Stories around the campfire.

[Tokwan]

I’ll Never Forget My Best Friend

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I was three.
He was a few months.
Neither of us had much to play with….but each other.
We never lacked.
He’d look up at me with complete unwavering trust.
Trying to read my face.
Ears perked up when I spoke.
Wherever I went, he followed.

He rapidly grew, and soon we were face high to each other.
We’d roam the patch of woods up the hill from our place, him guarding my every step,
sometimes blocking my way when I got too close to the cliff edge. I didn’t know it at the time.
I’d take my naps nestled into his chest.
He’d lie there, never moving a muscle.

As I grew to boyhood, he remained a part of me, my shadow.
We’d wrestle….he’d let me win.

We’d hunt.

We’d fish.

Not that he took part.
He was no hunting dog.
Just my companion.
We’d share lunch.
He’d listen to my every word, as we sat on the creek bank.

Years passed.
I got very busy, but not so busy that we wouldn’t still roam the woods every so often,
even though he had a bit of a time keeping up.

The day came when he just didn’t get up.
I was sixteen.
Mom told me to take him in to the vet.
‘He’ll be able to fix him up.’

I gathered him up and laid him in the passenger’s seat of the pickup, right beside me,
and we had one of our conversations while I drove the twenty miles.
It had been awhile.

Too long actually.


I sat on the stool beside the exam table, while the vet did his thing.
Once again my best friend and I were face high to each other.
The vet was talking with my mom.
He handed me the phone.

It was time.
He had to be put to sleep.

OK, I brought him in to get fixed up, and now he’s going to be put down….just like that.

I was told I had to leave the room.

Like hell.

The vet did…..something. I don’t recall.

I held my best friend’s face with both hands.
His ears perked up as we had one of our conversations, telling him the reality.
Then I just cradled his head, holding it to my chest, not moving a muscle until, feeling his last breath against my heart, he went to sleep.

Even though the wipers were going, I had a hard time seeing through the rain drops on the way back home.



……..I’ll never forget my best friend


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You guys gotta stopdoing this...I am to old to sed a tear and its breaking my heart!

[Gary O]

You guys gotta stopdoing this...I am to old to sed a tear and its breaking my heart!

My work is done here (sorry man, heh heh)

No worries
the older ya get, the easier it is

seems I been cryin' over the darnedest things these days


Watched ‘The Voice’.

Couldn’t keep from blubberin’ when the kid from East LA sang this really beautiful song….turned all the chairs.

Ever try real hard to not cry?
Woman thought I’d choked on a popcorn kernel until she saw all the goo erupting from my nose, thru my fingers.

Really whooped it up when they showed his folks all cryin’.

It’s inevitable now.

I need a hysterectomy.

[Gary O]

The Quiet One

The younger grandson, of the two that seem to inhabit our place a bit more than the others, is a rather curious George kinda monkey.
Always exploring simple things, getting deep into the mechanics of grass, bugs, baking powder, the science of kitty litter and Kool-Aid,
canning jars and why lids seal, namaw’s underwear drawer, papaw’s banking stuff,
and ancient glass floats and their relation to papaw’s hammer….anything really.

One evening, when he was around three, he was in the spare bedroom…for hours….quiet.
We were all in the family room watching some movie.
Here he comes, with a somewhat quizzical but triumphant look on his face.
None of us noticed anything right away, and I may have remarked how nice it was to have him join our ranks, when his mother shrieks ‘OH….MY....GAWWWD!!!?’
His little mug went from a ‘look what I did’ expression of profound discovery to quizical horror as we all took turns shrieking.

Seems he’d found interest in the inner workings of his belly button,
and had managed to get hold of the very end and pull it inside out,
strutting out of the bedroom and down the hall with about three inches of inverted naval tube stickin’ out.

The lad has never been bored….nor have we.

[hunter63]

I guess I have never head that one.

[MrFixIt]

I guess I have never head that one.

Me neither, and honestly, it doesn't sound good at all!
Hope the little tyke is OK...?

[Gary O]

Me neither, and honestly, it doesn't sound good at all!
Hope the little tyke is OK...?

Well, after a frantic call to the clinic, we stuffed it back in.
Hasn’t been a problem to date.

[hunter63]

I had always heard that if you play with your belly button, your fanny will fall off.....Guess that's not true?