I wore a hat to church today. It was candy apple red. 

I heard a man behind me say, “That hat could wake the dead!”

Oh, it didn’t hurt my feelings none. I’d pretty much decided…

That funny looking hat would cost me all I’d ever prided.

I never was a classy one. I got no notions to dispel.

I only just found out, my Easter hat should be pastel.

I have to live within my means which mostly are a minus.

‘Sides, the pink hat wouldn’t fit my head. It swolled up from sinusitis.

The onliest dress that fits looks like an Easter egg done died.

Couldn’t find no red to match my hat. Can’t say I really tried.

When I got home from church I found my hat was all askew. 

I shoulda pinned it to my head like Grandma used to do.  

Don’t mind the troubles with my hat, I loved the sermon and the songs.

I knew before the last amen, I was right where I belongs.

I’ll go back agin next week and sit right where I sat.

You’ll know zackly who I am…I’ll be wearin my red hat.

I wore a hat to church today and I’m sure glad I did.

Cause you’ll know me when you see me, if I don’t flip my bright red lid!

 

Jamie had to return to veterinarian school for one more month before the summer break. She and Arf were on their way to see Miss Bessie. Jamie wanted to have a conversation with her about Arf’s care…now and in the future. The more she thought about it, the more she thought Brad’s suggestion to share this amazing dog with Miss B, was a great idea. One that could work out for the benefit of all.

“Are you and Arf on your way back to school?” Miss Bessie was thrilled they had stopped by. It had been a long two weeks without Arf in her life.

“Yes, I have to get back today, but I need to talk with you first. Clearly, I owe you an apology. I have kept Arf from you and you from him for the past two weeks. You two love each other and that was hurtful and not fair. Please forgive me.”

“Of course, dear,” Miss Bessie said. “Arf belongs to you and for a while, you thought you had lost him forever.”

“Miss Bessie, if you’re willing, Arf and I would like for you to be a big part of his life. Brad suggested you could be Arf’s grandhuman. How would you feel about that?”

Miss B didn’t answer right away and Jamie was beginning to think she had offended her when she finally spoke.

“I would be honored,” she said. “I would like that more than anything in the world. I must admit when I thought I would have the total responsibility for Arf’s welfare, I was a little concerned. Arf is a young dog and is likely to outlive me. I worried about what would happen to him.”

“And I worry about him becoming too lonely when I’m preoccupied with my studies,” Jamie added. “Which brings me to our current need. Would you be willing to have Arf stay here for the next month? I still haven’t made plans for the summer months. I can’t think that far ahead right now.”

“You can’t possibly know how much that would mean to me,” Miss B said. “I promise to take good care of him.”

“Oh I have no doubt he’ll be in good hands…. I need to get on the road, but first I have something in the jeep that I want to give to Arf. Come on Arfie!”

Arf and Miss B followed Jamie outside. Jamie reached into the back of the Jeep and pulled out a beautiful, new frisbee for Arf and flowers for Miss B.

“Miss Bessie,” Jamie hesitated a moment before continuing. “Do you know anything about Brad’s family?”

“I’ve been curious about that, too,” Miss B said. “Busybody that I am, I asked Alice, his cook if Brad had inherited that beautiful ranch from his parents. She assured me he had built it up on his own. She said Brad’s parents and a sister had died in a fire when he was just sixteen. Apparently he has a younger brother somewhere. Alice also told me there was no finer man than Brad Humbolt.

Miss Bessie had another great day. It was hard to believe that the people sitting with her in church on Easter Sunday were friends she hadn’t known until just one short week ago. The very special friend that had come to her aid twice in the past week was waiting patiently outside the church door.

***Here I am sitting outside the door of a church waiting for my humans. Were they all my humans? Jamie used to be pretty much my only human, but now I get to be around Brad a lot and I live with Miss Bessie. I don’t know where I’ll go from here. I love Jamie very much and she came all the way here to get me and take me home.

Miss Bessie took me in and gave me a home when I was lost. I love her, too…even if she is kind of high maintenance.

I’m glad I don’t have to be the one who chooses me. I mean who chooses them. I’m confused.

Since Miss Bessie had cooked a big dinner for everyone on Saturday, Brad asked Alice, his cook, to make a nice dinner for them at his house.

Brad’s ranch is beautiful, and his house is bigger than any house I have ever seen.

After dinner, I played “chase the ball” with Jamie and went with Brad to check on some baby horses.

When we were getting ready to leave, I saw Jamie and Miss Bessie talking.

