Lady Please Take My Dog

Good morning from paradise.  We have a beautiful Sunday morning with sunshine to wake us.  I have a great love for animals and growing up on a farm certainly heightened that affection. Today's story will add to that picture of my fondness for the furry creatures. 

The sun was so hot that everyone should have been dripping sweat on the shores of the Mississippi Gulf of Mexico.  Highway 90 was bumper to bumper traffic and my white van was loaded with new racks to be assembled in a dozen small stores.  My first destination was Moss Point, Mississippi where the paper mill was the central area of the town and the store I was working in was the center of the traffic.  Once I left Highway 90 the traffic eased up and when I reached my destination every adult was at the paper mill and most children were slowly getting out and about.  It was summer!  The odor alone, made my stomach queasy and I never understood how anyone could tolerate living in a paper mill town.

I gathered my paperwork and entered the store hoping the manager was expecting me. 

“Good morning everyone.  Are you excited to have new racks today?”

“Oh sure honey.  Just do your thing and don’t let us get in the way.  How can you stand all of this heat?”

I chatted with the manger and her two employees while I moved merchandise around and created space for new racks.  When I was finished I went out to the van to bring in the racks and that is when I spied the young boy sitting on the curb beside my van.  His hair was tussled and his big, blue eyes were red and swollen from crying.  He held a small rope in his right hand and on the other end of that rope was a shaggy little dog.

“Good morning.  Why are you so sad today,” I asked. “And who is your friend?”
The dog wagged his tail and I scuffed his fur a bit. Then the little boy held up his hand offering me the rope.
“Lady please take my dog?”
“Oh my goodness.  I would be happy to hold him awhile but I have to get these racks unloaded and set up in the store.  I will be really busy for a couple of hours.  Why do you need me to hold onto him?”
“No lady. You don’t understand.  We are moving today and my Mama says I can’t take him with us so lady please take my dog?  He likes you.”
The tears began to roll down his little face and my heart was breaking seeing him hurting so badly. I sat down beside him and the racks seemed so unimportant at this time.  He placed his hand on my knee and began to tell me about his dog.
“See. When we moved here I don’t know nobody but my Daddy had to come here to work. One day my dog came in my yard and I give him some water, see.  He was so happy then I had to go eat and I saved him my bread, see.  He just is my only friend.”
“Yes, I see.  What is his name?”
“I don’t know really.  I just called him my dog.”
“Well is your Daddy moving to a new job?”
“No mam.  He left us.”
I could barely contain my tears and I knew I had no reason to take this dog anywhere and I knew if I took him home with me my own children would never let him go.  What a decision.
“Well, when are you leaving?”
“Just right now.  I told Mama I had to bring him to the store and she said for me to hurry.”
I still cannot remember where my rational mind stopped in this conversation and my heart took over but I took the rope and wished my small friend a happy trip.  He took off around the store wiping his tears and runny nose on his forearm and I really was in a pickle. Then the store manager came out to see me.
“Sweety, you got too big a heart,” she said. “But it’s alright.  I been feeding that child breakfast for two weeks because he just came and asked me to give his dog something to eat.  I think his Daddy must of not wanted the dog around.  What did he tell you to get you to take that dog?”
“He said his Daddy left and they had to move right now.”
She laughed and said, “Well as long as you don’t leave that dog here bring around to the back and we can tie him up out of the sun and feed one more time.  He already has water back there.”
I finished my work and made a place for the dog in a box wedged snugly inside the front of the van so the air would keep him cool and down the road we went.  I was correct!  My children were thrilled so I took him to the vet the next morning and had him checked out and started his shot routine.  He was healthy so after the bath the children gave him and the checkup he was running in and out of the house before I could lay down the rules.  If anyone small and sad ever asks you, “Please take my dog, then remember that it may be a good decision.”
Oh, important other information.  The folks in Mississippi are the best.