It was the beginning of summer
vacation in 1948, and the Sawyer kids were sitting on the front steps. Jeb
Sawyer, who had just turned twelve, was keeping an eye on his younger brother
and sister.
“What do you want to do?” Mickey
asked his older brother.
“I don’t know, what do you want to
do?” replied Jeb. “How about you, Margie?”
Margie just smiled broadly because at six
years old, she was just plain thrilled to be hanging out with her older brothers.
Jeb was about to suggest that they play catch when something in the distance
caught his eye.
A medium-size dog with long, floppy
ears and a red coat was trotting up the driveway. The dog walked up to the
children, sat down, and began to wag its tail.
“Where do you think he came from?”
exclaimed Mickey.
“He must belong to someone around
here. Quick, Mickey, go get Mama,” said Jeb.
Mama came to the porch, and the dog
went to her, wagging its tail all the while. Mama patted him and said, “I
wonder where you live. You don’t seem to have a tag.”
“Can we keep him, Mama?” begged
Margie.
“No, Pumpkin, we need to find out
where he belongs,” replied Mama.
Mama found a rope and tied it around
the dog’s neck like a leash. All that afternoon, Mama and the children walked
the dog from one neighbor’s house to another. At each house, they asked whether
the dog lived there.
No one had ever seen the dog before
or even knew of a missing pet. Finally, the little group went back and sat down
on the porch. The dog jumped up next to Mama and settled right down, as if he
belonged there.
“It certainly seems like he likes it
here,” observed Mickey.
“Can we keep him now, Mama?” asked
Margie.
“Let’s wait and see,” answered Mama.
That night, when Papa came home from
work, he was greeted by a strange dog on the porch. When the dog saw Papa
coming up the walk, he jumped up and wagged his tail, greeting Papa like he had
known him forever. Puzzled, Papa walked into the house, and Mama explained how
the dog had just showed up on the porch.
“Papa, can we please keep him?” asked
Margie.
“Dogs are just too much work and too
much responsibility. We’ll find the owners, or we’ll have to find a new home
for the dog.”
Then Papa and Mama went into the
kitchen to get dinner ready. Mama talked to Papa about the dog.
“It would be good for the children to
learn how to care for an animal,” Mama said to Papa. Now Papa, being very prideful, did not always
let people see what a soft heart he had.
“What if the kids get attached to the
dog and then the owners show up?” Papa thought to himself.
“What if I get too attached to the
dog?”
Papa recalled that he never had a dog
when he was a kid because his sister had an allergy to pet fur. He had always
longed for a dog. Eventually, Papa said, “Let’s try to find the owners, and
then we’ll see what happens.”
The next day the family made some
signs. Each sign consisted of the dog’s description and the family’s address.
Papa and the kids posted the signs all over town, and they called the police,
the town hall, and the animal shelter. No one had reported a lost dog. It was
as if the dog had appeared out of thin air.
A week went by, and still no one came
for the dog. Every night, the dog would lie at Papa’s feet while he read. The
dog would wait for the kids or Mama on the porch. The dog clearly felt like a
part of the family.
Finally, Jeb declared, “It looks like
no one wants the dog but us.”
“Yes, Papa, I think this dog wants to
stay with us,” Mickey piped up.
“Please, Papa, now can we keep him?”
begged Margie.
“All right,” said Papa, “but the dog
is here on a trial basis. If he intends to stay here, he has one week to prove
himself. If he acts up, then we’ll have to fi nd him another home. You must all
take turns feeding him and walking him. If anyone complains, the dog goes.
We’ll need to make him a bed to sleep in, too.”
The next day, the children found a
cardboard box and made it cozy with an old blanket.
“Here you go, boy, here’s your new
bed,” said Jeb. The dog jumped right in, snuggled up, and
settled down.
That afternoon, they left the dog out
in the yard. He was still a young dog who could get into plenty of mischief.
When Jeb came out, he noticed Papa’s
prize tomatoes lying about. “Uh-oh, we better fix this up before Papa sees what
the dog did.”
The children replanted the tomato
plants and then gathered the loose, green tomatoes. They gave them to Mama, who
put them aside to make a sauce.
The next day, the children taught the
dog to bring Papa his slippers at night. As usual, Papa sat down to read after
dinner. Jeb handed the slippers to the dog, who snatched them up and trotted
right over to Papa. Papa felt his heart melt. “Good dog,” he said, patting him
on the head.
The dog seemed to take a liking to
Papa’s slippers, however. The very next day, Margie found the dog happily
chewing away on one slipper. “Oh, no, look at Papa’s slippers!” Margie
exclaimed.
“Don’t worry,” Mama told her
children, and she went over to a closet and dragged out an enormous box.
Papa never liked to get rid of
anything, especially old slippers. Mama put the chewed up slipper into the box
and took an old slipper out of it. It looked almost identical to the one the
dog chewed. “Good thing Papa is about ready for a new pair of slippers,” Mama
said.
That night, the dog brought Papa his
slippers again. “Good dog,” said Papa and promptly put on his slippers. He
stared at the left slipper because something was funny about it, but he paid it
no mind and went back to reading. From the doorway, the children breathed a
sigh of relief.
The children kept a keen eye on the
dog all week long. They cleaned up the broken vase that the dog’s tail knocked
over, and they wiped his muddy footprints from the kitchen floor.
Finally, the week was over, and it
was time to decide about keeping the dog. That night, Papa came home and
declared, “If this dog is going to be a member of our family, we should really
give him a name.”
All at once, the children whooped
with joy. The dog, knowing that something big had just happened, wagged his
tail and barked.
That night, each member of the family
made a list of names, and then Papa took the lists.
“We’ll select a few names and then
take a vote,” he decided. Papa read through some names, but no one could agree.
“What about Rusty?” Papa said,
looking at the dog’s pretty red coat. Secretly, Papa had always wanted a dog
named Rusty.
“Oh, Papa, I love it!” said Margie,
clapping her hands.
Jeb went over to the dog and bent down. “What do
you think, Rusty, do you want to stay here with us?” Rusty’s tail thumped
happily because he had found a home!
