Off they went! Annie was in the backseat and Miss Bessie drove while Mrs. Langford, who later said, “Had I only known,” road shotgun.
“I can’t bear the thought of poor little Katie not being able to get up from her desk and walk. What on earth would cause this to happen after all the hard work she and Arf put in? She has come so far.”
“Please, Miss Bessie, watch the road and slow down,” Mrs. Langford begged. “We must get there in one piece. When was the last time you drove?”
They got to the school in record time and when they reached Katie’s classroom, they found her still sitting at her desk. Her teacher, Ms Andrews, was there, but it appeared that all of the other students were at lunch. Katie looked both frightened and sad. When she saw the threesome enter the classroom, she burst into tears.
“Excuse me ladies,” Miss Andrews said. “Your dog cannot be in the classroom or, for that matter, anywhere inside the school.”
“Oh but she must be here,” Miss Bessie said in earnest. “Annie is Katie’s therapy dog.”
“No she isn’t, Katie argued, “Arf is my therapy dog.”
“Well Arf doesn’t happen to be here right now and Annie is sort of related to him, so it’s entirely possible that she can be of some help. You do know that Arf will be back soon don’t you, Katie?” Miss Bessie kept talking so Ms Andrews couldn’t offer more objections to Annie being there.
Meanwhile, Annie went to Katie’s side and sat there while lifting her paw like she had seen Arf do so many times when therapy was to begin.
“I love you Annie,” Katie said, “but you’re not my Arf.” Annie made a little whining sound, but continued to sit there with her paw held up. Her whole body was poised to try and help Arf’s Katie.
Katie wipped her tears with her hand and looked at Miss Bessie and Mrs. Langford. “I’m afraid to try without my Arf, but I will because I know he would want me to. He wouldn’t want Annie to feel bad would he?”
“No he wouldn’t.” Miss Bessie said. Mrs Langford and the teacher were both dabbing tears with a tissue. “Don’t be afraid. You know your legs are strong, honey. It’s your big heart that’s hurting. Arf will be back, and my guess is that it will be really soon. I also believe you are his favorite human and he misses you, too.”
Annie: Katie turned in her chair and faced me. She put her hand on my head and slowly stood. The whole room was quiet. The humans were all waiting to see her take a step. Would she try? Finally, a look of determination replaced the look of fear on her face and she tentatively too a step. “One, two, three, four, five, six,” she counted as she took six more steps. It was just like that first night, when after so many years of not walking, she and Arf had shown the family what they had worked so hard to accomplish. Katie had been so determined to walk six steps.
I knew now that all I had to worry about was getting back in that car with Miss Bessie at the wheel. Oh well, I thought. Even Arf can’t drive.
“I thought age was just a number,” Mrs. Langford said. “Everybody fibs. I’ve changed my date of birth on everything from my mother’s Bible to the beautifully framed family tree my cousin gave to me. Even I began to wonder if I was looking young or old for my age. One day I realized it had to stop.”
Annie: I was lying by the stove in the kitchen while listening to Miss Bessie and Jamie’s mother, Mrs. Langford, visit over coffee. I wanted to tell them they should count their blessings that they didn’t have to multiply their age by seven like we dogs do.
“What made you realize you had to quit lowering your age?” Miss Bessie asked. “By the way, whatever your age is, you certainly don’t look it.”
“Why thank you…I think. It finally dawned on me that I was about to be younger than my daughter and that’s just not right.”
Annie: Good grief…this is just weird. I would never tell Arf this, but I miss him a bunch. Everytime I see one of his beat-up frisbees lying around, I start to slobber. (I whine a little bit when I’m really upset, but dogs don’t cry like humans.)
Here comes Brad. He looks happy.
“Good morning, ladies. Mrs. Langford…what a nice surprise. You aren’t usually up and around this early. Will Mr. Langford be joining you?”
“Not right away, I hope. He only speaks in riddles and cliches, you know. I love the man, but one more cliche might break the camel’s back.”
“Well, I just got some great news,” Brad informed them as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Jamie and Clark don’t even know yet, but they’ll be excited.”
