Rex

Rex, Ben Givens’s two-year-old Brittany spaniel, is a restless, affectionate dog whose closeness to Ben repeatedly becomes consequential. He is a hunting companion, a source of practical danger, and finally a vulnerable patient for whom Ben uses his medical skill. After a pack of hounds attacks him in the desert, Ben undertakes the effort to keep him alive and bring him to veterinary care. Rex’s recovery does not resolve Ben’s troubles, but their return home makes companionship and care part of the decision to keep living.

Identity and Introduction

Rex is one of Ben’s two Brittany spaniels, alongside the much older Tristan. Brown and white, with a more bronze cast than Tristan, Rex is broad and strong in the hindquarters, with a tapering muzzle and a fawn-colored nose. At two years old, he is the more exuberant of the pair. When Ben opens the kennel gate before dawn, Rex leaps against him, dashes into the rain, springs at nothing, and comes back. His movements establish a dog eager to range and act, in contrast with Tristan’s increasingly deliberate, close-at-hand habits.

The two dogs are part of Ben’s early-morning routine after his wife’s death. He lets them out, coaxes them back inside, and feeds them in the kitchen. The scene places Rex within the continuing domestic life Ben maintains even as he faces a terminal diagnosis and has decided to end his life. The dogs are not merely companions on a journey: they belong to the household and its recurring practices, which Ben carries with him when he sets out.

Companionship, Hunting, and the Road

Rex’s closeness to Ben becomes a hazard during the rain-soaked drive over Snoqualmie Pass in Ben’s 1969 International Scout. As trucks climb nearby and the wet road leaves little room for error, Rex scrambles over the seat and plants his forepaws on Ben’s rucksack. Ben tries to make him move, first speaking gently and then more firmly, before pulling at his collar. While Ben is turned and struggling to dislodge him, the Scout begins sliding toward the median. Ben turns back to the wheel, but the vehicle hits a concrete barrier, crosses the eastbound lanes between two trucks, and ends against a small fir tree. The episode makes Rex’s impulsiveness part of the journey’s immediate physical stakes, without making him responsible for the wider crisis Ben has chosen to enter.

In the field, Rex is not only a passenger but an active hunting partner. When the dogs point together in bunchgrass, Rex stands with one paw raised while Tristan holds low beside him; Ben steadies himself and waits for the birds to rise. Later, Rex brings one of the birds back and lays it neatly on a flat rock. Ben praises both dogs and puts the birds in his coat before continuing. Rex’s work belongs to a practice Ben approaches with misgivings: he has long hesitated at the moment of killing, and after the war he stopped hunting altogether before taking it up again following Rachel’s death. Rex participates in that renewed hunting life, though the evidence does not give him Ben’s moral conflict as an animal perspective of his own.

The Hounds and Rex’s Injuries

The desert journey brings a more dangerous test of Rex’s freedom and responsiveness. At night, Ben hears hounds approaching and calls Rex to heel, then tells the dogs to stay while the pack passes. Ben is cold, weakened, and regretful about having used marijuana; he hopes the distant hounds will remain only something to witness. Instead, Rex and Tristan bark and run into the darkness. Ben calls after them, but they are beyond his command and have begun chasing a coyote.

When Ben reaches the thicket where the hounds have cornered the coyote, he sees Rex among the pursuing dogs. The pack closes on the coyote, and Rex drives into the fray. He is later found seriously wounded. The narrative makes the change in their roles stark: the dog who had ranged beyond Ben’s reach now depends on Ben to assess his condition, treat him, and get him out of the desert.

Ben opens his medical kit and uses sterile gauze to make a muzzle so Rex can be examined more safely. He apologizes to the dog, then checks the injuries under a headlamp. Although he has treated people in the field during years of serving informally as a climbing-expedition doctor, he has never stitched a dog before. Rex still has a long desert journey ahead, and Ben recognizes that veterinary care will be needed. He gathers willow, starts a fire, and stays beside Rex, brushing his coat while hoping Tristan will find the blaze and come back unharmed. The scene gives physical form to Ben’s obligation: he cannot simply continue on with his own plan while Rex needs help.

Veterinary Care and Recovery

Ben takes Rex to Ilse Peterson, a veterinarian who explains that the dog needs extensive resuturing, anesthesia, and IV support. Ben says he will stay and wants to help. After stripping off his field jacket and washing his hands, he assists with the operation. Ilse places a catheter and establishes the IV, while Ben helps hold Rex as she prepares him for anesthesia. Once Rex is under, Ben administers medication through the IV at Ilse’s direction. The work recalls the many human operations Ben has performed, but the patient is his dog, and the practical duties of care bring him back into a familiar professional role when he had expected to be dead in the sage.

Ben later pays for the surgery and visits Rex in the recovery kennel. The dog twitches in his sleep, and Ben reaches through the mesh to touch his head and reassure him. The receptionist reports that Rex had been awake, had taken food and water, and showed signs of returning health; Ilse has checked his stitches. Ben cannot take him immediately because he has to go to Wenatchee, so their separation continues even after the operation. When Ben comes back to the clinic, Ilse is occupied, and the receptionist brings Rex out. Ben checks the staples, strokes his coat, and carries him to the car, arranging him on a blanket across the back seat.

Return Home and Narrative Significance

On the drive home, Ben tells Rex, “We're going home,” and checks on him again at the Traveler's Rest, where the dog appears to be doing better than Ben himself. The return also brings Ben back toward the mountains and to a remembered promise to climb Silver Peak with Chris—another relationship he will now have to explain. Rex’s recovery does not erase the losses or conflicts that have shaped Ben’s journey, but it gives the journey a concrete destination beyond the desert.

At home, the ordinary details remain in place: the garbage has been taken out, the mail and newspapers have been seen to, and messages wait on the answering machine. Ben feeds Rex, then rests. Later, Rex limps into the bedroom and lies on the rug beside the bed. Ben places a hand on his flank and tells him, “I guess you can stay.” The smallness of the exchange matters. Rex has been part of Ben’s home from the start, but the words mark Ben’s renewed willingness to accept the dog’s presence and responsibility for him. Rex’s arc, from energetic kennel dog to injured patient and finally a companion beside Ben’s bed, ties the crisis to the act of returning and continuing.