by Darrel Bird
those mountains. There were mountain lions in those woods, and when the chill came from the night air, I just didn’t see how we were going to make it.
I thought I heard a mountain lion caterwauling back in them woods, but if it was he never came near us.
One time I seen a black bear up there but that was the first time I had seen one, but my imagination got to running away with me and I jumped at every sound.
Those woods can make a heap a sounds at night and you can’t rightly tell what they are.
About nine that night, I heard the whine of a truck engine as it climbed the mountain, and soon I saw lights coming down through the trees. Dawg came running up to lick my face.
I couldn’t make out the faces behind the bright carbide lights the men wore on their hats. The lights cast flashing shadows over where Dad lay, then two of the men came over with a stretcher and gently lifted me onto it. The pain shot through my leg so bad everything went gray then black.
I awoke in the bed of a pickup as it made its way down the mountain, I moaned involuntarily at every bump in the road, and there was aplenty of them. I felt something stick my left arm and passed out again. I woke up in a brightly lit hospital room; my leg was in a cast.
A nurse came in to look at me, “Oh, awake huh?” she said cheerfully as if we were at a church social.
“Where’s my dad?”
“Don’t worry about your dad; he’ll be fine.”
“I want to know where my dad is.” I was getting perturbed at the bedside manner real quick.
“Your dad is in another part of the hospital. He’ll be ok, but the doctors had to operate on him; he had some internal injuries. Your mom will be down in a little while; she told me to take care of you. Now you try to get some rest; I hear you went through quite and ordeal.”
“Yeah, it was pretty rough, I guess.”
“Pokey?”
I turned my eyes to the door and there stood Julie with her parents. Her eyes bored into mine, “Are you ok?” She walked to the side of my bed, and took my hand in hers.
“Yeah, I’m ok, Julie. How are you?
“I’m ok. I’ve been worried about you and your dad.”
“I’m ok Julie, but that nurse said they got to operate on dad and I’m real worried about him, he was hurt bad.
Julie’s parents came in to stand beside my bed with Julie.
“We just came from there, son. The doctors said he’s going to be fine. They just had to fix some minor internal damage. You just rest easy now, boy; it’s going to be all right,” Mr. Bates said. Mr. Bates spoke with kindness and patted me on the shoulder. Mrs. Bates had tears in her eyes, as she bent over to hug me.
“Let’s go now, Julie, so he can get some rest. You can come back later this evening.” Mr. and Mrs. Bates turned to go.
“Ok, Dad. I’ll see you later today, Pokey. You just get better.” She let go of my hand to follow her parents down the hall.
I had a warm feeling as they exited the room. I dropped off to sleep and awoke an hour later to find my mom and sis sitting by my bed.
“Hi Mom.”
“Hi baby, how do you feel?”
“Oh, I’m ok. How’s Dad?
“He’s sleeping right now. They had to operate on him to fix the internal bleeding. Dawg saved his life.”
“Dawg?”
“Yes, he came home to the neighbors and threw such a fit, they decided something was wrong. He kept racing up the road, then back again, then up the road again. He was limping but he wouldn’t stop doing that, so they followed him to where the log road begins. Mr. Graham sent his boy to fetch some others and they followed him straight to you. The doctors said they didn’t think your dad would have been able to last the night.”
“I prayed that God would send Dawg for help, Mom, but when he took off, I thought he had gotten after a rabbit or something.”
“God answered your prayers, son.” Her lips quivered and tears filled her eyes as she grabbed me and held me close. “I’m so proud of you, son.”
“But Mom, I didn’t do anything; I couldn’t do anything for Dad.”
“Yes you did son; you knew who to call on when the chips were down.” Elizabeth was crying too. She had hold of my other hand.
“Aw now, Lizzy, are you going to cry, too?”
My mom and Elizabeth both started giggling at once at my expression.
Two days later they allowed me and my dad both to leave the hospital; me on crutches, and Dad in a wheelchair.
We sat together on the front porch and greeted one after the other of the church members and neighbors who dropped by to pay their respects to the injured. I thought it resembled a three ring circus I had seen at Little Rock once. Dawg greeted each one as if they were royalty. He would jump up on them, then race around the house. This went on the whole day.
During a lull in the company, my dad remarked, “There’s some good people in this valley, son, and I’m awfully proud of you. They are too.”
“But Dad, Dawg was the one that got help.”
“Yes he did. I ain’t belittling him, son, but if you hadn’t of prayed, that mangy dog would have stayed right there. There is no question we have witnessed a miracle of God speaking his will to one of his creatures; no question in my mind at all.”
Dawg took that as his cue to jump up on Dad’s knees, and I saw a tear slide out of Dad’s eye as he bent over to hug the dog.
About that time, the Bates family pulled into the driveway and Julie got out looking pretty as a picture, She came over and sat down beside me then took my hand in hers and all was right in my world, and Dawg’s world too.
The End