Brad walked over to the table, put his coffee cup down, and picked up the paper.
“Brad Humboldt, you tell us right now what you’re talking about.” Miss Bessie was not going to be left hanging.
“I don’t think it would be very nice of me to spill the beans before I talk with Jamie and Clark. I’ll just say this. Be here for dinner tonight….Right now I’ve got to go help my wife run this ranch.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Langford doesn’t appreciate your saying, ‘spill the beans,’ and as for being here for dinner, I cook your dinner. Be careful Mr. Humboldt, I just might ‘cook your goose.’ Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself.” Miss Bessie quickly poured Brad another cup of coffee. He grinned from ear to ear before heading out to find Jamie and Jake.
Annie: This bit of news or should I say lack thereof really put a scowl on Miss Bessie’s face. Even Mrs. Langford struggled to let the awkward moment pass. The phone rang and saved us. Miss Bessie jumped up to catch it. She loves to answer the phone.
When she hung up, she asked me.to go find Dina. Apparently it was Katie’s school who called to tell Dina she must come to the school at once. Katie said she couldn’t get up from her desk without falling. She refused to even try.
“I talked with Dina earlier,” Mrs. Langford said. “She planned to run some errands after taking Katie to school. She’s not here.”
“We’ll, since Brad and Jamie are off doing chores somewhere, I guess I’ll just have to dust off the old car and go get Katie myself. Come on! You two are going with me!” Miss Bessie grabbed her hat and off she went with Mrs. Langford and Annie right behind her.”
Brad, Clark, and Annie got back to the ranch late Sunday night. The plan was for Mark to stay on with Grandpa John, Arf and Biff for a few days. He would make sure things were proceeding well with the work Arf was doing to help Grandpa John get acclimated to being blind.
“Good morning, Brad.” As usual, Miss Bessie was already in the kitchen when Brad came in to get his early morning cup of coffee. God forbid she miss out on anything going on. “I’m surprised to see you up and about so early. Didn’t you and Clark drive all the way back yesterday? Annie came back with you too, right?”
“Morning Miss Bessie. Yup, we left at four o’clock yesterday morning and got back about midnight last night. It will be tough for Clark to get up and go to school this morning. I don’t think he was really looking forward to it, anyway.”
Miss Bessie poured them both a cup of coffee and sat down at the table across from Brad. “He’s got another hour or so before he has to get up and going,” she said. “Now tell me the scoop. Is Grandpa John going to be okay? How about Clark? I’ll bet he wanted to stay didn’t he? Do you think Arf will have to be there for a long time? We sure do miss him around here and since you brought Annie back, she’s sure to be lost without him.”
“Clark didn’t want to leave his grandpa, but it made him feel a whole lot better knowing that Arf would be there to help him learn how to live with his blindness. They’re both doing quite well. And then there’s Biff. He’s just happy that Arf has to do all the work. He’d much rather watch from a distance. Mark should be heading back in the next couple of days. I sure hope so. My wife has worked hard trying to keep things going around here. I hate that she’s had to do that. She needs to be spending time with Jake.”
“Oh, she’s fine,” Miss Bessie got up to pour them another cup of coffee. “I think it makes Jamie feel good to be able to help you. You two make a good team. Her parents, however, are a different story. Now that their days aren’t filled with choreographing and dance lessons for Clark and Katie, not to mention Arf and Annie, they wander around and get on each other’s nerves. I fear Mrs. Langford is going to make herself sick again if she doesn’t find something to do.”
“Miss Bessie…How do you think Barbie is doing? Has she said anything to you about going back to her home?”
“Not to me. I would think she had decided to stay here except she has really been keeping to herself. She even has most of her meals in her room. You probably noticed that before you left.”
“Right,” Brad said. “I just didn’t want to put any pressure on her either way, but I’m beginning to think something is wrong. I’d better talk with her today sometime.”
Clark walked into the kitchen humming a tune. He was carrying his books and appeared to be all ready to eat his breakfast and head for school. Miss Bessie jumped up to prepare him his favorite hotcakes and bacon. “Good morning, honey,” she said. “What is that pretty song you’re humming?”
