For the Love of a Dog
My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee! This story is dedicated to all the dogs that have shared my life and given me their unconditional love, to all those sweet gentle souls that I still miss so much. If there are no dogs in heaven, then I won't go because it can't really be heaven.
For the Love of a Dog
By William W. Kelso
A Friend is not a Feller
who is taken in by sham
a friend is one who knows
our faults, and doesn't give
a damn!
From the writings of J.P. McEvoy
You might see me out of the corner of your eye as you're driving down some lonely country road, or passing an animal control center. If you look again I won't be there as I'm an Angel of a sort, and can only be seen if I want to, or by those with the sight.
I don't remember much about the traffic accident that took my life, I never saw the car that ran the red light and plowed into my old Buick. I guess it was quick as I never woke up in an ambulance or hospital. One minute I was on my way out to meet some friends for dinner, the next I was dead and someplace else.
I wasn't particularly religious, so was kind of surprised I ended up where I did. Not that I hadn't believed in God, I did, I just hadn't found any one church that suited me. I guess because I basically led a good life and didn't cause anyone else any misery I got a break, and a very special chance to do some good.
One second I was in my car, the next I was standing in a nice pleasant meadow of sorts with lots of flowers and there were dandelion seeds and dust motes dancing in the faint breeze. I knew I was dead, but really didn't feel any different and still looked the same. But I knew I was in heaven when I heard the joyous barking and saw a small pack of dogs racing towards me through grass. And I was crying as I knelt down the welcome them, all my old friends who had been gone for so long.
There was Rowdy, Mickey and Amy, Patton and Gypsy, Wendy and Belle Honey, Molly Bop and Oscar, and even the puppy I'd found run over by the side of the road and tried to get to a vets before it died. And they danced around me doing the circling welcome dances I'd missed so much, and they licked my face and I fondled their soft ears and ran my hands through their fur for the first time in so many lonely years. It was wonderful, but there was only one problem. One was missing. My first dog Fraue wasn't there, and even though I called her name she didn't come.
Fraue had been an old German Shepherd mutt blend, and we had her when I was a baby up until I was about eleven. We moved to a new city, and she ran away during a thunderstorm as she was scared of lightening. My family looked for her everywhere, but we never found her. But I had never stopped thinking about her, and even though I couldn't really remember what she looked like anymore I did remember how much we'd loved her, and how much she'd loved us. I'd always hoped someone nice found her and took care of her during her last days as she was so old when she ran away, and it broke a little boy's heart. She wasn't here for some reason, and that just couldn't be right. Not if this was heaven.
I never heard him arrive, but when I looked up there was a man standing in the gently blowing grass looking at me with a sad smile on his face. He seemed to know what I was thinking, and said,
"Not all of them find their way here. There are so many that never have homes or know the love of a human. Many of them are still wandering the earth, looking for a home or someone to love them. Your friend is probably still trying to find her way back to her family. I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are."
I looked at the man, and while he didn't look particularly awe inspiring, and didn't have wings or a halo, somehow I knew he was an Angel. And to my surprise I spoke up and said,
"
Well, just because "that's just the way things are" doesn't mean its right. Now if you'll excuse me I've got something to do." And I turned and started to walk away.
The angel quietly asked, "Where are you going?"
"To find my dog, I replied, if she's still looking for me then I'm going to go and look for her, and don't your try and stop me neither!"
"What about your other friends?" The angel asked.
I crouched down and looked into their eyes and knew they wouldn't mind waiting for me a little bit longer. Somehow they knew what I had to do.
"They'll be OK, I said, they don't mind waiting a little longer."
"If you leave, what makes you think you can come back?" the angel said.
I thought about that for a minute, and then answered. "Fair enough, but if Fraue isn't here with me then it wouldn't be much of a heaven, would it? I'll take my chances."
I can't believe I'm doing this, I thought, but then I've never had much sense and always been too stubborn for my own good.
"Wait, please." said the Angel.
I turned around and looked at him again, and he smiled.
"Well?" I asked.
"You can leave, and you can come back anytime you want. I just ask one thing of you." The angel said.
"And what might that be?" I asked.
The angel replied, "There are so many others trying to find their way here, all I ask is you show them the way."
"What do I do, give them a map or something?" I asked.
The angel laughed, and said, "You'll know. And your friends will be waiting for you."
"Well, thank you, I said, but I'd do that anyway."
"I know", I heard him say.
But then he was gone and so was the meadow, and I was standing in a street that I remembered well. And there was the house we'd been living in when Fraue ran away. I walked up to house and called her name, but there was no answer. It suddenly occurred to me, how was I going to find her? What if she tried to find her way back to our old house, it was almost 1000 miles away in another state. Oh Well, time to start walking. But I'll look around here for awhile first.
I found my first stray soul next to a highway a short distance away. The dog was a stray that had been run over, a mangy old ugly thing. He just sat and looked at me as I walked up, and then suddenly realizing I could see him he hesitantly wagged his tail. I squatted down and said,
"Come here boy! Good dog!"
And he ran up to me and I scratched his ears and let him lick my face, and suddenly he was young and healthy again and I hugged him and then he was gone. And I knew he'd finally found his way to whatever home he'd be welcomed in, that my love had shown him the way. Well, don't that beat all? I thought.
And I find them everywhere. In neighborhoods, by roads and highways, in the countryside, in the cities. The small terrier still waiting for a master that never came home from WWII, the old dog abandoned by the side of the road still waiting for the family who left him there, the runaways and strays, the puppies who never had a child to play with and call them their best friend, but the pounds are the worst. I can spend weeks at a pound, but I never leave until every last lost soul has been shown the way home. Some refuse to leave as their masters are still alive and they'll wait for them until they cross over too, and they are the lucky ones. Others don't trust even me, and they're the hardest, but most rewarding. I can't describe the joy when I'm able to coax some poor old mistreated soul out from under a porch, or from a cage in a pound that was the only home it ever knew. And not all of them leave, some stay with me and I welcome them, and when I finally find Fraue they'll come back with me and join my other friends. So I'm not lonely in my wanderings.
And so I wander down the roads and through the neighborhoods, calling the same name over and over. You might catch a glimpse of me out of the corner of your eye; a lonely figure followed by several mangy dogs, but I won't be there when you look again. I know I'll find her someday, whether it takes a hundred years or eternity. And in the meantime I'll help others find their way home. I'll never stop looking, because she's never stopped looking for me. I'm afraid I'm not much of an Angel, but I do my best.
The End
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