Four-Footed Angels

by J. T. Livingston

  “What did you hear?”

  “There were a couple of strangers…two men…in the diner this morning. They looked…out of place…you know?”

  Clint spat another mouthful of tobacco juice behind him. “Cops? In Thomasville…really?”

  Little John nodded. “Maybe…yep…just two of them, but McAlister told me that they’ve been hanging around for a few days now. They don’t look like street cops, though.”

  Clint grinned and showed a mouthful of tobacco-stained teeth. “McAlister would definitely be able to spot ‘em, that’s for sure…he’s been locked up enough…”

  Jerry McAlister owned a small farm a few miles past the Abbott ranch. He raised some of the bait and fighting dogs that Little John used in his illegal dog-fighting business. He had spent half of his life locked away for one petty crime or another, and nobody expected that he had not seen his last of the inside of a cell.

  Little John stretched his arms above his head. “McAlister seems to think they might be private investigators instead of cops…seems they’ve shown a lot of interest in dog fighting…been asking a few too many questions…”

  “You must be worried about ‘em if you’re thinking of closing up shop for a while…” Clint nodded.

  Little John was quiet for a few moments before replying. “There’s just the two of them, best I can tell…I can take care of them if I have to…just keep your eyes and ears open…let me know if you hear or see anything that doesn’t feel right to you. If they’re stupid enough to show up here, I want to know.”

  “I can do that…” Clint shrugged.

  Little John lit another blunt and took a long drag from it. “And keep an eye on Tyler Jones, too…I’m not entirely sure that we need to keep him on, but for now…well…just keep an eye on him. He hasn’t been back at all today?”

  Clint shook his head. “Nope…he left right after you did early this morning. Took a left out of the driveway…”

  “Hmmm…” Little John muttered. “Let me know the minute he gets back.”

  _____

  Amanda and Sam’s reunion was a joyful one. Max came outside to join in and to answer what questions he could that Amanda had about Sam’s presence. He explained to her that Sam was there to assist in the secret and unlawful dog-fighting ring that was prevalent in the neighboring town of Thomasville, GA.

  Amanda pulled Sam toward her in a protective hug and shook her head. “No, Max…what do mean…to assist? It sounds dangerous…he could be hurt…”

  Bertie laughed out loud, “Hell, Princess...it’s not like he’s gonna get himself killed. In case you’ve forgotten, he’s already dead…you know…angel-dog and all!”

  Buster stopped chasing a batch of yellow butterflies and bounced toward them. He jumped onto Sam’s back and grabbed hold of a shiny, black ear. “Come play with me, Sam…p-l-e-a-s-e!”

  Spartacus had remained in the kitchen, but the sound of the puppy’s pleading reached his ears and his curiosity finally got the best of him. His legs felt stiff and sore, but he knew that he needed to move around on them. He ambled onto the back porch and sniffed the fresh air. It felt good to be outside again, free of the heavy chains that always hung around his neck. He watched the young pup they called Buster and a wave of sadness coursed through him. He had never been allowed to run and play freely like that; he had never known a kind touch or a soft-spoken word; and, he had never had a human love him the way the young woman seemed to love Sam and Buster.

  Amanda saw the thin, scarred dog standing on the porch and her heart filled with even more love. “Oh, my God…” she cried as she moved toward Spartacus. “What on earth happened to him?”

  Spartacus’ tail thumped softly against the wooden columns. “Oh…look…she’s coming over to me…I…I think she’s going to touch me…” He tucked his tail between his legs, lowered his head, and looked at her feet. “She must think I’m pretty ugly and scary-looking with all these wounds…nobody like her would ever want to touch an ugly dog like me…”

  Sam barked loudly until Spartacus looked over at him. “She’s unlike any human you have ever known, my friend. You can trust her…”

  Amanda looked at Max. “Max?”

  Max nodded and motioned for Amanda to join him on the porch with Spartacus. “Come here, Amanda. I want you to meet Spartacus...”

