Lesson 2 (Class IX): A Dog Named Duke by William D Ellis
Brief Summary of the Lesson
Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a zonal manager in a company
of chemicals. He is the owner of Duke, a Doberman dog. One day, Chuck met
with an accident. He was taken to a hospital where he stayed for about two
months. His left side was paralysed. After that, he was sent home and put in a
wheelchair. His dog, Duke remained sitting beside him the whole time. Duke
was very sensible and came to know about the difficulty of his master. It was
difficult for Charles Hooper to resume his work in the company in that
condition. So he became depressed. His wife was much worried about him. She had
to go to her office. During the whole day, he was alone with his dog Duke.
After some days, Chuck started moving with the help of his dog. They continued
this practice for more time. At last, the day came when Chuck improved
considerably with the dog’s help. He started going to his company and resumed
his work as usual. But, as ill-luck would have it, one day, the dog got wounded
very badly in an accident. He was taken to the hospital, but could not be
saved.
Detailed Summary of the Lesson
1. Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a very popular zonal
salesman in a chemical company. His broad and real smile used to make his
extremely competitive nature more attractive. He was six feet in height and he
used to play on the football team of his university. At present, he was
considered to be a very strict salesman of his company.
2. All was going well until he had a severe accident when he was
driving home one autumn evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He
suffered from subdural hemorrhage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his
brain. It completely paralysed his left side.
3. One of his district managers took his wife Marcy to the
hospital. She noticed that her husband was unable to speak. He could breathe, and see and his vision was double. Marcy thought of Duke as he was alone at home.
She requested her neighbour to put Duke in the kennel.
4. Hooper had to remain with the patients in critical condition
in the hospital for a month. After the fifth week, some employees of his
company came there and suggested to him that he should take one month’s leave.
They also said that they would create a job that could be done while sitting at
a place in the office.
5. After six weeks, the hospital put him in a wheelchair. There
was an attendant, who used to move his paralysed affected arm and leg
movements. That activity was followed by a bath, exercises, and a wheeled
–walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck did not improve much.
6. After staying for about two months in the hospital, Chuck was
discharged in March. Some time passed in the excitement of the homecoming, but,
after that, he went into a state of depression. At the hospital, he was not
alone; there were other injured persons. But now, each morning Mary had to go
out of the house and after that, he had to face loneliness in the house.
7. Finally, Duke was brought home from his kennel.
When Duke was to be brought into the house, Chuck wanted to stand
up. So he was made to stand up. Duke’s nails had grown much in the four months
of his confinement. When he saw Chuck, he stood quivering vigorously, and then
he released a deep cry, spun his long-nailed paws, and sprang up to three
meters in height. He was like a twenty-three kg powerful missile of joy just
ready to hit his master. It made Chuck stagger to maintain his balance.
8. Those who were the eyewitnesses said that the dog had
understood at once Chuck’s physical condition and never jumped on him
afterward. From that time, he sat at a place round the clock near his master’s
bed.
9. Even Duke’s presence near his bed did not improve Huck’s
state of mind. The muscles which used to be so strong started losing grip on
the bones.
Marcy would secretly cry as she watched her husband’s
smile fade away. He would stare fixedly for hours together at the ceiling, then
out of the window, and then at his dog, Duke.
While doing so, hard linings would emerge on his face and
stay there continuously.
10. The whole day would pass in boringly as he and Duke would
stare at each other in silence. Finally, the dog could not bear it. He would
spring to his feet, quivering (shaking) in impatience.
11. “Ya-ruff”
12. “Lie-down. Duke!”
13. Then Duke would move in a proud manner to the bed, put his
pointed nose under Chuck’s elbow, and lift it. After that, he would nudge (push
gently), needle (tease), and snort (release breath noisily).
14. “Go run around the house. Duke.”
15. But Duke was not ready to leave the place. He would keep on
watching as if it wanted to motivate Chuck to walk and talk with him. After one
hour, he would come over to the bed again and bark and push him. The dog didn’t
leave its bedside of Chuck and kept sitting there.
One evening, Chuck hooked the leash onto duke’s collar to make
him still. But he created a lightning effect in Duke. He stood up at once and
readied himself anticipating (hoping) something good. What was to follow next
was difficult to explain for Chuck.
