Horton and Butter were once called No. 33 and No. 61, as were indicated on the small cages in which they lived in one of the laboratories of a big pharmaceutical corporation. They were part of a research experiment that has been going on for, well, we can never know and never guess. Lets just say that it was a drug trial involving the lower brain functions*. No.33 and No.61 were to be retired since they were around 7 years old and could therefore no longer handle the effects of the drugs administered to them.
The night before they were to be retired, a burglary took place in which the laboratory was ransacked and all the animal cages opened. No one can say who did it and why. All the animals liberated that night has decreed not to ever speak about it in order to protect the parties involved.
But enough of this sadness. What we have to focus on is the second half of the story in which No.33 and No.61 make an escape by using their good looks and ingenuity. That night they ran in the moonlight for many, many miles - since the laboratory was far from any place where people might ask questions. When they reached a tar road they stopped for their legs were not used to walking, let alone run. No.61 was very tired indeed. They nestled in the tall grasses and fell asleep.
It was the sounds of goats bleating that woke them up. There was a man who was taking goats from Gauteng to his brother in Mpumalanga, where there were mountains and loads of grass and leafy bushes to keep busy goats happy. The man had stopped beside the road to cut some grass for the goats who have already eaten all the hay intended for the trip. It was the smell of the big bucket of water on the back of the truck that gave No.61 an idea. She pressed her nose underneath No.33's long ear and softly growled and snarled something in Basset language.
The man came back with a big wad of grass which he threw into the back of the pickup. He watched as the goats started eating. One of the goats chewed on the grass without enthusiasm and said 'behehe-behWoof when the man looked at it. Something bothered the man, and then he remembered that it was his pipe that he had left on a rock beside the pickup. He fetched it and they drove off.
They stopped once more when the man wanted to buy some tobacco, which is where No.33 and No.61 got off the truck and sneaked away into the bushes.
They were picked up by a rescue society a long time after that. We know this because they were skinny and sick and hungry. They were named Hansel and Gretel by the rescue people.
That is where I met them and that is why I brought them here, that is why they got other names. We have decided that they are Bassets who no longer needed those names filled with such sadness.
And because she is happy now, Butter cannot walk without wagging her tail in lazy sweeps, and because he is happy, Horton cannot help but play and make a lot of noise.
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| dramatic reconstruction |
*Back to reality: both Horton and Butter have neurological damage. Horton has epilepsy and Butter suffers from head tremors under certain conditions. Although Butter has improved much, Horton's condition has not changed but remains stable. We are working at eliminating and minimizing possible causes.
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