The Tombstone, by My Mama the MadSnapper
The Girl.
Sept 5, 1950. The ancient Desoto pulled into the gravel parking lot. All four doors opened and a small girl stepped out of the passenger side rear door. The noise level was high, dogs barking and howling. The young family walked to the door and stepped inside.
The Girl danced with excitement. The words "I'm getting a dog for my birthday" racing around and around in her mind. Carefully peering into each pen, she passed by dog after dog after dog.
The Mother said, "no, you do not want that one."
The Dog
The ugly brown dog shivered and shook, cowering at the back of the kennel. He waited. He listened to the wild barking of other dogs. He watched as person after person walked past him and never gave him a look. He knew in his heart no one would rescue him. He thought of all the people who had passed him by without a look.
A small girl stopped at his door. His head lifted. He stared at the little girl and heard the words ,
" Daddy, I want This One!"
He heard the Mother say "No, you don't want this one"
Homecoming
The small girl and her 2 year old brother jumped from the car, followed by the ugly brown dog.
The girl said Come on Sticky Baby, you are home... Sticky Baby stared at her with love in his eyes, and she stared at him with love in her eyes.
He heard the mama say, "why this dog, Sandra? With her green eyes wide, she threw her arms around the ugly brown dog and hugged him tight. Mama, I wanted him because no one else wanted him.
The girl was six, the dog was three, and for 4 years life was good. One day Sticky Baby heard the Daddy say, we are moving far, far away. Sticky can't go with us.
The girl cried, her brother cried, the dog cried. The mama cried. Next door Sandra's other Mama, her daddy's sister, Aunt Helen, said don't worry Sandy, we will take care of Sticky and when you come back, he will be here waiting for you. Sticky would have the same yard because Sandra's family lived in the house in her Aunts back yard. They moved 12 hours away from Sticky. Sticky was sad, Sandra was sad.
Homecoming Two.
Sticky heard a car pull in the driveway, Sandra got out of the car. She was Tall! She was also 15 years old. The dog was happy, the girl was happy, the little brother was happy the Mother was happy. The daddy was not happy, the daddy did not like dogs.
Everything went well for 2 years, Sticky was old, he became ill, the vet said Tick Fever, there is nothing to be done, Daddy and Uncle Jack took Sticky out in the woods, and Mother planned a funeral.
Sandra was so upset she did not speak to Daddy for 2 whole weeks. You killed my dog. You killed my dog. They buried Sticky under the oak tree at the back of the church, the church that the Daddy was the pastor there.
LIFE went on, and one day many, many years later, Sandra's Daddy died. Sandra made reservations at a hotel that was close to where they used to live. She drove 400 miles with her Daddies ashes in an Urn sitting on the seat beside her.
Sandra carried the Urn into her ground floor room. The Brother and his wife came, they all settled in two rooms, a little upset that the other room was on the 3rd floor. No connecting rooms were available.
Everyone settled in for the night and about an hour later, the brothers phone rang. When he answered, Sandra said, Guess What? Daddy is spending his last night on earth on top of Sticky Baby's Grave and they started to laugh and laugh.
The church was torn down, the hotel was built on the property and the rooms they were in were right where the old oak tree had been Sticky' Baby's Tombstone.
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Now Sticky had a new Tombstone. |
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| photo google images |
21 comments:
WAIT, surely this is NOT fiction! It is TRUE and that is that. End of discussion. Because it is wonderful, and I want it to be true.
Has to be true. And so beautifully told.
How Gail would have loved to be allowed a dog when she was little. She had to wait until she was 40 years old!
That made me cry.
Tears are flowing!!
Hello,
Loved your story, it was both happy and sad.
Have a great day and happy weekend!
That does sound like a real story to us too. Sticky Baby was loved. That's clear. The Daddy... well....
Woofs,
Ollie
Hari OM
ALL THE BEST FICTION IS BASED ON FACT!!! You have retold your childhood tale so very well, Sandra... please thank Beau for allowing his blog to be shared today!!! YAM xx
If Sticky looked even remotely like that stand-in illustration at the end he was a gorgeous little dog. My humans adopted one of my predecessors on the basis that he was sullen and overlooked. He turned out to be a lot like I am - a clever cat with lots of tricks.
We really loved the end of your story - that Sticky has such an enormous grave marker. xxx mr T.
What a sweet and a little sad story. At least Sticky Baby lived a long life and you remember him fondly.
Dogs were woven in all the family memories I have.
No cats at all. Nearly every person in the family had a dog. Our first family dog was Duke the boxer bull. I learned to adore cats when I met Bryan. His family had John a huge tabby. His brother had 2 cats that 100% took me into the crazy cat lady class.
Well done
Hugs Cecilia
Sad and sweet. Bittersweet story. You have always loved dogs. :)
You have the gift of writing!
Your best ever!!!
When I read, "I wanted him because no one else wanted him." the tears started. Ugly crying. But guess what? Your last 2 paragraphs made me laugh out loud!
Oh my aching heart...pass the tissues..
pain and seemingly justice for all.
Sue
Knowing you, I know this is true. You made me tear up. Bless you.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to Beau. ♥
What a heart felt story Sandra...and so beautifully told!!!
Such a familiar story, we got wet whiskers too.
Sandra, I don't think you've changed a bit. And in your case, that's a beautiful thing. Thank you so much for sharing this story. Sticky was blessed that you found him, and in return blessed you.
I know this Sandra. I met her when she returned home, in Jr. High School. We were both 15 yrs. old. We became friends and discovered that we were also neighbors.
We had some good times together for many years. Back in the day we would cruise the drive-ins, getting cokes and fries and meeting up with our friends. Good, clean fun. We never got in any trouble.
We both went to the same High School and graduated. I got married first and a short time later she was married. Life went on and we both raised our boys. She had 2 and I had three. After many years Sandra left me and moved away. We lost contact until I came to her Mother's funeral when we reconnected. We have spoken nearly every day since then, mostly thru email and occasionally on the phone.
We are 77 yrs. old today and we both agree that we do not like being old, but it is better than the alternative. 😊
One thing puzzles me a little. I have never heard the story of Stickey Baby.....???
She is one of my dearest friends and I love her. I treasure her friendship!😘💕
I love Madeline's comment. This is well written and precious. I want to think it is true store but either way it is beautiful. I love the ending with daddy's ashes. :)
Beautifully told, love it!
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