16. He asked his wife, Marcy, to help him stand up to his feet.
Duke jumped forward while Chuck struggled for balance. He took the leash in his
left hand and tried to grip it with his paralysed fingers. Then he bent forward
and Marcy supported him by the elbow. First, he moved his right leg out in front.
17. He had to drag his left foot forward along
with the right. But it could not be called a step.
Duke felt that the leash was suddenly loosened, so he pulled and
made it tight. It made Chuck somewhat swayed, but he saved himself from falling
with the help of his right leg. After that, he straightened himself and
struggled to keep standing three times, but fell exhausted into the wheelchair.
18. The next day, the dog came running and stood near Chuck’s
healthy side. He pushed his nose under the elbow and raised his head up.
Hooper’s healthy arm reached to grab the leash. As Hooper stood up, the dog
walked up to the end of the leash and pulled it steadily. He took four steps on
that day.
19. Hooper learned to balance himself against the pull without
Marcy by leaning against the pull. On Wednesday, he took five steps, and on
Thursday six steps. On Friday, he could not take more than two and felt
exhaustion. But both of them could reach the front porch in two weeks.
20. The neighbours would daily see Chuck progressing with the
help of the dog in front of the house. They saw the dog pull the leash tight
and then stand and wait. Hooper would drag himself near the dog. After that,
the dog would move forward to the end of the leash and wait again. Both of them
used to set their new targets and touched them.
21. One day, Marcy told Hooper’s doctor about what the dog was
doing for her husband. Then, the doctor prescribed a course of physiotherapy
with weights, pulleys, and whirlpool baths (special baths in which water moves in
a circular current) and also walking with Duke every day on a limited slow
level.
22. It was a routine scene for the neighbours to see them walk
on the same pattern. On June 1, news spread that Duke and Hooper had reached
the crossing. It was very far away from there.
23. Very soon, Duke started moving out with Hooper twice a day
and they kept lengthening the targets also. It was one road at one time.
24. On January 4, Hooper succeeded in taking a big leap. He
walked for 200 meters from the clinic to the local branch office of his
company. That office was also under him and the staff was amazed by the visit.
Hooper Chuck told Gordon Duke, the manager, that he should tell him about the
progress of the work till then so that he could start working. The manager kept
watching him quite amazed. He continued saying that he would work for an hour
every day. He would use an empty desk lying in the warehouse and he needed a
dictating machine for that purpose.
25. When the company came to know about it, there arose some
problems. When an employee struggles so much to make his comeback in his
company, it would be difficult to say that he would not be able to handle his
job. It would be difficult also for Chuck because he was unable to move around
in the field as a salesman. Another difficulty for the company was that he
would work for only one hour daily.
26. After March 1, Hooper did not need any physiotherapy. He
depended on Duke, who pulled him along the street faster and faster making
him more balanced in walking.
He also started walking after dark. He would stumble and fall.
After that time, Duke would keep standing still like a rock and watch his
master struggling to stand up.
27. For thirteen months, Hooper worked full days and then he was
promoted to regional manager and more than four states came under him.
28. In March 1956, Chuck, Marcy, and Duke shifted the house. The
area in which Hooper bought a house did not know the story of Duke and his
master. They knew only that their new neighbor walked with the help of the dog.
29. On the evening of October 12, 1957, Hooper had some
guests in the house. Over some low voices, Chuck heard the screech of brakes
outside. He looked for Duke as if feeling some intuition.
30. The people carried the big dog inside the house. Marcy
understood at once the critical condition of the dog.
“Phone the Vet,” she said, “Tell him, I’m bringing Duke.”
The people present there jumped to lift the dog. But she herself
lifted the big dog, put him into the car, and at once drove to the hospital of
the animals.
31. Duke was kept under the effect of drugs until 11 o’clock the
next morning. But he was badly injured.
32.-33. After some weeks, the chemical company’s headquarters
sent some words that seemed to be a tribute to Duke.
“…therefore, to advance our objectives step by step, Charles
Hooper is appointed Assistant National Sales Manager.”
Word-meanings:
1. Grin: to give a wide smile or a wide
smile
2. Hard-charging: one who works or performs
with too much energy
3. Twilight: the dim light at the time of sunset
4. Subdural hemorrhage: very much bleeding in the
brain
5. Kennel: a small house for a dog
6.
