As Ruth was leaving the Riverview Animal
Shelter, she thought of the golden-haired young dog that she had held in her
arms. She knew the dog would be held in
the “Staff Only” area until the six-day waiting period had been completed. However, when she had looked into this
beautiful dog’s eyes, she felt a connection of love.
“I’ve forgotten how good that can feel!”
she said out loud. She continued to
explain, “When my Collie died, I thought I could never again feel that special
love.”
Ruth thought about this blonde beauty and
noticed that she seemed to have a sassy attitude. Her intelligence brought Ruth laughter and
joy. I’m
going to name her Sassie! she decided.
She had made it known to Jane that she wanted to adopt this dog.
The only response she received from her
request was Jane’s uncommitted comment, “We’ll see.”
I
guess I should not get my hopes up, Ruth said to herself. Then with determination, she stated, “I’ve
already become attached to this dog, and I will fight to make her my dog!”
With that decision, Ruth arrived at the
farm driveway. She knew that her parents
left early that morning to get their examination at the doctor’s office. That is why she was surprised to see the driveway
empty. They should be home by now; maybe
they decided to do some shopping and stop for a snack, she
rationalized.
Ruth let herself into the house, and as
she took off her jacket, the phone began to ring. I bet
that is Mom calling to let me know they will be home soon. She is good about not making me worry.
Ruth picked up the phone on the third
ring. “Hello,” she happily answered the phone.
There was no response. She said
again, “Hello,” and this time she was louder and impatient.
An unfamiliar voice, raspy and throaty,
replied, “She never should have done it!”
Before Ruth could ask the speaker who was
talking or what this person was talking about, she heard a click and the sound
of the dial tone. The person had hung
up. She slowly replaced the receiver and
began to wonder if this was just a wrong number.
Hearing a car pull into the driveway, Ruth
raced to the door to see if it brought her parents and if they had gone to the
store. She knew they could use the extra
help for unloading the car, if grocery shopping was the reason for their late
arrival.
When she saw her parents, she noticed that
they looked tired and sad. As she
bounded out the door, she said, “You look like you could use a hug.” They both
smiled when they saw Ruth.
Mom realized that Ruth would be wondering
what the doctor had said to them. She
was tired and wanted to sit down; she asked Ruth to fix some tea before they
would talk. When the tea was poured and
they had sat down at the kitchen table, Mom began, “The doctor said that I have
diabetes. The blood tests show that it
will be necessary for me to watch my sugar intake, restrict my diet and take
insulin shots. Pop also had some blood
taken for several tests. The doctor said
nothing about Pop’s blood tests, but he wanted Pop to get some x-rays next
week. They are also scheduling an MRI
early next month. The doctor claimed he
just wanted to give Pop the complete routine check-up.”
They decided to have a quick dinner of
soup and sandwiches. Ruth told them
about her busy day. She mentioned the
beautiful young dog that had been brought to the shelter late that afternoon. “I could not believe it! This dog gave me a hug! All I did was hand her a treat, and she
kissed me and would not stop hugging me.”
Ruth was so excited about telling her
parents about her day that she forgot to mention the earlier mysterious phone
call.
When dinner was done, and the table had
been cleared, it was evident to all that bedtime would come early tonight. Everyone was tired, and each person heard the
call of Mr. Sandman. Ruth slowly
climbed the stairs to her room. She was
exhausted, but her thoughts were happy.
She managed to change, get into bed and as
she slept, she began to dream of the fun times she had shared with her Collie. It looked like Sassie was already helping to
heal the pain and sad emotions of Ruth’s past.
The next morning Ruth got up early. She
wanted to get to the shelter early and spend a little bit of time with the
young dog she had decided to name Sassie.
“I believe that I know how to train Sassie so that she will pass the
behavior test. I just need to get the
kind of treats that Sassie will enjoy.”
Then she added the thought, after all, I trained my Collie with the kind
of treats my Collie would enjoy.
With her permission, I am serializing a chapter a week, on this blog, the material from this novel by Helen A. Bemis, published by Outskirts Press and available through amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Sassie-Novel-Human-Communication/dp/1977206093/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Understanding+Sassie&qid=1559053238&s=books&sr=1-2
As her editor and coach, I aided Helen through my WriteYourBookWithMe.com endeavor.
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