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Gus’s World
Augustus was his name, but everyone called him Gus, because it was a much better sized name for him. He was a year and a half old, and he weighed twenty three pounds. He had recently learned to walk, so he thought of himself as more a toddler than a baby. He’d found that walking makes life far more interesting because you can explore everything you’re curious about, and Gus was curious about a lot of things.
He was also starting to learn words. Even though you couldn’t really understand much that he said, you could usually tell what he meant, because he knew what he was trying to say. Knowing what you’re trying to say makes a big difference, even for grownups. And Gus could understand a lot of words, even if he couldn’t say them. For instance, if you said “Gus, could you get me a book?” he’d walk into his room and get his favorite book and bring it to you.
Gus’s best friend was Captain, who lived at his house. Gus liked to let Captain lick him on the inside of his mouth, which some people thought was not a very good idea, but it was a lot of fun. Gus and Captain played in the morning, and they played in the evening. They liked to poke into everything they could find, and tumble around on top of each other. Captain could also bring things to you but he sometimes chewed them up first.
On most days, Gus would leave the house early in the morning to go play with his other friends at Helping Hands, which was down the street and around the corner. While Gus was gone, Captain would do a bit of chewing, explore the backyard, do a little more poking, and take naps.
The world of Gus and Captain was a very happy one, as you can see.
Magic at Night
But what you couldn’t see was that Gus and Captain had a very special secret, something that only they knew about. I’ll tell you what it was, but you might not believe me.
The secret was that every night, after Gus got into his pajamas, had a book read to him, had the light turned out, and got into his crib, something magic would start to happen. Soon after he closed his eyes, he would turn into a baby cowboy. He had a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a lariat, and a holster. His crib turned into a covered wagon, with big wheels, and a buckboard seat up front for Gus to sit.
When the wagon was all ready, he would say loudly, “Okay Captain, time to hit the Sandman Trail.”
When he heard this, Captain would sneak out of his crate, and come running into Gus’s room. Then they were ready to ride. Gus would hitch up his crib to Captain, and off they’d go, into the night. Captain liked pulling the wagon, and it didn’t make him tired. (I don’t think I mentioned that the wagon could fly, but it could.)
What they liked to do was ride out to the plains or prairie to try to find the baby cattle. Gus would rope them, very gently, then bring them back so all his imaginary friends could pet them, which they very much liked to do, because they were so soft. Then, just before morning, the baby cattle would run back to their homes, Captain would go back into his crate, and Gus would wake up.
A Big Adventure
But sometimes they had other adventures, and I’ll tell you about one right now.
The season was changing, and every day seemed a little colder. It was already mid-December. Gus had noticed that many trees had colored lights on them. He didn’t know why this was, and Captain didn’t either. But Gus liked to look at the lights. They were very pretty.
It had gotten to the end of a busy day and it was time for Gus to get into his pajamas. As usual, as soon as he had closed his eyes, the night magic started, and soon he and Captain were on their way to the lands where the baby cattle live.
Because it was chilly, Captain had put on a small vest, and Gus was wearing a duster, which looked very smart on him. They rode down the river, through the Gorge, and then flew over some mountains and out into a big prairie. They could take their wagon up near the moon and stars, and look down on the whole world. They could see lights twinkling from the houses and farms. They saw a herd of elk running across a big field.
But even though they looked and looked and looked, they couldn’t find any baby cattle. They looked in valleys and canyons and old riverbeds, but no cattle! They saw coyotes, owls, and gophers, they flew up to a high meadow on the side of a mountain, but they didn’t see any cattle.
And there were no babies! On most nights, they’d find a group of babies sitting around a campfire singing cowboy songs. That’s where they’d bring the baby cattle to be petted. But on this night, they couldn’t find any baby cattle, and they couldn’t find any babies.
Captain and Gus were frustrated. They were also getting a little hungry.
June’s Blue Moon Saloon
They decided to stop at June’s Blue Moon Saloon. This was a very popular place for babies and puppies to get a little drink of milk at night, and sometimes have a biscuit or cookie. Maybe someone at June’s would have an idea where the baby cattle had gone.
June’s was very crowded. All of Gus’s friends from the Helping Hands Ranch were there. Their friend Georgia was behind the counter serving milk and juice, and Owen, Asher, and Hazel were happily playing with some stuffed animals.
There were a couple of very, very nice babies on a blanket in the corner that Gus had never seen before. Their names were Juno, John Galen, and Milo. Gus had a funny feeling that he knew them, but he couldn’t remember meeting them. He couldn’t wait to play with them some day.
Captain was happy to see his cousins, Izzy and Roo, who were chewing on an old shoe. He was tempted to ask whether a small pork chop might be available, but decided against it.
Suddenly, Gus heard Captain growl, which was very unusual. Captain only growled at squirrels. Then he saw why. He saw that Cowboy BabyJack was there too, which made Gus a little sad. Cowboy BabyJack was often cranky, and he sometimes took Gus’s toys and didn’t give them back. Also, he’d once pulled Captain’s ear and made it hurt.
But Gus liked to be friendly to everyone, so he said “BabyJack, we’ve been looking all night for the baby cattle and we can’t find them. Can you help us? Do you know where they are?”
BabyJack said “Yes, Gus, they went south. They won’t be back until spring. But I found some other amazing animals, and I roped them and put them in a pen a few miles from here. Do you want to go see them?”