“I’ve come to love Arf so much,” Miss Bessie said. “But I know it’s time for him to be with you. He’s young and adventuresome and he needs a young person like you. Besides, I can tell how close you are to him and he to you… Now, this old lady is tired. I’m going to ask Brad to take me home.”

Jamie just didn’t have it in her to protest. Maybe Miss Bessie was right.

**Well, it looks like I’m going to stay with Jamie. I sure hope Miss Bessie will be okay.

Brad made the wise decision to stay out of it.

**The next two weeks went by quickly. Jamie went horseback riding every day and I got to run along beside her as long as I didn’t bark at the horse.

I didn’t see Miss Bessie at all and I missed her.

“So you’re taking Arf with you?” Brad asked when Jamie was packing to leave.

“I know what I said, Brad, but Arf will be okay. I have an apartment near the school that has a small yard and it will only be another month before school is out. After that, we’ll go to my parent’s home for the summer.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, Jamie, but I would like to share a couple of ideas with you. First of all, I’ve been stopping by to see Miss B quite often. She is very lonely. Have you given any thought to sharing Arf with her? It would be like she’s his grandmother.

Secondly, why don’t you come back and stay at the ranch this summer? You said you wouldn’t be seeing much of your parents anyway.”

Jamie had thought of asking Miss B to keep Arf for the next month, since she would be spending most of her time studying for exams.

“I would love for Arf to stay with Miss Bessie until School is out, but I just don’t know if we should stay at your ranch all summer…though I appreciate the offer, you must need to get back to your own life and friends. The only people I’ve seen around here are the cook, housekeeper and your hired hand.”

A dark cloud came I over Brad’s face. “I just invited you to come and enjoy the ranch for the summer,” he said. “I wasn’t asking you to marry me!” With that, he got into his truck and left.

The fire did a lot of damage to the barn, but thankfully it didn’t come near the house. That night, Brad took the cow and calf to his ranch because there was a lot of damage to the barn and corral where they were kept. Arf stayed the night with Miss Bessie again, which he didn’t question because that was where he had stayed since he found her and she had taken him in.

Miss Bessie woke to the sounds of a hammer and a saw. Arf was already outside.

**I heard noise and because I’m sort of a guard dog now, I thought I should check it out. What I saw was Brad working on the corral.

“Morning Arf,” Brad said. He measured a board, sawed it off, and nailed it to the corral post.

** I sat and watched him work. I could tell he was probably fixing things so the cow and calf could come back home. I promised myself I would watch over them better.

I could hear Miss Bessie coming our way.

“Land sakes, Brad. What are you doing here so early.”

“Hi Miss Bessie, I forgot to ask you last night if you still have to milk your cow. Sometimes even though they have a calf, they have extra milk.”

“For a while, I milked her every morning, but she gave so little milk, I feared I was taking from her calf. Both of them seem to be doing fine,” Miss Bessie said. “I really do appreciate this, I was trying to figure out where I could find someone to fix the corral. I’ll have to wait on the insurance money before I rebuild the barn.”

“Well, the weather will be nice enough that she’ll be fine if we fix up a pen in the corner of the barn that wasn’t damaged so much. You know, you’re welcome to leave her at my place if that works out better for you”

“Oh no,” Miss Bessie said. “She and her calf should be here. It’s my responsibility to care for them.”

** I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was just hoping Miss Bessie would feed me soon.

“Give me a few minutes, Brad and I’ll fix up some bacon and eggs and buttermilk biskets.”

Miss Bessie went off to the house and I was right behind her. I understand food.

************

When Brad got back to the ranch, Jamie was sitting in the kitchen having coffee.

“The housekeeper said you had gone to Miss Bessie’s. Is everything okay over there?”

“I guess so. I’m trying to fix a place for her to keep her cow and calf until all the repairs are completed.”

“Brad, I need to ask you a question.” Jamie had been pondering something all morning.

“What is it, Jamie? You look a little upset.”

Well, as you know, I’m on spring break for the next two weeks. I haven’t mentioned this to you, but I’m in veterinarian school. After the break, I’ll go back until after exams which will be a month later. I’m taking the summer off and then I’m scheduled to do an internship in the fall.”

“Really, Jamie? You’re going to be a vet? That’s wonderful…but I don’t hear a question.” Brad leaned back in his chair and removed his hat.

“Did you really mean it when you said I could stay here as long as I liked?”

Brad sat back up in his chair. “I don’t say things I don’t mean,” he said.

“Then I would like to stay until I go back to school in two weeks.”

“No problem. I’ll tell Frances. Are you going to bring Arf over here?”

Jamie stood up and walked over to the window.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” she said. “As much as I would love to, it really wouldn’t be what’s best for Arf. My parents are always gone and I’ve just told you my schedule. He’s better off staying with Miss Bessie.”

