Untitled Chapter

Loving Humane-ity

 

 

 

 

Dixon and Daisy were waiting patiently at the busy intersection. They were twins

 

 

and were out on the town for some exploring in the new city. “This is taking too long”

 

said Daisy. Dixon replied, “Oh just be patient, sweetie”. They were from a small farming

 

town in Fairlakes, Maryland and had just recently moved here. Finally, the light

 

changed, and they were free to cross over the busy highway.

 

They made it home just as dinner was being served. Dixon and Daisy were the

 

babies of the bunch, and also the most inquisitive of all the puppies. Mom did a head

 

count and all were accounted for. After dinner, Krem wanted to play a game of fetch the

 

ball with his children.

 

Daniel owned the family of St. Bernard’s’, and loved them dearly. They were

 

definitely his family. His parents bought Krem for him as a puppy when he was only five

 

years of age. Doreen was bought to him when he turned six, and the three of them were

 

the best of friends. They had a litter of four, and then only two survived the second litter.

 

 

 

Daniels’ job relocated him to the big city, and of course, his family had to move

 

with him.

 

Dixon and Daisy had made two new friends already. Berta and Brett were their

 

names and they were brother and sister. They were also butterflies. The four of them

 

would set out early in the morning, almost immediately after breakfast. They played a

 

game of treasure hunting.

 

One morning they were out exploring, and met Hank. He was the biggest dog they

 

had ever seen. “Don’t be scared, that is just my muscular physique” he said. “What breed

 

are you?” asked Brett. “I am a Doberman-pincher” he replied.

 

Daisy started smiling, and wagging her tail. As soon as Dixon spotted her doing

 

it, he said “oh no sister; forget about it”. Hank said “what are you kids getting

 

into?” And Dixon replied “nothing as of yet, we are looking though”.

 

The five of them took off, and they were on a mission. Brett and Berta spotted a

 

bone that was partially sticking up out of the ground and summoned the group.

 

The three dogs were busy digging up the bone, while the butterflies were on the

 

lookout for anything suspicious.

 

Hank knew that he would have no trouble taking the bone for himself, but he

 

would not do it. He was used to being a loner, and was grateful that they wanted

 

to be his friends, so he let them have it.

 

There was a family, out in the park having a picnic and they decided to join in on

 

the fun. Nobody tried to run them off, so they had a great time playing with the

 

children there, and eating good food.

 

It was getting dark now and time to head home. “Where do you live?” asked

 

Daisy. “Oh, just here and there right now” replied Hank. “We know of a home for

 

you” said Brett and Berta. “Lead the way” said Hank. They came up on this little

 

shack where two collies were living. The butterflies introduced him to Jay and

 

Joseph and they immediately invited him in. The three of them became good

 

friends and looked out for each other.

 

There was a bed and breakfast nook close by, and the cook would feed

 

and Joseph every morning. He welcomed their new friend and fed him as well. He

 

showed his appreciation by wagging his tail and rubbing the man’s hand with his

 

head. He mimicked Jay and Joseph, and it worked perfectly. They were so full

 

after they ate, and all they could do was waddle back home and lay down.

 

Dixie and Daniel stayed out too late, and now were stuck at home, because they

 

were on punishment. They missed hanging out with their friends, but they just had

 

to deal with it. Brett and Berta came by, but only to say hello. They did not want

 

them to get into more trouble.

 

Daniel decided to take them all out to the lake for the evening. Dixon told Brett

 

“to get in touch with Hank and let him know about the lake outing”. They wasted

 

no time in getting to Hank. So he, Jay and Joseph set out for the lake, with Brett

 

and Berta leading the way. Soon they were united with their friends, for an

 

evening of playing and eating.

 

Daisy looked over at her family and told them “don’t be afraid of him. That’s just

 

his muscular physique”. They all welcomed him and his friends to stay for the

 

evening. Krem and Doreen noticed how excited she seemed to be, and told her

 

“no, under no circumstances”.

 

Today was their birthday, and they were given permission to stay out for one hour

 

later than normal. So after the party, they were off to play.

 

Brett and Berta were supposed to be on the lookout for the dog catcher van, but

 

they spotted a group of butterflies and decided to go over and hang out with them.

