's saying.

But then maybe he was just aching to get outside because he had to “go” real bad.

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at: [email protected]