Surprise Visitor

The family had gathered for the funeral of my wife, their mother, mother-in law, grandmother or great grandmother as the case might be. Several of us were seated in the family room when the back door leading to the garage swung open.

A large dog, that none of us had seen before, came into the house as if he lived here. He walked through the kitchen, dinning room and down the hallway toward the bedrooms. My son-in-law Joe was cautiously followed him not sure what to make of this intruder. He was thin, but not starved, he had a collar but no identification tags and a long nose with graying hair.

At the end of the hall our visitor turned abruptly, walked past Joe and back through the dinning room and kitchen and entered into the family room where he proceeded to lay down between my recliner and the chair where mom usually sat and made himself right at home. Everyone sat in stunned silence staring at him.

I looked down at the dog and ended the silence. “Mom always said, ‘Paul keep the garage door down and the back door locked. Otherwise anything could walk into this house.’ I guess she sent this guy to make her point.”

We were expecting a pastor to arrive at any minute so Joe led the dog outside by his collar. When Joe released him the dog made no attempt to leave. Joe sat on the front step and the dog joined him. They sat there together for some time. A cat ambled up the front walk and stopped when he saw the dog. Neither moved. Then the cat came up the rest of the walk and sat next to the dog. Joe, who lives in the neighborhood, had seen neither animal before. The cat stayed awhile and then walked away. The dog remained with Joe.

That evening Joe took the dog home with him fully intending to try and fine its owner in the morning. He put the dog in the garage for the night with some water.
The next morning he fed the dog and then let him out in the yard with his own smaller dogs. The three seem to get along fine. Then the stranger dog walked to the edge of the property, looked back at Joe as if to say farewell and walked away.
You can read in to this. Go figure.
Paul Tuck
Newfield N.J.