 

Next thing they heard was “help, help, Brett, Berta where are you?” Their friends

 

were in real trouble, and they had to get some help, and quick.

 

“You follow that van!” Berta yelled to Brett. “O.k. you go and get help, hurry!”

 

he yelled back to her. She got to the family and told them what happened. Krem

 

and Doreen instructed the rest of their children to stay put.

 

Daniel was out there mending the fence, and Krem ran up to him and started

 

pulling on his pants legs. Of course, He knew what that meant. He put them into

 

the car and took off in pursuit of the little ones.

 

They followed Brett back to the spot where the dogs were picked up, and they

 

stopped to wait for Berta to come back. She finally appeared, and they took off.

 

“This is crazy, what am I doing?” Daniel asked himself. “I trust them, and we

 

have to get our babies back, please” said Doreen.

 

Daniel looked around and noticed that they were headed for the animal shelter

 

sitting there on the left side of the street. He found a parking space, and told Krem

 

and Doreen “stay here, and I will go in and get them”. He was inside for what

 

seemed like forever to them. Finally, he came out with everybody.

 

They were all put into the car, along with their butterfly friends. “Please don’t be

 

mad with us” they said in unison. “Oh, shut up, nobody is mad with you, but we

 

all do thank you for being such good friends” said Hank. They all let out a big

 

loud bark, in appreciation to them.

 

Daniel went out and bought a pickup truck for his family because they had grown

 

enormously.

 

He had always kept his immediate family of toy St. Bernard’s in the house,

 

especially at night. He bought three dog houses for the backyard. Dixie and Daisy

 

begged mom and dad to let them sleep outside with their friends.

 

Dixon and Daisy were given one of the houses, Jay and Joseph got one and Hank

 

had his to himself. He felt like a star and held his head high as he walked about

 

the yard. Every body was happy with the setup and they all howled in unison. The

 

yard was fenced all around, so they could not come and go as they pleased

 

anymore.

 

Hank looked at Berta and Brett and said “can you believe that I’m a big brother?

 

Look at all of my siblings.” They looked at him and all of them let out a big laugh.

 

They would sometimes play a game of chase the butterflies. Donovan, one of the

 

toy St. Bernard’s, was not aware that they did not actually try to catch them, only

 

pretend to catch them. He jumped up, and knocked Berta down on the ground.

 

“Get up, little butterfly” he said through tears. Brett was yelling at her “Berta get

 

up, please. Don’t do this, stop playing, get up!” Every body started talking to her

 

and begging her to get up. “Look!” said Donovan. Berta got up and flew over to

 

Hank and lay down on his back. Excitement filled the back yard now, as they

 

were all overjoyed that she was not hurt.

 

 

 

Today was the fourth of July, so Daniel had all sorts of food for them. He had

 

barbeque ribs, potato salad, baked beans and of course, a red, white and blue cake.

 

They all ate so much; until all they could do was lay down on the grass and sleep.

 

Daniel and Coletta had been going out for some time now and he invited her over

 

to his place to surprise her with his family. He wanted to see her reaction to the

 

puppies.

 

The puppies took to her right away and she liked them too. She played with them

 

for a long time after dinner, and got to know them. On the next morning he

 

invited her to go out and help him feed the ones in the back yard. “Are you telling

 

me that you have more?” she asked. “Of course, I do. I’m a dog lover” he replied.

 

They got outside and everybody was out in the yard, except for Hank. He was

 

afraid to come out. He was hesitant about adults that he did not know. Daniel said,

 

“I wonder if he is alright, he has never behaved like this before”. She looked at

 

Daniel and said “maybe he is afraid of humans, just give him some time, maybe

 

he will come around”. Hank stuck his head out again, looked around and then

 

went back inside. Daisy and Daniel said in unison “come on out, Hank, come and

 

eat”.

 

He finally eased out of his house and over to his food and water. As he ate, Daniel

 

and Coletta stroked him gently. He stopped eating and lay down on his back so

 

that they could rub his stomach. He loved this action and did not want it to stop by

 

any means.

 

All of the dogs were outside now and were all over her. She rolled around in the

 

grass with them and they loved it and her. Daniel loved this scene and videotaped

 

it. He realized that she was perfect for him and his family.

