The Pride of Howard County

by Kevin Bachman

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  Lucky was nowhere to be found. John called for her but she didn’t come waddling up the path she and Muncie had worn going to and from the Piney. She was profoundly pregnant these days and John was very concerned. He kept imagining she was in trouble somewhere and he needed to find her.

  After he had spent fifteen minutes searching about the farm yard and calling for her John noticed Muncie was acting strange as if he were almost anxious about something. He kept pacing back and forth from the porch in the direction of the barn. When John began to follow Muncie he led him to the barn door but would not go inside.

  John called out Lucky’s name but there was only silence. He switched on the overhead light and searched the barn until he caught the faint silhouette of something among some hay bales. John slowly approached what he now knew was Lucky. He softly called her name, but she didn’t move.

  Fear shot into John; was something wrong with her? His mind raced.

  Lucky had just given birth to eight pups and was exhausted. When John got up next to her she raised her head and softly whimpered. John went to his knees and gave her a hug and a kiss. He got a bowl of water for her and sat next to her while she rested. After a few minutes she began to clean her pride and they wiggled and squeaked.

  John was so proud of her and only wished Gus was here to see this. His scrappy little coyote fighting, bull wrestling sweetheart of a dog was a brand new mama. This dog really could do it all.

  Within a few weeks there were puppies running all over the place. It was great fun to watch them tumble and play. Lucky was a dutiful mother but John and Abby sensed she was a little relieved when they began finding homes for the puppies. They had decided they were going to give all of them away but there was that one last pup that nobody seemed to want. The weeks went by and the little straggler wormed his way into the family. They named him Moses.

  John and Abby contacted Buddy J. Cravens and working with the Department of Conservation made the necessary arrangements to expand the conversation area. Abby had repeatedly asked the boys for help with the name of the conservation area but the two men refused to suggest any names. They told her that it was her father’s wish that she name the area and so it would be. She stewed over the name for a few weeks until finally settling on the obvious name, Grace Rogers Conservation Area, in honor of her mother. John and Terry both knew that the old man would have liked the name.