Hit a new low: to become depressed again
7. Confinement: imprisonment
8. Quivering: trembling/shaking
9. Bellow: a deep sounded
cry
10. Launch: to start, to make the public know about a
new product, to send something like an airship, weapon in the sky/space, etc.
11. Slacked: not very tight, became loose
12. Rangy: having long and thin arms or legs
13. Day in and day out: every day for
a long time
14. Stalked: here it meant to walk in an angry and proud
manner
15. Nudge: push somebody gently, especially with
your elbow
16. Snort: to breathe out air noisily
16. Reproachful: blaming, accusing
17. Yap: bark
18. Leash: Bridle restraint
19. Shimmy: to dance or move in a way that shakes your
back and shoulders
20. Prance: move with long steps being conscious of
the fact that people are watching you.
21. Taut: tight
22. Jabbed: pushed
23. Abreast: near, side by side with
24. Surge out: move quickly and forcefully in a
direction
25. Physiotherapy: under this
treatment, the patient is given a massage and told to do some physical
exercises
26. Whirlpool bath: it is a bath in a
tub or a big container in which water turns speedily like a whirlpool
27. gradual: slow
28. pattern: design/style
29. intersection: crossing
30. Jurisdiction: authority, the area in which
a person is authorized to pass judgment
31. Gape: to open mouth in surprise
32. Stable: in balance
33. Suburb: an area where people live outside of the
centre of the city
34. Rampageous: one who is violent and ready to
cause much damage to life and property
35. Babble: the confused sound that comes when
many people talk together at a low pitch of the sound
36. Stubbornness: the act of being stubborn,
obstinate: one who is not ready to change his/her behavior or attitude
Instinctively: in a natural way
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Short-answer type Question & Answers
1. Q1.
Describe Charles Hooper’s personality.
Ans. Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a very popular zonal
salesman in a chemical company. His broad and real smile used to make his
extremely competitive nature more attractive. He was six feet in height and he
used to play on the football team of his university. At present, he was
considered to be a very strict salesman of his company.
Q2. How did Charles Hooper meet with an accident? What damage was
caused to him?
Ans. He had a severe accident when he was driving home one
autumn evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He suffered from a
subdural hemorrhage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his brain. It
completely paralysed his left side.
Q3. Who informed Marcy about her husband’s accident? What did
she do at once? What did she notice about her husband?
Ans. One of his district managers took his wife Marcy to the
hospital. She noticed that her husband was unable to speak. He could breathe, and see and his vision was double. Marcy thought of Duke as he was alone at home.
Q4. What did the employees of Hooper’s company suggest to him
after the fifth week? What more did they say to him?
Ans. After the fifth week, some employees of his company came
there and suggested to him that he should take one month’s leave. They also
said that they would create a job that could be done while sitting at a place
in the office.
Q5. How did Hooper’s attendant serve him at the hospital, when
he was put in a wheelchair? Did Chuck improve?
Ans. After six weeks, the hospital put him in a wheelchair.
There was an attendant, who used to move his paralysed affected arm and leg
movements. That activity was followed by a bath, exercises, and a wheeled
–walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck did not improve much.
Q6. Why did Hooper go down in depression after he was brought
back home from the hospital?
Ans. Some time passed in the excitement of the homecoming,
but, after that, he went into a state of depression. At the hospital, he was
not alone; there were other injured persons. But now, each morning Mary had to
go out of the house and after that, he had to face loneliness in the
house.
Q7. Why did Marcy cry secretly?
Ans. Marcy would secretly cry as she watched her husband’s smile
fade away. He would stare fixedly for hours together at the ceiling, then out
of the window and then at his dog, Duke.
While doing so, hard linings would emerge on his face and
stay there continuously.
Q8. Where did Charles get Duke from? How did his wife like it?
Q9. Who was Marcy/ What was her attitude towards Duke?
Q10. How was Hooper a favoured young man?
Q11. Why has Duke put in a kennel?
Q12. When Duke was brought from the kennel, how did he react to
seeing his master?
Long-answer type Questions
Q1.How can you say that everything was going on well before
Hooper’s accident?
