The Pride of Howard County
Page 10
Chapter 9
John gave notice to the Phoenix Program and this was not easy. He was very grateful for the opportunity to work there but his boss understood when John explained what was going on. He made the arrangements with his Landlord and utility companies, sold his furniture mainly to his neighbors for what they were willing to pay, bought a baby blue convertible Ford Mustang and made his rounds saying his goodbyes.
With the top down, the radio blaring, the wind blowing through his hair and the sun on his face any lingering doubts melted like an ice cube in August. Sky scrapers and concrete gave way to the green of Pennsylvania. The miles turned into hours, Pennsylvania turned into Ohio with little else for the pioneer to do but put gas in the car, dial in a new radio station every so often and look straight down the road into the future.
When John had arrived in New York it had been so thrilling and now leaving brought about mixed feelings, it was like bookends to a chapter of his life.
He drove along the interstates and pondered deep thoughts such as does anything ever stay the same or would he ever find whatever it was he was looking for. Like other explorers before him he couldn’t ever be sure but he was sure he would have to try. Convinced that God would lead, he had become willing to follow but at a price. There was no longer naïve innocence; he was now a little wiser, and perhaps a little weaker. And this place he was going, he guessed it would not be somewhere he would stay forever, but he would stay as long as he was supposed to. John had learned that whenever you lose one fear you gain another until you get to a fork in the road. One way leads back to where you started, where you can go around and around until you die, the other way leads to the discovery of yourself until you can stand alone in your being.
Now four days into his journey John had rented a motel room in Muncie, Indiana from some Indian guy. After sitting by the pool for a while he showered and decided to search for a restaurant. He was traveling on a four lane street in a business district of Muncie when suddenly he very nearly struck a dog with the car. It seemed as if the dog had come out of nowhere and was certainly not streetwise. Cars were zooming by him on either side and he was nearly hit by several more cars. John knew if someone didn’t do something it was going to be very tragic for the dog.
He quickly whipped a u-turn and pulled over to the side of the road. John leapt from the car and called out to the dog. Within a moment he had this big, stinking, flea infested brown dog riding in the front seat of his car.
Once he and the dog were back at the motel John tried to contact the Muncie Animal Shelter but they were closed as it was after five o’clock. He would try again in the morning but if this thing was going to sleep in his room tonight he would definitely need a bath. It took nearly an entire bar of soap and when he was done the bathroom was flooded but eventually he managed to get the big brown dog cleaned up.
Somehow, between then and the next morning something happened. When John woke up in the morning he had company with him in the bed. He tried to wake the dog gently but was met with a sleepy growl/moan. The dog apparently didn’t give the matter a whole lot of thought as he laid his head back down and closed his eyes. John laid there as long as he could stand it but daylight was burning and he wanted to get on the road. Not wanting to risk getting bit by this dog he shoved the big lug with both feet and the dog landed on the floor with a thud.
The traveler showered and shaved, put his suitcase in the car and went back into the room to make sure he hadn’t left anything. When he returned to the car he found fleabag sitting in the backseat of the car apparently ready to hit the road too. And then somehow, John found himself and evidently his new dog headed out of Muncie and he knew there would never be any going back.
Well if fleabag was going to be his traveling companion he would need a name. John thought of all the usual names, Max, Bud, but nothing seemed to fit. He just knew he would need to stop calling him fleabag.
They both had Egg McMuffins for breakfast and John made a mental note to get some dog food and a collar. After a couple of hours Fleabag was sprawled out in the back seat sleeping in the warm sunshine when it came to John what his dogs name would be. And so he and Muncie rode the miles away together. Muncie turned out to be a Chocolate Labrador Retriever. A little hard headed, not the brightest dog in the world but he had a heart of gold. Not only had Muncie been covered with fleas, he had no collar and basically was a bag of bones, clearly underfed. Whoever had him before was certainly not taking good care of him so John never felt guilty about keeping him. He probably would not have chosen a Chocolate Lab but figured it didn’t matter at this point. What’s done was done.
Muncie woke up and yawned for five miles making squeaking noises with each yawn. John was glad he had gotten some restful sleep; it had probably been a while.
Muncie had fallen for his new owner; he seemed like a nice guy, he enjoyed his bath and was really glad to get rid of those fleas. And the big brown dog thought those two Egg McMuffins was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.
Now half way across the Land of Lincoln, with one more state to go, John was getting close to his destination. Just down the road, was the City of Fayette in Howard County, Missouri.
Missouri has farmland in the north and mountains in the south with the country’s second largest river running through the middle of the state the locals affectionately call the Muddy Mo. St. Louis was 120 miles to the east and Kansas City 120 miles to the west. An hour and a half south was the Lake of the Ozarks, a large recreational resort area. Fayette has a community college and the City of Columbia was nearby with the University of Missouri. The more research he did the more John liked the idea of living there. It seemed like a nice place to live and to heal.