The Lottery Winner?

The Lottery Winner?

Having finished driving the stainless steel cross into the ground that I had fabricated at our welding and machine shop, I stood up to look at it.

Many happy memories flooded my mind and the tears flooded down my cheeks as I reflected back over the years of great and happy times spent together. Riding
in the boat fishing, flying in our plane to our West Texas office, walks through the woods, trips in the pickup, beachcombing, arrowhead hunting at the ranch, helping
(or hindering) with cattle roundup and many many other fun hours spent together.

It was early summer 1981 when Misty Blue, my one dark eye, one blue eyed Heeler passed away suddenly. We had been fun partners for sixteen years and she had been active until the abrupt end by heart failure I was told.

I turned to look at the sad faces and tears of my wife and children, then back at the inscription I had welded to the face of the cross. "We Will Meet At The Rainbow Bridge Someday Sweetheart- Misty Blue, 1965-1981".
"I will never, ever have another dog. They just don't live long enough and it's too painful, like losing one of you when they go." I told my family.

Fast-forward to a cold, drizzling January night during supper, 1997.

The phone rang.

"My two pit bulls have your little puppy cornered in my garage," my neighbor said.

"Puppy? I don't own a puppy," was my reply.

"Oh! There's been a little dog hanging around a couple of days stealing catfish food from the sack in the garage. I've run her off several times," my wife said.
"I'll be right there," as I told my neighbor not to let her get hurt.

There she was, all two pounds of her, teeth bared at the two giant pit bulls, bluffing her meanness, trying to save herself.

I picked her up and she squirmed quickly inside my coat and up to my armpit shaking uncontrollably.
Back at the house I showed her to my wife who told me that was the dog she had been scaring out of the garage. She smelled the food on the table and while still shaking started to sniff and lick her lips in anticipation of some food. She was starving.
Leaving her on a heating pad in a bathtub, I went to the store and got her some good dog food since I knew table food was not at all good for her. She filled up.

The next morning I called the paper and started a free, three day, found ad for lost pets. I also contacted Animal Control and Lost Pet Hotline to alert them. The newspaper ad read, "Found Chihuahua, call and identify." We thought she was a Chihuahua cross of some kind at that time.

Five A.M. or so, I'm reading the paper. The phone rings. "Nope, not her", the other line lights up … "Nope," and it is nearly continual calls, but no one identifies her. This goes on for two weeks.

At supper one night, my wife looked at me as I held her while she affectionately licked my hands. "Too late now, isn't it?" she said.
"Yep, what are we going to name her?" I replied.
"Whaaaateeeeever!" My wife slowly breathed out.
And so it was to the vet for getting into good shape with shots, pills and tags. She got a bath and shampoo to go with her new collar. The vet checked her profile and determined she wasn't a Chihuahua cross but a short-legged toy rat terrier. Fine with me.
She now goes everywhere with us. She guards the truck, our home, the office, and any place we stay. We go on the boat fishing and check the garden together. She has set herself up as chief squirrel and swan monitor so they don't get too close to me.

This past summer we spent two weeks fishing in Alaska together. The airline stewardesses and surrounding passengers just adored and petted her on both going and return flights. She just loved the attention from everyone.

She beat the odds of finding a loving caring home. Especially with a guy that rarely, if ever, goes back on his words,,,,. Well, this is different? Right?
Friends and the office staff call her the lottery winner.

Mark Crider ©2001
Existential philosopher,
raconteur, and dean of
dirty words.

Story ID:	3573
Written by:	Mark Crider (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Corpus Christi Coating & Machine Inc.
Location:	Corpus Christi Texas U.S.A.
Year:	1997