  Amanda sat on one side of Spartacus while Max sat on the other. The dog looked at her with the saddest eyes she had ever seen. She reached out and rubbed the top of his head. “Well, hello there, Spartacus. That’s a strong and beautiful name…just like you…”

  Spartacus closed his eyes when she touched him. He felt the warmth in her hands flow through his body. He had never felt so alive before. “She thinks I’m beautiful…” He looked at Sam and Buster. The pup was still gnawing on the big dog’s ear. Spartacus rolled the pup onto its back and placed a large paw over him. He returned Spartacus’ look and barked loudly.

  “He came to our back door a couple of nights ago, Amanda. If you think he looks rough now, you should have seen him then. I wasn’t sure if he would make it through the night or not, but he did. He’s a fighter…in more ways than one. Amos Brown helped out, too. He showed us the miraculous power that simple sugar has on open wounds.”

  Amanda continued to stroke Spartacus, all the while inspecting the newer wounds that appeared to be healing nicely. She ran her hands across other scars that, apparently, had been there for quite a while. “This dog wasn’t hit by a car, was he?”

  Bertie placed both hands upon her ample hips and said, “No, Princess…these wounds definitely were not caused by any car! Trust me…I know how it feels to be hit by one, too! No…Max seems to think that Spartacus’ wounds are the result of dog fighting…and not just your run-of-the-mill, neighborhood dog fighting, either…”

  Amanda closed her eyes as she quickly made the connection. She opened her eyes and looked at Max. “That’s what you meant then…when you told me why Sam was sent here…to help Spartacus…so, what? Is Sam supposed to magically end the fighting in Thomasville…all by himself?” She turned back to Spartacus and looked deeply into his dark, soulful eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine what you have been through, fella, and I am so sorry that you have been treated so badly…” Tears flowed down her cheeks and she choked on her sentence.

  Nobody seemed to notice when Tyler stepped onto the porch. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he began, “But…Doug said it would be okay if I came out back to see…”

  Spartacus turned his head at the sound of Tyler’s voice and his tail thumped louder than ever. “Hey! It’s the nice man…the one who fed me extra food and only pretended to beat me when my master told him to train me.” He looked at Sam. “Hey, Sam…look!”

  “He’s here to help you, Spartacus,” Sam confirmed. “Don’t worry…he’s going to be taking you some place safe, but we’ll meet up again in a few days. It’s important that you heal quickly because we don’t have much time.”

  Max stood up, while Tyler bent down and lowered his head toward Spartacus. “Hey there, fella…how are you doing? You look stronger…” He gave Spartacus another quick rub and then stood up. He held out his hand to Amanda, who was still sitting on the stoop beside Spartacus. “Hi…I’m Tyler Foster…”

  Amanda placed her hand in Tyler’s and shivered involuntarily when he helped her to stand. She looked at Max, who was smiling broadly and nodding his head slowly. She looked back at Bertie who raised her eyebrows and wiggled her shoulders. She looked at Sam, who released his hold on Buster, and walked toward her while Buster ran off to chase butterflies again. Her dream with her parents echoed within her brain…all these individual actions occurred within a few seconds in time…which was all it took for Amanda to, once again, make a quick connection. “Tyler Foster…no…this is too much of a coincidence…you’re Tyler Foster?”

  Tyler looked confused but continued to hold on to Amanda’s offered hand. “I am…and you are…”

  Amanda grinned and sh
ook her head. “Well…if fate has anything to do with it, I’m probably going to be your wife someday soon!”

  Tyler quickly released Amanda’s hand!

  11. A Plan Takes Form

  It was almost one o’clock before Tyler loaded Spartacus into the front seat of his truck and began the almost two-hour trip to rendezvous with his father. The angels were busy with the lunch crowd for a few hours, and Amanda took the opportunity to unpack and relax in her old apartment. Sam had gone off on his own into the woods, but Max had assured Amanda that he would be fine and that she would see him later.