 

They decided to get married and of course, all of his children were included in the

 

wedding ceremony. The wedding colors were royal blue and ivory. The boys had

 

on ivory tuxes and the girls had on royal blue dresses. They were beautiful and

 

very manerable for the occasion. The local newspaper did a story on the occasion

 

and the star studded dogs. The whole town was talking about the event for weeks.

 

Daniel hired a dog sitter for when they went on a honeymoon. They stayed local,

 

because they needed to be close in case of an emergency with the dogs.

 

Because she was a dental hygienist at a local veterinarian office, which saved

 

them a lot of money as far as dentistry was concerned. His uncle Cleef was a

 

veterinarian and did not hesitate to come over once a month to give the dogs a

 

checkup. “You two are doing great as far as they are concerned, keep up the good

 

work” he told them.

 

To add to their excitement, they found out that they were pregnant. “Wow! Could

 

life get any better?” he asked.

 

The puppies were invited to participate in the local beauty pageant, and they did

 

not waste any time getting them signed up for the event.

 

Hank, Jay and Joseph were feeling down because they were not included in the

 

event, so Daniel took them out to the lake for the day. Outside of Jay stepping on

 

one of the fish hooks, they had a great time out at the lake with Daniel. Whenever

 

he did catch a fish, the jumped and barked, showing their excitement over the

 

fact, that he had caught one.

 

They arrived back home just in time to watch as coletta was placing the trophy up

 

on top of the mantle with their blue ribbons. Daniel was beside himself and could

 

not stop smiling and grinning at their first place position. He knew that they were

 

a beautiful set of puppies, but did not know to what extent. Doreen and Krem

 

were very proud parents of their brood, and showed them by licking them and

 

playing with them for hours.

 

Erwin-Cole was born and weighed in at eight pounds of beautiful, healthy baby

 

boy. They knew very well how to care for a humane baby; but now they had a

 

human one. They were smart enough to buy plenty of books on the subject.

 

Things were done slightly different with this one.

 

Dixon and Daisy started to act out because they had been the babies for so long.

 

They had all of every body’s attention and did not want to share it with another

 

baby. “This is certainly something new, I wonder what breed he is?” asked

 

Dixon. “I don’t know, but he is not a dog at all, he is a human, like Daniel” she

 

responded. “We are still the babies, now it is just three instead of two” Dixon

 

said.

 

“Just be happy for our new addition, and don’t make any trouble. Do you two

 

understand?” Dad said. They gave him a nod of ‘yes and that ended that

 

conversation.

 

Daniel was out there filling in holes underneath the fence and Erwin was in his

 

stroller watching the dogs play. Hank, Daisy and Dixon decided to put a rope on

 

his stroller and pull him around the yard for fun. He was laughing and they were

 

having a great time until he started to cough. Daniel heard him and ran over to

 

him. He was choking on one of his toddler snacks. Once he got it out, the baby

 

was o.k.

 

Hank had lain down on the grass to watch Daniel so that he would know what to

 

 

do for the next time that incident happened. “Well, at least we know now that

 

humans cannot laugh and eat at the same time” said Dixon. “Oh that just

 

happened because he is a baby and does not have any teeth yet, he’s alright now”

 

Hank replied. “So on that note, do you guys want to eat these treats that he

 

dropped or not?” asked Daisy. They all pounced on those treats.

 

“Lets all play beauty pageant” said Daisy. “We all have to walk on our back legs”

 

said Daniel. “I want to strike a pose for my pictures” said Joseph. “Do you see a

 

camera present?” asked Jay. None of them were aware that Daniel was

 

videotaping them as they were performing. So they were hard at play and having

 

a great time doing so.

 

Daniel decided to send the video in to America’s funniest home videos and they

 

actually won the grand prize. He decided to write a book about them.

 

Coletta came home one evening and after dinner she told Daniel “I think that we

 

need a bigger house and yard. They just need more space to expand their legs”.

 

He just looked at her for a while, and then said “I think that they are fine, at least

 

for now. It won’t hurt to start looking around though”.

 

“The reason that I brought it up because my uncle has willed me a ranch house on

 

the outskirts of town, and I think that it will be great for them and us” she said.

 

“Get out of here, are you serious?” She looked at him and laughed at the

 

expression on his face. “I am very serious, my love. Are you interested?” He

 

stood up and hugged her tightly, as he kissed her. “How early do you want to ride

 

out in the morning?” he asked.

