Mason and Brutis

Mason put out a carefully measured bowl of the special food Nick had sent over for Brutis. The dog was, as usual, very hungry; he ate it in a few bites with his large expressive face buried in the bowl, then his huge tongue licked his chops and he was finished. He went and lapped up almost half the bowl of water, and then walked out to Mason's livingroom sofa and sat near it, whining slightly. Not his "ready for a walk" whine, that one he generally did standing at the front door, anyway. This was the "read to me" whine; Mason had begun to recognize it after she'd read to the dog only two times. He did indeed love it.

She had, because of his name, chosen to read to him from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.

She was in the middle of Act 2, Scene 1, where Brutus argued to spare the life of Mark Antony, and not to kill him with his ally Caesar.

" 'BRUTUS: Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar:
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood:
O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious:
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
For he can do no more than Caesar's arm
When Caesar's head is off.'

"Brutus was a good man, " Mason continued, explaining the play to the dog; this seemed somehow unremarkable. She was not sure why. "But he was wrong; Mark Antony should have been killed, if Cassius's plot were to succeed. As it came out, he didn't manage to restore the Republic anyway. If anything, he made it worse by leaving Antony to have Caesar as a martyr." She felt better about it; she didn't want Brutis to think he was the namesake of a bad guy from history... though was it better to be the namesake of someone good but tragically both determined enough to let the ends justify the means, yet not determined enough to succeed in achieving his ends at all?

And what was this foreboding feeling she was getting. Killing the leader yet sparing the follower who was his limb... why did she suddenly shiver, and think of Thorne, and Sinclaire?

She hugged Brutis close, finding his warmth comforting. A wonderful companion, this dog. She really hoped she could convince Lucille that dogs were worth having around, or at least some kind of animals. Surely the company of such devoted and loving creatures could help Lucille feel more connected to the world of life and the living. Lucille's distaste for animals' company was probably just years and years of habit, nothing more. She considered bringing Brutis with her to her next meeting with her employer...