Duke

Today I think I’ll tell you about one of my dogs.

Duke was a goofy dog. He was half American Eskimo and half German shepherd. Quite a combo I know. He was the only one of the litter to resemble a shepherd. All the others looked like snowball but in various colors.

Duke was a strong and obnoxious dog. He jumped the fence on a regular basis. A fence that was five foot tall! So my dad fashioned this thing, a tie out of sorts. He took a chain and attached it to a truck tire. This would allow Duke the freedom to roam the yard but made it impossible for him to escape the yard—we thought.

One day I came home from school and Duke was gone. I was devastated. I even accused my dad of getting rid of him. My dad has NEVER lied to me so when he said he didn’t, he didn’t. Duke showed up back home two days later—still dragging his tire.

We couldn’t think of what else to do but for over a week Duke didn’t take off. We thought he was back for good. He wasn’t.

Once more I came home and Duke was gone. I waited and waited but he never came home. One night I was lying in bed and I heard him beneath my window barking to beat the band. I jumped up and ran outside. Duke wasn’t there.

I was so sad. My dog was gone. I still had his mother and she was a love bug but Duke was something special to me.

I was out with my boyfriend and we were driving home. There is a dead end of sorts—used to be anyway. The recent construction took it away. Anyway, we were sitting there and I saw Duke in the headlights. I jumped out of the car and rushed to him. He wagged his tail, he barked and then he was gone. Not like ran off gone. Like suddenly wasn’t there gone.

It was strange and it gave me the chills but I also had this feeling of comfort. He had come to tell me goodbye.

Many of my strange moments involve different pets I’ve had over the years and I’ll tell you about them at different intervals.