Go Go Go Grow Grow Grow!
The Dog Stars“Go Go Go Grow Grow Grow!” is Hig’s name for the fight song he shouts while flying low over green patches in the woods. Its playful cheer gives voice to a hope grounded in what he can see: amid dead trees and ecological loss, some of the forest is spreading again. The phrase holds both celebration and uncertainty; growth matters because it is fragile, not because it guarantees recovery.
The Fight Song and the Landscape
Hig calls out the phrase from the Beast as he flies over pockets of green among stands of trees killed by beetles and drought. Those green patches are spreading year by year, a small but visible counterforce to the surrounding damage. He imagines the trees waving back, turning a landscape viewed from the air into something that seems to answer his encouragement. The phrase is therefore more than a cheerful exclamation: it gives Hig a way to address a living world that remains vulnerable but not wholly defeated.
Grounding Hope in Place
The encouragement continues in Hig’s visits to the greener woods. He goes there to breathe and to fish, even though the trip carries danger and has no calendar obligation or practical necessity. The forest offers a marked contrast between standing dead trees and places that remain green or are coming back. Beside a creek, Hig sets down his pack, kayak sled, and rifle, and takes in the smells of running water, cold stone, fir, and spruce. The renewed forest connects present survival to remembered life before the collapse, while the familiar sounds and setting give his hope a specific place to take root.
Growth Beside Ecological Grief
The fight song does not mean that Hig mistakes isolated recovery for ecological restoration. He mourns the disappearance of Trout, once central to his fishing, and fears the loss of the creeks themselves. Warmer water has emptied mountain streams of Trout; later, falling water levels threaten even fish more tolerant of heat, along with other creek life. The drought is visible in shrinking streams and a dry season arriving early. Against these changes, the green patches offer real but limited evidence of resilience: growth is occurring alongside losses that Hig understands may be irreversible.
A Hope Without a Promise
The phrase’s optimism also sits within a broader pattern of decline and partial return. Later, Hig observes Bison moving back toward their old range and notes that spruce, fir, and aspen are coming back, even as he names animals and habitats that have disappeared. The account does not resolve that contrast into a promise that nature will recover completely. Instead, “Go Go Go Grow Grow Grow!” registers Hig’s attention to what remains alive and his willingness to cheer it on. Its exuberance is meaningful precisely because it coexists with grief, drought, and uncertainty.