Brad was quick to answer for him. “Only the most beautiful song you’ll probably ever hear, Miss Bessie. “I’m sure Clark will let you listen to it after school today. He and his grandpa wrote it together years ago and they just recorded it in the recording booth Grandpa John built on his property up on the mountain.”
“I wish he would come here to live,” Clark said. “But I understand why he doesn’t want to. He’ll be okay don’t you think, Brad? I plan to visit him as often as I can and maybe he and Biff can somehow get here for visits like at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“He knows he’s always welcome here and he’s got his boys in the band to help him out. They have quite a reputation in the area for the shows they put on. He’ll be fine and now that he’ll have a telephone, you’ll be able to talk to him often. Didn’t the two of you decide to work on another song?”
“Yeah,” Clark said as he dug into his hotcakes. “How is Katie doing?” He asked Miss Bessie between mouthfuls.
“She seems happy. I think you know she’ll be spending some of her time here with Dina and sometimes she’ll stay with Steve at the farm. They all seem to be agreeable to that plan, so we’ll see how it works out. I think Helen is going to help Steve out at the farm when Katie is with him.”
“Well,” Clark said. “Guess I’d better head for school. I’ll see you all tonight. I’ll play our song for you, Miss Bessie. I want Jamie’s parents to hear it, too. Oh, and keep an eye on Annie. I think she’s feeling left out. She was upset that she had to come back and Arf didn’t.”
“Where is Annie?” Brad asked. “I figured she would be glued to your side.”
“She wasn’t in my room when I woke up this morning. She’s probably in your office looking out the squirrel window.”
Annie: I don’t understand why they made me come home. It’s going to be hard being the only dog around here. Clark will be in school all day, and Katie is in school and sometimes she’s with Jack at the farm after school. Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of squirrel watching.
“There you are!” A voice said. “They told me you were back. That news was music to my ears. Someone has really been missing you. He’s just not used to having no dogs around. See Jake…I told you Annie was back. Aren’t you excited?”
“Annnnie!” The little boy ran to hug Annie around the neck and she found she was instantly feeling better.
“Clark and Katie are in school all day and I’ve been doing a lot of ranch work since Mark has been gone so much. Jake hasn’t had anyone to play with. My parents spend time with him, but they haven’t been that much fun to be around lately. What am I saying all this to you for? You have no idea what I’m talking about. You’re probably hearing bla, bla, bla.”
Annie: I barked once. It was my way of telling Jamie that I understood. Now what should I do? One of Arf’s frisbees was under the couch. That’s it! We can play frisbee! I tried to reach it with my paw, but I couldn’t get close enough. Jake saw what I was trying to do and crawled underneath the couch to get it.
“Can I go outside with Annie to play with the frisbee, Mommy?”
“Sure honey…but stay out front where I can easily see you.”
When Katie got home from school that day, she was excited that Clark was back, but couldn’t hold back the tears when she learned that Arf wouldn’t be home for a while. That night when Dina went to tuck her daughter in, she overheard a conversation Katie was having with her doll.
“My legs hurt. I’m scared that when I wake up tomorrow I won’t be able to walk.”
Arf: I watched Clark and Grandpa John, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Clark was smiling and at the same time, he was wiping away tears. Grandpa John was standing next to him with his hand on his shoulder.
“Walk inside with me, Clark. I built this for us… and say what you will about him, Harry did a good share of the work. Do you know what this is, grandson?”
Even though Grandpa John couldn’t see, you could tell how excited he was to show Clark that he had fulfilled a dr1eam they’d both had ever since Clark was a little boy. They had wanted to record music together.
“Of course I know what it is, Grandpa. It’s a fully equipped recording studio. I can see the stand holding the hand tooled guitar, too. You made it didn’t you? You really outdid yourself. It’s amazing.”
Grandpa John was smiling from ear to ear. He had waited a long time for this moment. “The studio needs some tweaking here and there, but the equipment is tuned up and ready to go. Do you remember the song we wrote one of the last times we were together?”
