The Road Home

It' is early morning and the sky's are gray with rain. I am sitting in my rocking chair on the back porch. I enjoy a good rain. It makes the air fresh and clears the mind. A thought comes to mind as i turn back in time to when i was a kid, and played hooky from school on such days. I had a cabin behind my dads house I played in. I would hide in their and sneak into my grandmothers next door, and get home made oatmeal cookies with butter on them, slip back out and curl up with a old blanket. Close my eyes eat cookies, and listen to the rain. I have never been at peace as much as I was then. Simpler times, safer days. I don't get to relax like that any more. Except on days like today. No work to do today, and nothing pressing to do. Just sit here and relax. Maybe once a year if I am lucky.

I am soooo... relaxed. Just taking in the smell of the air, how clean things feel. Tilted back in my rocker day dreaming. Suddenly, I am jolted back by a racket bounding up the porch, chain and all. The neighbors dog, a half Shepard half Hinze 57 has broken loose again. The varmint is soaked to the skin, and coming under the back overhang. Wait, stop, Oh man, now I'm soaked. Dam dog ruined a perfect time. I start to get up, when he jumps up on my lap with a paw on either side of my shoulder, pushing me back down. He is wagging his tail to be petted. I raise my hands to push him off, and get a big Slurpee lick across my face. Ucko, dog slobbers, nasty. He does it again, and I cant help but laugh, and he knows it. All I can do is pet him. and rub his head. He lays his head on my shoulder, and the smell of wet dog floods my senses.
 
Then I remember all the dogs I have had in my life. Patty my first. She was a black cocker, and kept me constant company. Always at my side, and ready to play till I was thirteen, when she passed.
Then ginger. A high strung beagle always ready to go hunting. I will never forget that howl type bark she had. I could always tell when she had a rabbit on the run, and when she caught it. We hunted together for years then one day she vanished without a trace. Dad said the Carney folks got her.
 
Then Benny. As I think back now, he must have been part lab, as much as he liked the water, when we hunted the michuchan ditch line. He would always be in the water after the muskrats I shot, and even enjoyed soaking me when he got the chance. I swear that dog had a sense of humor.
 
Then rusty a full blood black and tan Shepard. My fondest memory of him was when we were at the old bridge, and he cut his paw real bad going after a ground hog, across the bank. He was soaked to the bone, I had to put him over my shoulders an carry him home, about a mile or more. I don't remember who enjoyed it more, him or me. I do remember mom getting mad because now I stank like wet dog, and my shirt would never be the same.

 Then there was duke, bad to the bone. I was working private police in Florida at this one hotel unit. Word got out that a full blood Shepard was to be destroyed because he bit to many people. 34 to be exact. I got hold of the owner and asked if I could see the dog, and maybe have him, if I could control him. Sign this wavier of liability , and you can go for it . I warn you, he is bad mean. I went to the back found he was in a fenced in area , around a thousand gallon propane tank. He stormed the fence when he seen me, and I ordered him to obey a command, and he did. Did I mention that he was professionally police trained, and that his handlers did not know the proper commands to control him. I took him home that night, and my wife loved him from the start. He protected her and or new baby son right away. If we put the boy on the bed, duke jumped up and made himself to home. Did you know that a dog wet with sea water has a different smell than fresh water? Funny I should remember that. We had him for many years of joy. 

Then, lets see, little girl was next. Full blood doberman, black and tan with a white star on her chest. Runt of the litter, she never got full size. But she was aggressive as a dog twice her size. I loved that dog. she went with me every place.
 
Then the last, Bear. She was a cross between Shepard and Rottweiler. Fawn in color, she looked like a young deer. She loved the water, and riding in the boat. Had to pull her in the boat the first time. After that, I could not keep her out of it, even if it was on the ground in the yard. She loved to go fishing. She would sit and watch the end of the pole. Then, when it moved, she got all nervous and started to whine and fidget.

I wont have another dog. I'm to old to have a big dog and I don't want a ankle biter. But this varmint, this big, muddy, wet varmint in my lap.He is stirring something inside me. With his wet coat and good humor, I just cant stay mad at him. He took me home to my friends. Home to my best friends over the years. Maybe, hell maybe I'm not as old as i think. Just maybe I just need another friend to help me remember just how much fun a wet dog can be, muddy paws and all.
Come on boy ill take you home, the rain will do us both good.