Chapter 4: Company For Christmas by Chris Bellamy Chapter 4: I was tired and laid my book down on the night stand then turned out the light. I was laying there thinking about how this day had turned out. I was happy and I was thankful that it was Christmas Eve. I was glad to be home. I thought of a lyric from a Zac Brown song that said, “My house, it ain’t much to talk about, but it’s filled with love and grown in southern ground”, and that was the truth about my place. I was about to doze off when I heard Chester coming down the hall. Chester really likes to sleep on the bed on these cold winter nights so the next thing I felt was two feet on the foot of the bed. I said, “Come on buddy.” He was up in the bed in a flash. In just a few minutes we were out like a light. Ya know, sometimes you can dream some amazing things when you’re relaxed and happy! I was dreaming that I was fishin down in the Everglades with this lady, but I couldn’t see her face nor did I know who she was in the dream. It was warm and sunny and she was on the bow casting towards the mangroves. I was poling my skiff along near Joe’s creek, pretty far back in the glades. I was really liking the dream, but you know how you get a feeling sometimes when someone is watching you? Well, even in my dream I was starting to get the message that someone wanted my attention. I don’t know how long I’d been asleep but I felt a cool nose against my shoulder nudging me. I reached out with my right arm to find Skipper there. Then he started being a lot more insistent! He started doing his Skipper talk thing that I swear is the closest thing I’ve ever heard to a dog speak English! He meant for me to get up right then. I turned on the lamp. “What is it buddy?” He was tapping his toe nails on the floor and doing his happy dance like he does when he wants to go out, only he was acting different. Clearly something was up! I laid there for another minute but Skipper wasn’t having it. He kept after me, so I tossed back the covers as best I could because Chester had part of the covers under him. He wasn’t concerned about nothin. He was snoozing hard! So, me and Skipper headed down the hall way back toward the den. Skipper ran down in the den ahead if me and was nudging our new friend when I got there. She seemed fine but all of the sudden I realized...holy cow...she was having puppies right there in the den on my ottoman! Wow! It didn’t matter about the ottoman. It was old and I had re-stuffed it several times over the years, but, I’d never seen a dog have puppies. I’d never had a female dog! I’d never done anything like this! Lord of mercy! I went over to her, got down on my knees and rubbed her head! I was at a loss but everything seemed to be going O.K.! So far, she’d had two little pups. I went and got some towels and wash clothes out of the closet in the hall because that’s what Doc. Adams does on the old western T.V. show, “Gun Smoke”! I thought about boiling some water because every time he had to deliver a baby or somebody got shot, that was part of the procedure out in the Wild West! And right now, it was a little bit of both around this house! I ran back up to the den where there was a third one coming out! Holy cow! Skipper was right there watching like he knew what he was doing! Chester was still a sleep! I was feeling a little dizzy! Son of a gun! So, I sat down on the little couch beside her and watched this third puppy being born. I’ll be dang-gone! The mama dog seemed like she was doing O.K. As far as I could tell, the third one seemed to be the last one. Bless her heart! I was floored. I had thought that she might have looked a little bloated earlier when she came in the house. I never gave a thought to the possibility that she might have puppies! But she did! Son, I ain’t never! Right away she started taking care of her babies! I put the towels and wash clothes around her but I didn’t want to upset her or touch her babies. I had never seen nothin like it! She was handling it! Skipper came over and lay down at my feet and stayed where he could plainly see her and her business at hand! I was completely amazed! Me and Skipper sat there for a while with our “company for Christmas.” I said to her, “Sweetie...sugar...I ain’t believin’ all of this!” I guess our name for our new friend would be, “Sweetie.” She was just licking them pups. I could hear ’um making little puppy noise’s. They were just as brown as they could be. If I hadn’t known that Skipper was fixed, I might have thought they were his puppies too but him and Chester both were fixed at the animal shelter when I got them years ago. Chester finally got out of bed and moseyed on up to the den. He came to the door of the den, looked in then turned around and went back to bed. I reckon he was thinking, “Lord a mercy, now what we gonna do”! I got up to fix Sweetie some food and water. Skipper wasn’t moving much. He just looked at me with his sweet Skipper look as if to say, “I’m gonna lay right here”! We were all pretty tired. It had all gone down pretty fast! I thought to myself, “Is there anybody I should call to make sure everything is alright?” It was Christmas Eve and by now it was three o’clock in the morning. I opened the door on the wood stove to put another couple of pieces of fire wood in it. I petted Sweetie good-night and gave Skipper a little scratch on the head and went on back to bed. Chester was already snoring at the foot of the bed. “Merry Christmas,” I thought to myself! Wow! I’d figure out how and what to do sometime tomorrow. But right now, I was beat! Ill post chapter 5 on tomorrow, 11-20-2014. Keep them cards and letters coming and let me know your thoughts! Merry Christmas to all of you!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:44:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015