Ish takes in and names Princess

Ish takes in and names Princess during his preparations to leave, when the prospect of further attachment seems to him another possible source of grief. The dog’s persistence changes that calculation: her playful attention makes him smile, she settles into his station wagon, and he comes to understand the adoption as reciprocal. Naming her Princess gives this unexpected bond a place in his journey and marks a shift from fearful self-protection toward taking chances and caring for another living being.

A departure shadowed by fear

Ish’s decision to leave begins in anxiety. The panic of the previous day has faded, but he remains afraid that an illness or even an injury could prove fatal. He approaches ordinary movement cautiously, then finds relief in acting on a definite plan, even though the plan itself may not make much sense. His own car is old, so he searches the streets and finds a station wagon with a key in a garage. Before driving away, he remembers the hammer in his old car and carries it over to the new one. The journey is being assembled from practical necessities and familiar objects, but it is also an attempt to move forward while fear still governs his sense of risk.

He loads food for several days, a sleeping bag, tools, clothing, and weapons, preparing for a trip that might take him across the continent. The dog appears just as he is about to set out. Ish has already seen many abandoned dogs and has tried not to dwell on their condition. His reluctance to engage with this one is therefore more than a momentary refusal: he believes that becoming attached will only expose him to another loss. He tells her to go away, trying to hold that boundary even as she remains nearby.

The encounter and the change of mood

The dog is a small hound, probably a beagle, with long ears and a white-and-liver coat. She keeps a cautious distance at first, wagging her tail and whining softly. When Ish rebuffs her, she lowers her forequarters and looks up at him. Her appeal is conveyed through her posture and expression rather than through any understanding of speech. The encounter turns on this contrast: Ish is trying to keep himself emotionally closed, while the dog continues to offer contact.

She moves closer, rubs against his leg, then darts away and returns with a small, energetic display. She circles him, changes direction as though chasing a rabbit, and comes back to press against his legs. Ish smiles—an important break in his mood, and, as the narrative notes, perhaps his first smile since the snake had struck. He then pats her forehead. Her satisfied response and renewed closeness make the exchange feel less like a one-sided rescue than a mutual recognition: the dog is seeking a person, while Ish is being drawn out of isolation by her uncomplicated persistence.

The adoption becomes explicit when Ish squats to pat her and realizes that, whether or not he intended to acquire a dog, he now has one. He also reverses the thought: in another sense, the dog has acquired him. When he opens the station wagon, she jumps in and settles on the front seat as if it were already hers. Ish later finds dog biscuits in a grocery and feeds her by hand. She accepts them without a show of gratitude, an ordinary detail that establishes her as an animal with her own immediate expectations rather than a person performing a sentimental response for him. Only then does Ish notice that the dog is female.

Naming Princess

After the encounter, Ish’s attitude toward risk begins to change. He has been taking elaborate precautions, including carrying a motorcycle with the car. He decides that the extra caution is too much trouble and leaves the motorcycle behind. The choice is not presented as the end of danger; instead, he resolves to take his chances and enjoy life for as long as he has it. The timing links that release from excessive self-protection to Princess’s arrival, though the decision remains Ish’s own.

He names the dog Princess as he prepares to get going. The name’s familiarity connects him, in his thoughts, with the old days, while its slightly comic grandeur suits the dog’s apparent expectation of care. Ish sees her as expecting him to look after her, with her companionship repaying him by interrupting his absorption in himself. The name thus does more than identify the animal: it gives form to a relationship that has already begun through attention, play, and shared dependence.

Ish does not drive on that night. He takes out the sleeping bag and lies under the slight shelter of a mesquite bush, with Princess beside him. She falls asleep after her run; later, when Ish wakes, he is calm. He notices her twitching legs as she sleeps, as if she were still chasing a rabbit, before she settles again. The scene closes the adoption episode not with a declaration about the future but with their first quiet night together. Ish’s preparations had been organized around escape and survival; now the journey includes the presence of a companion whose needs and activity draw him beyond his own fear.