  She lay horizontally across the twin size-bed with her feet dangling toward the floor. She was still in the comfortable jeans and thin sweat shirt she had donned earlier that morning. Buster ran circles around her feet, attempting intermittent swipes to grab hold and pull off her socks. Amanda was oblivious to the pup’s humorous antics. Her eyes were closed but there was a smile upon her face…a smile that ended abruptly when Buster bit her little toe as he successfully managed to finally pull off one sock.

  “Ouch!” she laughed and sat upright. She picked the pup up and put him on the bed beside her. She rolled him onto his back and began tickling his belly. “That hurt, Buster! How would you like it if I bit your toe?”

  Buster wriggled free and backed up to the pillows at the head of the bed. He crouched down with his butt in the air and squinted his eyes at her. He offered her one of his most fearsome puppy growls and wiggled his butt to show that he was serious.

  Amanda laughed at him and threw the sock at him. “Okay, okay…here…take it! I’m going to jump in the shower and then head downstairs to see what Max has cooked for dinner. If you’re a good dog, I might even sneak something back to you. What do you say?”

  “I say you need to get a move on it! There were some mighty good smells coming from that big room behind the porch. Okay…I promise to be good…but I wish I could go with you…” Buster lowered his raised butt and shook the sock from side to side. He rushed to the end of the bed and jumped into Amanda’s lap.

  Amanda kissed him on the head and stood up. She reached back for him and placed him on the floor. “Okay, you be a good boy now…I really need that shower, and then I’ll take you out to pee pee on the grass before I go back to the café. I’ll leave the TV on to that doggie channel that you like so much, okay?”

  Buster barked loudly and took his prized sock off to his own bed.

  _____

  It was almost three-thirty by the time Tyler and his parents were ready to say their good-byes. The van door was open and Tyler was bent over whispering into Spartacus’ ear. “You’re going to a good place, Spartacus…a really good place. These people will take good care of you, I promise. You be a good boy, now, you hear?” He planted a kiss on the dog’s lumpy head.

  “I’m not worried one bit,” Spartacus sighed. “I wish I could tell you what’s going on, though. I wish I could tell you what Sam told me. You don’t know it yet, but I have to go back to that place one more time. I don’t want to, but…I have to.” He closed his eyes when Tyler kissed the top of his head. The lumps and old wounds didn’t seem to faze the young man who had been so kind to him the past few months.

  Jean Foster walked around to the back of the van and wrapped her arms around her son. She sighed against his back and whispered, “God, I wish you didn’t have to go back to that place. I wish you had never gotten involved in all of this, son…”

  Tyler placed his hands on top of his mother’s and raised up. “I know…me, too. It’s been hell watching how they treat all those poor animals, especially the baiters. I wish I could save them all, but, Mom…so many of them have ended up in that pit. I die a little bit inside every time I have to take one there. I want to give them all a proper burial, to let them know that someone cared about them, that their lives weren’t in vain, but…well…I think the foreman is already a little suspicious about my true feelings for the animals.”

  B.B. Foster had joined his wife and son at the back of the van. He looked inside at Spartacus and smiled. “We can’t save them all, Tyler…but you’ve done one helluva job in saving this one. He is a true survivor, and I promise you that the rest of his days on this earth will be good ones. I’m thinking that this one might need to stay with us instead of being adopted out. I’m not sure if I could let him go now; there’s something about him that tears at my heart strings. If each of those wounds could tell a story…”

  Tyler slipped from his mother’s embrace and placed a hand upon his father’s shoulder. “It might not be a story we would want to hear, Dad. Little John raised Spartacus from a pup, and he’s two years old now, so you can just imagine what his life has been like. I’ve told you before about the abuse that goes on at that ranch.”

  “Well…” B.B. sighed, “Hopefully, that is about to come to an end very soon. I, uh…I heard that the two men I told you about are in Thomasville now. They’re feeling folks out, letting it be known that they’re interested in betting on the next big fight.”

  “That’s great,” Tyler nodded. “I’ve been expecting them for a few days now, but haven’t met them yet. I’ve talked to them both on the phone, working out the final details on what’s about to go down. They told me again that I don’t need to be involved if I don’t want to, but…”

  Jean sighed. “I wish you would listen to them on that score, Tyler. There really is no need for you to be any more involved than you already are…especially if that Meacham fella and Abbott are the least bit suspicious of your intentions.”