“That had to be a tough decision. Arf loves you, too. It might confuse him to have you around but no longer be his master.”

When Jamie turned to look at him, Brad realized that might not have been the right thing to say. She had tears in her eyes.

“Arf likes to feel needed,” she said. “He’ll figure it out and he’ll be fine. He’s a smart dog. I would like to see him though, and I need to talk to Miss Bessie. Can we go over there?”

“Are you forgetting this is Easter Sunday. We’re picking Miss Bessie up for church. Can you be ready to go in an hour?”

I’m working on my she-shed and there’s still much to complete.

My body hurts already from my head down to my feet.

I have grandiose ideas. My husband says that all the time.

I’ll begin the transformation, but first I have to prime.

The boring tasks I’d rather skip but I must do the doing.

Between you and me, this shed needs serious renewing.

I’m going to paint the ceiling to match a clear blue sky.

I’ll add some clouds and birds. Boy that ceiling’s waaay up high.

I’m using our new ladder and I spilled some paint on it.

I’ll try to clean it off before someone throws a fit.

What? Clean the paint pan, brush and roller? That doesn’t sound like fun.

Why can’t I just go back to Lowes and buy myself new ones?

I have sky blue on my clothes. The can said wash with soap and water.

The paint is still on everything. I guess the water should be hotter.

If you tell someone I said this, I’m afraid I must deny it.

In fact it might behoove me to aggressively defy it.

It takes a lot of work to turn a shed into a she.

And when it’s said and done, it also takes a lot of money.

Arf could smell smoke, but he didn’t know where it was coming from. His instincts told him to wake Miss Bessie up, so he nudged her until he could see that her eyes were open, and then he went to investigate.

“My word, she said. “I smell smoke.” She immediately got up and grabbed her robe. Where is Arf, she wondered as she hurried through the house looking for something on fire.

*******

I had already been through the house and didn’t find anything. Now I was outside. I could see right away what was happening. The field next to the barn was on fire. I looked behind me and saw Miss Bessie standing in front of the house. I wondered what I should do. I ran to the barn. The fire was getting close and it was moving fast. The milk cow and her calf were in there and I had to get them out. Lassie would know what to do, but I wasn’t Lassie.

“Arf!” Miss Bessie was running back to the house to call the fire department. She just hoped that Arf wouldn’t put himself in harm’s way.

********

I tried to jump high enough to push the bar on the barn door up out of the latch, but I couldn’t reach it and the fire was getting closer. Then I saw an old tire lying nearby. I managed to drag the tire over to the door. I could reach, but the door wouldn’t open. I shoved the tire to the other side and when I pushed the bar up, the door opened.I ran inside the barn and chased the cow and calf outside just as the fire climbed the side of the barn and the roof caught on fire.

“Arf!” Miss Bessie yelled. “Come back here. A bad storm is coming. Oh, my,” she said. “Where is the firetruck? Arf!”

*******

I was still trying to keep the cow and calf from the fire when the big firetruck came. I remembered it from the Easter parade. The firemen were spraying water on the barn with their hose, but the fire in the field was getting bigger.

Miss Bessie brought a rope to where I had the cow cornered. She tied it around the cow’s neck and led her to the fence around the chicken coup. “I’ll tie her up over here. Her calf will follow her. Brad should be here soon. I called him, too.”

Shortly after that, Brad pulled up in his truck. Jamie and Mark were with him. Brad came running over to us to make sure we were all right, and then ran to see what he could do to help the firemen.

“I don’t know if they’re going to be able to get either fire out,” Brad said when he came back. “The barn and the field are burning fast and there’s just one firetruck. Let’s just pray the wind doesn’t change direction or it might go toward your house.”

“I can’t lose my house, Brad,” Miss Bessie said. “I just can’t.”

*********

I was with the cow and calf, Jamie and Mark were still in the truck, and Brad and Miss Bessie were standing near the house watching the firemen. Suddenly, I saw a big bolt of lightning come out of the sky and then there was a big downpour that thankfully, put the fire out.

When it was over, everyone went inside. Miss Bessie made coffee and invited the firemen in, too. I stayed to watch over the cow and calf because they just lost their house and that’s what Lassie would have done.

Later, Brad and Mark loaded the cow and calf up into Brad’s truck. “They’ll have to stay at the ranch until we can do something about your barn,” he said to Miss Bessie.

As they were leaving, Jamie asked Miss Bessie what had alerted her to the fire.

“Arf woke me up,” she said. “Thank God for Arf.”

Jamie looked at me and her face looked sad.