Of course they did. They loved seeing amazing animals.
Strange Creatures
So Gus and Captain, led by BabyJack, went out looking for the animals
After a while they came upon a corral with eight animals inside. They were strange creatures indeed. They had bells around their necks, and big antlers on their heads. The antlers were soft as velvet. They had big eyes and their coats were a little shaggy. They were stamping and pawing at the ground, and they looked nervous. They didn’t look like they wanted to be petted.
One of them came over to Gus and said “BabyJack has trapped us in this corral and we have to get out because we have to get to the North Pole in a hurry or Christmas will be ruined. Could we borrow your wagon? We don’t have our sleigh. We’re very frustrated. And we’re mad at Cowboy BabyJack. And by the way, we’re reindeer.”
Then BabyJack started to cry a little bit and said “I’m sorry. I only wanted to keep them here so I could pet them and ride them and touch their antlers.”
Captain came over and gave Cowboy BabyJack a lick, which seemed to make him feel better, and Gus gave him part of a cookie he’d saved from June’s and had been keeping in his holster.
Gus wanted to help the reindeer. He also wanted to know what Christmas was.
To the North Pole, with Wagon, Puppy, and Friends
Quick as a wink, Gus and Captain hitched the reindeer to their wagon, and set off. Up, up, up, towards the moon and the stars, pulled by eight flying animals. Destination: North Pole.
One of the reindeer shouted “Hurry Gus. Christmas is right around the corner. All the children are counting on us.”
Gus said to Captain, “Do you know what Christmas means?” Captain didn’t answer because he couldn’t say any words, but he didn’t look like he knew what Christmas meant either.
Soon, the moon and the stars had disappeared, and the world had turned cold and dark. Snow was blowing in their faces so hard that they couldn’t see, and Gus’s duster was flapping behind him in the wind. It was a blustery blizzard. They put on their driving goggles, but still could barely make out anything in front of them. Racing and racing, into the wind.
They could just see the reindeer plunging ahead, pulling their little wagon through the swirling snow. It was cold and it was a little scary. Gus’s lip curled up a bit, but he was brave and didn’t cry. Nothing but snow, snow snow.
At long last, one of the reindeer leaned back and said “Okay, we’re here. You can drop us off now.” Gus landed the wagon next to a big sign that said NORTH POLE. Then he unhitched the reindeer, who all shouted “thank you,” before running off. Little clouds of snow puffed up behind their hooves as they raced away.
Homeward Bound
Gus knew he’d have to hurry to get home before daybreak. It was a long trip, and there were no reindeer to pull the wagon. It would be a hard journey for Captain. Gus said, in a very friendly voice, “Come on Captain, we can do it!” Up into the sky went the wagon, sailing along above the clouds, next to the moon and stars.
The trip seemed to go on forever. Captain’s goggles were fogged up, and he had to concentrate very hard on his driving. He just kept pulling the wagon as hard as he could. Gus sat low in his seat, and was shivering a bit. They were racing through the night.
After quite some time, they began to see a few lights of houses and farms beneath them, and Gus began to feel better. Over the desert and along the river, through the gorge they flew.
As they got closer and closer, and once he’d warmed up a bit, Gus thought to himself, “I’m glad we got the reindeer to the North Pole, but they never told me what Christmas is.” Gus couldn’t understand why no one would explain Christmas to him. “Maybe I’m just too little,” he thought.
The moon had gone down, the stars had disappeared, and the sky was just beginning to turn pink when Gus and Captain arrived home. Soon, they were sound asleep, snuggling peacefully in their crib and crate.
Shortly, the sun would rise, and the grown ups would come in to give them morning kisses and help them get dressed to start another day. When the day began, they wouldn’t even remember the reindeer or the dangerous trip to the North Pole. Their big adventure was just a dream.
Gus Has Christmas
It was getting colder and colder, so Gus and Captain stopped making their midnight rides. Life returned to normal, with no night magic.
But one morning, about a week after the big adventure, they awoke to a happy surprise. A different kind of magic had happened overnight.
Under the Christmas tree there were boxes and packages wrapped in brightly colored paper, with lots of shiny ribbons and bows. There were presents here, there were presents there. There were carols playing, and the lights on the tree were twinkling. Everybody said “Merry Christmas, Gus.” Gus thought it was going to be fun to crumple all that paper, and Captain would probably like to chew on some of it.
Gus got some new toys, and a fun game, and Captain got rawhide sticks. After all the presents had been opened and things were quieting down, everybody noticed that there was a little stuffed reindeer hanging from the tree.
No one in the family had put it there! Where did it come from? Attached to the reindeer was a note saying “Thanks a million, Gussie. Our savior!! We couldn’t have done it without you.”
And there was also a note saying “You too Captain” attached to a small rubber pork chop.
Epilogue
Well, do you think that Gus finally understood what Christmas is, after wondering so long? I’d like to tell you he did, but he really didn’t. After all, he’s only a year and a half old, and there are a lot of people much older than him who don’t understand Christmas. But I guarantee that in the years to come, Gus would develop lots of thoughts and ideas about Christmas.
What Gus did know on Christmas Day of 2018 was that he loved all the bright colors, and the music, and the gifts he got, and tumbling around with Captain. And most of all, he loved living in Gus’s world with his family on 6920 North Vincent Avenue in Portland, Oregon.