 

They drove out early to look it over, and boy, was it great. There were at least

 

fifteen acres of green grass. All kinds of trees and a small lake, not too far from

 

the main house. There were stables for horses and even some chicken coops. They

 

had to laugh at that because they were not farmers, just dog lovers.

 

His only complaint was the fact that there was no fencing around the yard and he

 

had to have that. “We can move in as soon as I can get the fencing put up”. “How

 

long do you think that will take?” she asked. “Not too long, maybe about two

 

weeks, tops”. She was happy and could not wait to start packing.

 

Erwin was now one year and walking around. He was curious about everything

 

and every body.

 

Jay, Joseph and Hank had to get used to this, because they had never lived outside

 

of the city. “Where is the noise from the traffic?” Jay asked. “It’s too quiet out

 

here” replied Hank. “Oh don’t you guys just love it, stop complaining, and be

 

thankful” said Joseph.

 

The next morning, Daniel was awakened by plenty of barking and howling going

 

on. It startled him and he ran out of the house as quick as he could. When he

 

reached them, he saw Brett and Berta had arrived flown in and they were happily

 

playing. After witnessing this reunion he was relieved and went back inside.

 

Even though Erwin was only one, he was very independent and met his dad

 

coming in as he was going out. Daniel stopped him and picked him up. “No, let

 

go daddy” he said. “Hey wait a minute, your pants are on backwards, slow down”.

 

After dad straightened his pants, he raced outside to get with the group.

 

They were comfortable leaving him alone with the animals because they knew

 

that he would be well taken care of by them. Whenever they finished playing, or

 

whenever he got tired Hank would bring him home.

 

The doorbell was motion censored, and the animals caught on quick. Whenever

 

Hank brought the baby home; the butterflies would fly in front of the doorbell

 

until someone would come out to get him. Erwin loved the attention that the

 

animals gave to him.

 

Coletta thought that the dogs had been cooped up in the yard for too long, so she

 

decided to open the gate and let them out for a while to play. At around six thirty

 

or so, she heard much barking and growling going on, so she ran out to see what

 

all the commotion was about.

 

Every body was accounted for except for Dominique. “Where is he, she asked?”

 

she finally felt tugging at her pant legs and looked down. Daisy and Dixon were

 

pulling her, while Hank was on the ground crying and moaning. She picked the

 

baby up and followed the dogs. Krem and Doreen were jumping up and down and

 

growling at a spot in the lake that was close to the edge.

 

She tried calling Daniel on his cell phone for the second time and still there was

 

no answer. There was so much noise going on that she did not hear him come up.

 

Erwin was crying and scream! She just could not think clearly. There was a big

 

Splash! And Daniel came up out of the water with Dominique.

 

The puppies were all screaming in unison “Get up Nique, Get up, please!” Daniel

 

revived him and he started coughing. Daniel picked him up and held him while

 

Coletta put a warm blanket around him. “How in the hell did they get out of that

 

yard? I know for a fact that I filled in all of those holes” he said. “I am so sorry

 

honey; I let them out to play for a while. Please forgive me, it will never happen

 

again” she responded.

 

Over the next two weeks he noticed that all of the dogs would just stay huddled

 

together in one spot whenever they were not eating. They weren’t playful

 

anymore and they seemed depressed.

 

He called his uncle and explained what happened to him. He came out and

 

brought a psychologist with him. The therapist told them that” due to the incident

 

with Dominique, the dogs did not feel safe and secure on the grounds anymore,

 

and this was their way of protecting each other”.

 

Daniel knew that he had to do something to shake them out of that funk, so he

 

played the video of them when they played beauty pageant in the yard. They

 

slowly started to play with each other, and eventually seemed to be back to

 

normal.

 

He purposely took all of them back down to the lake and played fetch and other

 

games with them for hours. As far as he was concerned, the fear was gone.

 

Daisy told Hank and Dixon “I am bored, let’s go and explore”. “Do you think that

 

is a good idea? How will we get out of the yard, anyway?” Dixon asked. Hank

 

looked at them and said “I don’t know about that idea”. “Oh come on, don’t be a

 

dud” said Jay and Joseph in unison.