“I sure do. I sing it all the time when I’m thinking about you.”
“Would you sing it for us?” Brad asked. “I would love to hear you two sing together.”
Grandpa John sat down at the piano. He didn’t need to see to play. Clark picked up his new guitar and sat on a stool near the piano. Grandpa had it all set up. The microphones, and the background music were perfect. The song grandfather and grandson sang together was the most beautiful sound Brad and Mark had ever heard.
Arf liked it, too. While they were singing, he laid between his new charge and Clark. The song made him feel a little lonely and he wondered if Katie missed him as much as he missed her. It wasn’t easy being a therapy dog, but he was good at it and Grandpa John would be able to get around on his own in no time.
SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO
Grandpa John
When you were just a little boy I looked at you and knew… you needed someone in your life who you could look up to.
I tried my best to be the one to make your dreams come true, but I came to realize there are things a man can’t do.
Clark
My life at home confused me and I wondered what I’d done… to deserve the pain I felt inside. Was I the only one?
My father looked down on me and there was nothing I could doto change the way he treated me, but I looked up to you.
Together
Together we came to believe who we should look up to. The One who looks down on us but loves us through and through.
Please help us to remember who we can look up to when someone else looks down on us, His love alone will do.
I’m re-posting some Dollie pics. New posts are in the works. Thanks so much for your patience…
I have almost as many cat pictures as I do those of water towers. I never used to like cats. I love Dollie, but not because she’s lovable. She’s just really cool. I wish I was cool like Dollie.
“This tiny home has a mouse.”
“Can we talk about this tiny home thing? It has a mouse!”
I know how far behind I am. I have left Grandpa John and Clark in front of the shed behind the cabin in the mountains. Clark has just opened the door and he is deeply moved and disbelieving of what he sees.
Arf is keeping a sharp eye on Grandpa John. They have a long way to go before Arf can feel secure enough to leave him alone with the likes of Bif. Grandpa John had a terrible fall while fishing and was unconscious for several days. He’s now blind as a result of the injury.
What is inside the shed that Grandpa John has been working on for all these years and why has it made Clark so emotional? Clearly, these two have a strong bond even though they haven’t seen each other in six years. Clark’s dad previously told Clark his Grandpa had died when all the while he had been livng in the little cabin in the woods.
Sorry, but I’m not going to write anymore about that story tonight. I’m tired to the bone and it takes too much thought.
Kip’s sister, Karlyce, was here for a few jam-packed days. We’re only two weeks apart in age and we’ve always had a lot of fun together. Just to prove how much alike we are, or how much she is like her brother, she just paid thousands of dollars for her little dog’s surgery and bought the highest quality baby carriage she could find to take Charli on walks. Can you imagine passersby looking inside the carriage and saying, “Oh what a beautiful, uh, dog you have.”
Charli kind of blends in with the carriage
Karlyce brought a selfie stick with her on her visit. It took her a while to get the hang of it.
Lilie Dale loved Karlyce.
In other news…It’s my oldest son’s birthday, today
I didn’t tell you the end of the story about our first little used motor home.
Someone along the way told us about Cedar Creek Lake. It’s one of the few lakes around Dallas where homeowners can have a boat dock. We loved it and went there for countless camping weekends. You can ride around the lake in your boat and see the most beautiful lakefront houses.
Cedar Creek Lake…sixty miles east of Dallas
We couldn’t help ourselves. We started dreaming about having a second home on the lake. Then we decided the commute to Dallas was doable and we sold our house in Richardson, a Dallas suburb, and bought a little house on the lake.
Now that we lived on a lake, we figured we wouldn’t be spending time camping at other lakes, so we decided to sell the little motor home that had given us so many good memories.
The couple in their sixties who bought it came over to our house to sign the paperwork. We visited for a while and then they gave us the money, and we gave them the title. When they got ready to leave, Kip and I had an embarrassing moment. The lady had placed her rather large purse on the floor by her chair. It was full when she sat down. When she got up, there was nothing in it.
