Faster Than Lightening

            We lived on a farm.  With it brought a constant flow of stray cats and dogs.  Whether someone just dropped them off or they came on their own, we were never without a pet.  We thought we really had something the day a male Dalmatian dog came to live with us.

“I wonder whose dog it is?” asked Mother.

            Since my parents ran a little country grocery store, my Mother was sure someone would come asking for their dog.  And she would not be without asking each customer if it was their dog.  It seemed back in the early sixties that everybody knew everybody else in some way.  The best advertisement was word of mouth.

            But it was no matter how good this advertisement was; no one came asking for the dog.  And so the white coat with dark spots became known as Spotty.  He would remain our dog.  He did nothing outstanding.  He ate and slept.  He never went anywhere beyond our yard.  He had found him a home to live out his life.  There was an outstanding trait the dog did have though.  One of his eyes had a large scratch.  Mother always said he probably got too close to a cat.  But that somehow seemed unlikely as Spotty went about his way having nothing to do with our cats.  But Spotty had another outstanding trait to his personality as we would soon learn about.

            We had storms off and on during the summer months.  But one day a very strong and fierce one came up.  The thunder was so loud and the lightening was almost like it entered the house with every flash.  When it was all over, we went to check on our livestock.  In doing so, we noticed Spotty was gone. 

            “Now where did that dog go?” Mother asked.

            And she kept asking that question on up for about two weeks.

            One day a farmer came into the store.  He lived about a mile away.  He had acres and acres of land.  And not always did he get out to checking all his property too often.  An old barn stood right in the middle.  He entered the barn and saw a dog living there.

            Mother, without questioning him too much, replied, “I bet its Spotty.  May we ride over and see?”

            “Sure, go ahead.”

            Upon arriving at the barn, we didn’t even bother going in.  Mother just yelled out, “Come here Spotty.”

            From the barn came running Spotty with wagging tail and all.

            We all laughed when Mother said, “I guess Spotty is scared of thunderstorms.  That may well be what brought him to us in the first place.  He ran and ran faster than that lightening.  He didn’t stop running until he found shelter in that barn,” she laughed.  And I remember even myself laughing.  It was to us comical, yet I can’t help but wonder what goes through the mind of an animal when he comes face to face with fear.

            From that day on when a storm was coming, not only did we plan to take shelter, but we made sure Spotty took shelter as well.  He didn’t have much worth on the farm.  But with any animal, you learn to love them.  There is no value placed on love.  We did love Spotty.