A Short Story by John Daly

Copyright © 2009 by John Daly
This revised version was originally published in The Fiction Writer and Other Short Stories, which is copyright © 2007 by John Daly. No part of this story may be used without permission of the Author.

Janet Mason, Billy Joe’s mother, heard the commotion and the conversation on her front porch and opened the door.

“Billy Joe, who are you talking to?,” she asked.

“I’m talking to this dog mom. He literally followed me home.”

Janet then saw the big yellow dog that was smiling at her and wagging his tail furiously.

“What a beautiful dog!,” she said. “I’ve never seen him around here before. Have you Billy Joe?”

“No I haven’t. I think I know all the dogs in the neighborhood. He doesn’t live around here.”

And then Billy Joe told his mother about how he met the dog and how it somehow knew where he lived.

“That is an odd story,” said his mother, with amazement in her voice. “I wonder how he knew.”

“It is a little scary”, said Billy Joe. “It’s as if he were waiting for me to get out of school and come to meet him.”

“Speaking of school,” his mother said, “how did your appointment with Mr. Sampson go?”

“He told me what I already knew. My grades have dropped way off since dad lost his job and I started to work part time to help out financially here at home.”

“Oh, Billy Joe, your father and I feel terrible about not having the money, right now, to send you to college. Your father is already despondent about losing his job. If you can’t go to college as a result, he would be completely devastated. I don’t think he would recover from that. Billy Joe you have to keep your grades up! Don’t ever give up on the desire to go to college. Something might happen to change our finances. Your dad looks for a new job every day. Something will turn up soon, I’m sure.”

“I’ll try, Mom. I’ll try. Right now we need the money I can earn. I need to help out,” said Billy Joe, his voice choked with emotion.

Janet, seeing this was not the time to discuss this matter any further said,

“We can talk about this later. In the meantime, what should we do with this big beautiful dog that apparently has adopted us?”

“For starters,” Billy Joe said, “let’s invite him into the kitchen for a drink of water.”

As if on cue, the dog walked through the open screen door and headed straight back to the kitchen in the rear of the house as if he had done this all his life. He stood facing Billy Joe and his mother while he smiled and waged his tail.

“That’s amazing!,” said Janet. “He even knows his way around our house. The next thing we know he’ll be reading the mail addressed to him.”

“You may not be far from the truth, Mom. There is something magical about this dog. I‘ve felt it from the moment I met him after school. I don’t know yet what it is, but it’s something.”

“Your father should be home shortly. Let’s wait for him and see if we can all agree on what to do with this ‘magic’ fellow,” said Janet. “Right now, we can’t afford any more mouths to feed, animal or human.”

“Feeding him won’t be a problem, mom. The restaurant, where I just started working as a waiter, sometimes has leftover meals that they didn’t sell and can’t keep because of space limitations in the kitchen. I’m sure I can talk the chef into giving me some leftovers to give to this dog. Maybe even some leftover meals to take home for us.”

“Are you saying you want us to keep this beautiful dog, Billy Joe?,” Janet asked teasingly.

“This beautiful, ‘magic’ dog mother. Yes, yes, yes! Can we, please keep him?,” asked Billy Joe, pleading with his mother.

“Well I like him too, and he seems to have adopted us. So I vote we keep him, but only if your father agrees. David does not need any more pressure on him these days,” said Janet.

Billy Joe and his mother sat down at the kitchen table and continued talking while they waited for, Billy Joe’s father to come home. The dog sat there quietly with them, but he was paying more attention to the front of the house then he was to them.

“What do you suppose he is looking at?,” Janet asked.

“Maybe he just smells the outside smells coming through the screen door,” said Billy Joe. They say a dog can smell many more things than a human can.”

“Speaking of screen doors, did you lock the screen door?,” asked Janet.

“Yes I did, I latched it after we came in from the front porch.”

Suddenly the dog stood up, ran to the screen door, unlatched it with his mouth, ran out of the house and disappeared out of sight. Billy Joe ran after him but when he got to the front sidewalk the dog was nowhere in sight. He looked in both directions but saw neither the dog, nor any people. Billy Joe was crestfallen. He returned to the kitchen and faced his mother.

“What happened, Billy Joe?,” his mother asked softly. “Did you see where he went?”

“No. He just vanished. I don’t know why he ran away. I guess we won’t have to decide whether or not to keep him. He decided for us,” said Billy Joe, almost in tears.

“He was not only a beautiful ‘magic’ dog, he was a beautiful ‘free spirit’ dog,” said Janet sadly. “He just likes to visit. He doesn’t like to stay. Let’s not mention any of this to David; he has enough on his mind. Okay?”

“Okay”, said Billy Joe.

(To be continued…)