Sadie had kept herself entertained by removing each item one by one and hiding it. She had hidden the entire contents of the nice lady’s purse throughout our house.
Kip and I began looking high and low for the stolen goods. We found lipstick and powder with the dust balls under the bed. The little thief had dropped a few things that left a trail to some of the items she had hidden. It’s a good thing Sadie was short, because we only had to look in low places. When we got down to the last few items the lady swore she was still missing, we started running out of places to look. We finally found the checkbook in the clothes basket, and I got really excited when I found a set of keys in with the doggy toys. They didn’t belong to the lady, but I had been looking all over for my extra set of car keys.
Sadie walked by me and I could smell spearmint. I told everyone they could quit looking for the gum.
The sun was going down over the lake when we finally stopped looking. I got the couple’s phone number and said I would call when the wallet showed up. How embarrassing. Thankfully, Sadie found it a couple of days later. She jumped up on Kip’s lap and she was holding it in her mouth. There was very little damage.
Kip immediately took the wallet and drove to the people’s house to give it to them. When he got back I asked him if they were happy that Sadie had found it. “You mean did they say thank you?” he asked.
“No…I suppose they didn’t,” I said. “I really hope they enjoy the motor home. Did they have any dogs?”
It all started years ago. I went to visit Mom and Gus in California and when I got back, Kip picked me up at the airport. I was tired, but I couldn’t help but notice that we weren’t going in the direction of our house.
“I want to show you what I found while you were gone,” He said.
We went to a car lot in the mid cities which confused me because at the moment, we were the proud owners of cars for everyone and unless someone had an unfortunate accident while I was gone…”Oh, no, did someone have an unfortunate accident while I was gone?” I asked.
“Not as far as I know,” he sort of assured me. “Do you know something I don’t know?”
Since neither of us knew anything, we went on to the subject at hand. I asked what we were doing at a car lot and he said we were there to look at a small used motor home.
We looked at it, we bought it, and then a few weeks later we got a boat and all the other paraphernalia that goes with it. We spent every weekend we could at one of the many beautiful lakes close to the Dallas area. We became quite good at water skiing, knee boarding, and tubbing.
At the time, we had a little westie named Sadie and a wire haired fox terrier named Pixie. We bought life jackets for them and brought them along on our camping trips.
Sadie on the left and Pixie on the right
The second summer we had the motor home, we decided to buy a couple of bicycles. Several of the lakes had bike trails and we thought it would be fun to go for a ride in the evenings.
One day we saw a lady riding on the trail and she had a double baby carrier attached to her bike. Right then we decided that Sadie and Pixie would like to go with us on our rides, and that they would enjoy sitting in a double baby carrier.
We had a Sears Store near where we lived so one Saturday we went shopping. We were discussing the pros and cons of two different carriers when a young salesman came and stood by us. He patiently waited while Kip and I continued our discussion about which carrier would work the best.
Kip: Do you think they’ll sit up or lie down and sleep? We won’t have to hook them to a harness if they sleep. The zipper net will keep them from falling out.
Me: We would have to be sure and remember to zip it up. This one looks dangerous. If they fell out and we didn’t notice right away, we could potentially drag them by the neck.
Kip: Wow! These are expensive. Maybe we should just continue to lock them in the motor home with the air on. At least until we find a used carrier.
At this point we noticed the young man waiting to help us. He looked horrified. It took us a minute to figure out why.
“Sadie and Pixie aren’t babies,” I assured him. “They’re our dogs. Not that we would want to drag our dogs.”
We didn’t buy a carrier that day, but we found one at another store that was perfect. We took the dogs, their carrier, and our bikes to Lake Ray Robert’s one beautiful fall weekend. We couldn’t wait to take a ride on the trail. The dogs looked comfortable and secure to us.
The problem was that they didn’t like bike rides. Well Sadie did, but Pixie howled the whole time.
The carrier sat in the garage for a couple of years until we had a garage sale. People looked at us funny when we told them our dogs didn’t like being pulled behind our bikes. It was one of those ideas that sounds good when you say it real fast.
Those 70ish Girls 