Codger’s Shelter Island Column: Hope springs …

This time, hope is 8 years old, weighs 40 pounds and is colored black, brown and white. Her name is Tess. Yes, she’s a dog. Hope is not always a dog, but a dog is always a hope.

Like almost everyone else these days, Codger and Crone were looking for hope, but not necessarily for a new dog. They were still mourning Apollo, also known as Cur II, who died in May, at 12, after a long illness. He was a tall, handsome standard poodle in a color officially called apricot. Apollo would never have accepted the more appropriate beige. He was arrogant, entitled, loving, and smart. He invented several ball games in which he trained Codger to fetch.

The hole he left let much of the air out of the house. Or maybe Codger and Crone were depressed by the relentless bad news without the upbeat slap of a dog’s tail. COVID was making a comeback, the wars in Ukraine and Israel bled on, and there was growing certainty that the new president was going to be the former president.

Meanwhile, the Town Board was stalled, no progress for an island that seemed to be floating out to sea.

What to do? The money managers claimed answers: one said that if the new president, the felon, really deports millions of undocumented workers, there will be a recession, so sell. Otherwise, buy. Codger found the pragmatic simplicity chilling. Is this what it all comes down to? Buying and selling? You might as well be an oligarch. Is there no hope?

Then along came Tess.

The alerts came from Gimme Shelter and the real estate star, Penny Moore. Tess lived in a second home, only a street away. Codger and Crone were not familiar with her or her owner, who was moving out of the country. He seemed reluctant to leave her but apparently had no choice. She was lively, friendly, and very pretty. She’d come from the shelter some seven years ago. The owner was concerned she would feel “abandoned.” His ambivalence was reassuring. She came from a loving home.

It’s been about six weeks and it seems as though Tess has figured out she has landed in another one. She’s comfortable everywhere, on the couch, Codger’s pillow, Apollo’s old bed as well as her own, and especially the beloved old toy basket of the original Cur, the late Milo.

Apollo disdained the basket. Tess is constantly rummaging through it to pick a toy to bring to Codger or Crone, or a guest. She’s the best fetch partner, especially if you like to play all day. She seems on track to become Cur III.

Codger dares wonder if she is a harbinger of hope.

Codger also concurs if you think that seems like a lot to load on a middle-aged, short-legged Shepherd mix who thinks she is still a puppy.

Can a creature who becomes delirious licking Codger or Crone’s face deal with such problems as the East End’s gift to the national debt, Lee Zeldin? Of course not. Codger and Crone can’t either. But even false hope is hope enough to keep moving, trying, looking to do something beyond buy and sell. False hope is still hope.

And there are plenty of local issues beyond Zeldin’s mandate to clear-cut the Environmental Protection Agency. With a full Board of five votes, Shelter Islanders can look forward to lively debates on ginormous houses, affordable houses, dump pickers, docks, the future of water, and the cooperation of local police with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Also, the possibility of an historic preservation board, an interesting new committee for a town without a comprehensive plan that might define its character or a record of enforcement. What exactly does it want to preserve? And the promise of higher home values after state and national registration sounds too much like buying and selling. On the other hand, Codger likes the idea of hindering the teardowns of historic houses.

Tess was in her new home for a week when a fire broke out three houses away. At 6:30 in the morning, Codger and Crone watched a tower of flame through the trees outside their bedroom windows. The Fire Department contained it, but it burned on for a while.

Two people escaped, but two cats died. Luckily, the strong winds of early January had not yet appeared. The fire could have been blown through vegetation to Tess’ house. There are rumors of building violations that Codger hopes will be investigated. Maybe by the mysterious drones that have been spotted over the East End.

Will Tess bark if more of them appear over the Island? Could they be aliens, finally coming to set the planet and the town right? Now there’s a hope.