 

They found some loose dirt and dug a hole big enough for all of them to get out of

 

the yard. They took off on their exploration.

 

By the time that Daniel went out to feed them, they had been gone for about five

 

hours and it was now getting dark. “Where are they?” Doreen asked her husband.

 

“Don’t panic, they will be here shortly” he said. “If they are not back by morning,

 

then I will go out looking” Daniel told Coletta.

 

He could not sleep, no matter how hard he tried. It was now five o’clock in the

 

morning and he was off to find his puppies. He had no idea where to go and look,

 

but he was determined to find them. It was now four p.m. and still no sign of

 

them. Agitation and worry had set in on him and he was tired. He decided that the

 

next step was to inform the authorities.

 

He arrived home after six o’clock p.m. and she did not see her children. Doreen

 

went outside and got into their doghouse and howled for the rest of the night.

 

There was no calming her down. “Our other children need us too, we have to stay

 

strong” said Krem. “I know that, but I want my babies here with me. Why can’t

 

you understand that?” she exploded.

 

After one whole week they still had not surfaced, and they knew nothing more.

 

Daniel decided to put an ad in the local paper in hopes of hearing something about

 

his dogs.

 

Daniel and Coletta were awakened by the phone ringing at four o’clock a.m. it

 

was the authorities calling. “This is officer Huff with the local authorities, and we

 

have located your dogs. They are in a shelter over in the next county. Call me in

 

the morning at seven a.m. we will go and get them”.

 

The three of them set out in the morning to go and get the dogs. When they

 

arrived, they found out that Dixon had been adopted. “Oh please don’t say that”

 

Daniel cried. “They all had on collars and tags, how in the world did that happen?

 

Was he sold or something? Tell me now, I want to know”. “Calm down, lets just

 

breathe for a minute” said officer Huff.

 

They got back home with the four, but without Dixon who could celebrate their

 

return? “I won’t rest until I have him home where he belongs” said Daniel.

 

Brett and Berta remembered the tag number of the car that they put him into.

 

They went and gathered a lot of their butterfly friends and brought them over.

 

They formed the tag number in the air. “How do we relay the message to Daniel?”

 

Joseph asked. Coletta quickly grabbed her camera and took pictures of the

 

numbers and letters that the butterflies formed for them.

 

She had never seen anything like this before in her life and it was amazing. She

 

and Daniel sat down and starred at these pictures for two hours, before realizing

 

that it was a tag number. “This cannot be for real” she said. He was speechless

 

and could only laugh in astonishment at these animals.

 

They took the pictures over to officer Huff in hopes of him using them. He

 

assured them that he would get back on the case after Christmas. There was

 

nothing else that they could do, so they left.

 

Christmas day was soon approaching and the puppies were looking forward to

 

their new toys and treats. It just did not seem right without Dixon. No matter how

 

hard they tried to go on as usual.

 

“This is too hard, I feel so helpless. I wonder if he is alright. Is he eating,

 

sleeping?” said Daniel. “Honey, let’s just pray for his safe return” said Coletta.

 

Erwin grabbed both of his parents’ hands and closed his eyes for prayer. They

 

looked at each other and followed suit.

 

No sooner had they finished praying when they heard a car horn blowing. They

 

ran outside to see officer Huff taking Dixon off of a leash. Dixon took off so fast

 

that he tripped once or twice getting to his parents. They were so glad to see their

 

baby that they would have smothered him with pampering if Daniel had not

 

intervened.

 

This was Christmas Eve and the dogs put on a show for the humans. They were

 

jumping up and down and leaping. Several of them were standing up on their hind

 

legs. That night they all slept inside and huddled together in one big heap.

 

Coletta and Daniel slept right next to them on the floor. Erwin was on his lap

 

asleep from all of the excitement of the day.

 

She had to videotape this scene for their family album.

 

The dogs never went exploring again.

 

Daniel and Coletta had another little boy and named him Corley Daniel. They

 

looked at each other and said in unison “our cup surely runneth over, thank you

 

father for our family, Amen”.

 

Officer Huff received a Christmas card from their family along with a check and a

 

letter of gratitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.03.2013

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Widmung:
I dedicate this book to all of my great neices and nephews. I also dedicate this book to the memory of my dad.