The First Dog Who Traveled Across the Border

by Xavier Sanchez Garcia, Terlingua CSD student at Big Bend High School

with the guidance of his teacher Klara Aizupitis

Edited by Kate Keenan

One day there was a dog in the dark streets of Mexico looking for a place to sleep. He was tired of always looking for a place to lie down, of cold nights, the traffic sounds, and the nasty smells of the streets. He saw an old dog, a skinny German Shepherd, in a dark alley next to a pole.

The old dog told him, '' Don’t you get tired of always looking for a place to sleep?”

The dog said, “Yes, I do, but there's nothing I can do about it.”

The old dog said, “You're wrong. You just need to cross the border to Terlingua. It was my dream to go to Terlingua for a better life, but I have problems with my health. I won't make it through the really hot desert and there are a lot of rattlesnakes. But there are really good opportunities in Terlingua, and you won't have to worry about where you are going to sleep.”

The dog thought about it. He said to himself, “Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Terlingua. I’m going to have to cross a really bad desert with a lot of poisonous creatures to get to my destination. But nothing is easy in this life.”

He crossed the desert in seven hours without stopping. He became so dehydrated, as soon as he got to Terlingua, he passed out. There was a local dog, dark and ugly, who saw him collapse. When he woke, the dog helped him. He took him to his house and gave him medicine so that he could get better faster.

When he felt better, the dark ugly dog was staring at him with angry eyes. He said, “I just saved your life. I saved you from being six feet underground. Give me money.”

The dog said, “I didn't tell you to save my life. Now I owe you money that I don’t have. But how much money do I need to pay you? Because I'm a good dog, a dog of my word. If you want me to pay you, help me look for a job here in Terlingua.”

The bad dog said, “There is a guy who hires people for construction. He builds bubbles for tourists, and he pays really well. You need to pay me $10,000 at the end of the month, or I will kill you or send you back to Mexico where you come from.”

The dog begged him not to do that because he was looking for a better life in Terlingua. He said, “I’ll pay you, but I need a little time.”

The dog went to the construction company, and he told the Supreme Dog that he needed a job. The Supreme Dog said, “You're in luck. We have a lot of work and we can use your help.”

The dog worked for seven weeks without rest. He finally got the money to go pay the bad dog. The bad dog told him, “Just give me $5,000 because I see you're a good dog, and we need dogs like you here in Terlingua. You're a free dog; go live your best life here in Terlingua.”

And now he does just that.