  Tyler shook his head. “I doubt Meacham has a clue, Mom. He just thinks I’m a little soft when it comes to disciplining and disposing of the animals. No…I’m pretty sure nobody suspects anything yet. But…as for Little John…well, he isn’t as country and backward as some folks may think he is; he’s actually pretty sharp and intuitive, but, I don’t trust anything he says or does. Hell…I may not even have a job when I get back there. I was supposed to check back in with Clint Meacham a couple of hours ago.”

  “Then you had better get going, son,” B.B. said. “Don’t worry about Spartacus. We’ll take good care of him. You won’t recognize him the next time you see him…and, thanks for that info about the powdered sugar mixture for open wounds…we’ll keep doing that until he’s healed completely.”

  Tyler bent down and gave Spartacus a final kiss on the head. “I know he’ll be safe with you, Dad.” He exhaled deeply and turned toward his truck. “By the way…I meant to tell you both about this really strange girl…woman…I met earlier today.”

  Jean’s eyebrows raised in eager anticipation. “Oh? You’ve met someone?” she asked hopefully. “Who is she?”

  Tyler shook his head and smiled. “She scared the crap out of me, to tell you the truth; her name is Amanda Turner and when I met her, she informed me that she was probably going to be my wife one day real soon. Really, really strange…”

  Jean managed to keep the smile off her face until after she and B.B. had hugged their youngest son good-bye and watched him drive away. “Well, well…” she smirked.

  B.B. laughed and pulled her toward the van’s passenger door. “Come on, beautiful. I know exactly what you’re thinking. This is the same young woman we all met yesterday, isn’t it?”

  “Why, you know…I believe it must be,” Jean smiled back. “I knew it! I knew when I met her that there was something special about her. Come on…you have to admit it…fate works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure if fate has anything to do with their chance meeting,” B.B. laughed again. “Poor Tyler doesn’t stand a chance!”

  _____

  The lunch crowd had thinned out considerably by four-thirty; there were only a half-dozen customers who remained at the blue- and white-checkered tables. Amos Brown was the only person sitting at the counter seats. He was at the café every day for a late lunch, but when he found out that Amanda was back for a visit, he stayed later than usual so that he could see her
again. He and Amanda shared a very special bond since they were the only two living humans who knew the truth about the angels of the Heavenly Grille Café. They had been witness to Max’s transformation when he had revealed his true identity to them.

  The angel chimes sounded when Amanda breezed through the café’s front door. “Oh, my God! What smells so good…” She stopped in mid-sentence when the old black man at the counter turned around and grinned at her. “Amos!!” She let the screen door bang shut behind her and literally flew into the arms of the sweetest man she had ever known, besides her own father.

  Amos stood up in time to welcome her fierce hug and grinned a toothless grin. “Lawdy, Miss Amanda…it’s really good to see you again…yes, it is…” He eventually held her at a distance and said, “Let me gets a good look at you…why you look fine, girl…just fine.”

  A tear ran down Amanda’s cheek and she grinned back at him. “So do you, Amos…so do you. It feels like it’s been years instead of just months since I’ve seen you. How are you? Are you feeling okay? Taking care of yourself?” She hugged him again.

  Amos laughed and sat back down on his stool. He patted the empty seat beside him. “Oh, I’s be just fine for an old man, I guess. Can’t complain none and ain’t no one to complain to if I wanted to. So, as long as the good Lord sees fit to keep me here, then I guess this is where I’ll be for a spell. Mr. Max and Miss Bertie sees to it that I eats right, though.”

  “Well…” Amanda sighed. “If anything can keep anyone going strong, it would be Max’s cooking for sure! Speaking of which, I am starving!”

  Bertie came out of the kitchen, her arms loaded down with a tray of steaming food. “I heard that!” she bellowed. “And…I’ve got just the thing you need to get your vacation started off on the right foot. Take a look at this meal!”