Puppy

I stopped to gossip with a man who sat in the shade perched in the driver's seat of his caterpillar tractor. I was on my young Arab horse Sweet September. It was the end of an hour ride in the hills behind my house. The temperature was eighty degrees. The man on the tractor had decided it was too hot to work. He said he'd come back the next day to till the eight acres of wild oats next door to my small rest home in Vista. He was retired from the Marines and worked for fun charging only twenty five dollars an hour for his work with his tractor. While we were talking the pretty lady from next door walked from her house to me and introduced herself.

She said, "I want you to know that I just love your dog. He saved my life last week. I don't know what you call him, but I call him Puppy. He's not a puppy anymore, but I don't know what else to call him. He has been coming over to visit me for the past two years. There have been times when I was driving home, and he was in the street. I opened the door, and he jumped in my car, and I brought him home so he wouldn't get run over. He is so cute. I just love him. If you ever decide to give him away, please give him to me. Last week he saved my life. I'm not kidding. I really love Puppy. I guess we should stop calling him Puppy. He looks almost like a full grown German shepherd. Did you tell me his name is Butch?"

"Yes, his name is Butch. But he was a stray puppy on my driveway when he came here. He wouldn't go away, so I let him in the gate and fed him. My other three dogs seemed to like him, so I let him stay. I think he weighs over eighty pounds now."

She answered, "When I was six I went to a private parochial school in Poway. The strict rules kept us from being allowed to leave the school, but my clever father found excuses to take me out. Once I received a package addressed to a movie star who had the same name as I did. My father had sent a special doll to me, but the packages had been switched and my doll was sent to the movie star, and her package was sent to me. My father managed to take me out of school and drive me to Palos Verdes Estates where the actress lived. She was nice as we exchanged packages. I was very happy to meet her and to get my doll. Several months later my father learned that my school was in financial trouble and was doomed to be closed. He decided to help put on a barbecue to raise money. He called the movie star, and she performed free and sang at the barbecue so they would make a lot of money and save the school. It was a great success, and the school survived."

The lady paused as she petted my horse's nose. "The reason I wanted to talk to you is your dog Puppy. The other night there were three men trying to steal our truck in our yard. We came out of the house, and there was Puppy barking at the three strangers who were inside the car trying to start it. They were frightened by Puppy, and they ran away. And that's not all. Listen to this. I am an asthmatic. Sometimes I get an attack of asthma, and I really think I am going to die. And people with asthma attacks do die. I have read about plenty of people who died. Well, I was having a bad attack the other day. I was in bed. The attack was so bad that I felt like I couldn't last another minute. I guess I forgot to close the front door. Puppy got in my house and came right to my bedroom and jumped up on the bed with me. He snuggled up to me. (Here she began to cry with deep loving emotion.) He gave me such a feeling of comfort that the asthma attack went away. He saved my life."

I asked her what her maiden name was, and she said, "Judy Garland."