Heidi Dog

“Papa, when are we getting a dog?” Mama didn’t want some big old hairy thing lying around the house but something that would protect us from all the critters. So Papa came up with the idea of getting a smaller dog with the heart of a wolf. Papa said that he would hear stories from his great grandma, in Ireland, about her Daschund and how wonderful they were. Not only were they loyal and brave but lovin’ family dogs too.
I was eleven years old back in 1936, when my brother and I got our first dog. Being that we were farmers, money was pretty tight, but Jessie, my brother, and I did odd jobs to help earn money to buy our pup. An old woman knocked on our door and left a small basket on the steps. Papa said “This can’t be what we ordered” but Mama scooped her up in her arms and that pup crawled right up under Mama’s shoulder and hid her head and fell fast asleep. We named her Heidi, due to that fact, yet there was no fear in that little dog.
Everyday after all the chores were done, Heidi and us kids would go to Old Bent Creek, to talk with the other kids and skip rocks on the smooth water, Heidi filled her time by chasing small fish that came close to the banks, never taking too much time off of keeping her eye on us kids. Though she was a small dog, her heart told her that she was as big as old Mr. Gates Shepherd down the way. All I could think about was all the stories Papa would tell us about the great Daschunds from Ireland and how Heidi was living up to them. Papa always said “Heidi is a special dog because her bloodline comes all the way from Ireland just as ours did years ago” I guess in a way, it made papa feel better about not wanting to ever go anyplace but here in the Colorado high plains, just as his father felt too. It wasn’t an easy life, working the fields, but papa loved it.
Heidi Dog did finally grow into the prettiest black as night dog you’ve ever seen, her eyes are what caught most people off guard, they were as sweet as melted chocolate in the hot summer air. She was brave all right and boy did she love her family, papa said, “she’d never let anything happen to you kids”. Heidi fit right into our family, always on full alert, taking care of us.
Yet one day Heidi dog acted very strange, and the sky just didn’t seem right, we all went about our chores though, but Heidi’s ears and nose never stopped reaching the clouds. Jessie and I then saw it too, a twister that was so big that I couldn’t tell you where it started and where it stopped, heading straight to the farm. I never ran so fast in my life, but it didn’t seem like I was running at all, all I remember is feeling that I was falling, my face somehow seemed cold, I couldn’t see very well, I was so scared. All of the animals must have felt the same way, they were all going everywhere and nowhere at the same time, but not Heidi dog, she kept both Jessie and I in view as we both jumped into the cellar, just in time. Papa couldn’t believe it, she wasn’t just good at keeping us safe from critters, but from twisters too.
We lost everything that day, everything that is, but our lives and our beloved Heidi Dog. Mama always said “family is worth more than any piece of paper man has made” we often talk about old Heidi dog, and how brave she was in all her days, that little dog put her footprints of love all over my heart. She is now resting near the Lilac by the old re-built farmhouse, still keeping watch over all the family. I will never have another dog like her, she was my sweet Heidi dog.