The Old Man and His Dog

It was just 5:00 AM when the old man’s alarm clock sounded. He rolled over and sat up on the side of the bed. His dog raised its head from the corner of the room where several blankets served as his bed. Looking out the window at his thermometer, Buck Watson saw that the temperature was in the upper twenties. He looked at the dog that was looking back at him with loving eyes and said, “Joe, it is soon going to be time for you and me to move to Florida. We will take our walks in the Florida sunshine instead of freezing our butts here.”

A short time later Buck and Joe walked out into the cold and headed to the soup kitchen downtown that fed the less fortunate in the community of which there were many. Buck had worked in the soup kitchen for about a year. Joe mostly hung out in one of the empty storerooms but sometimes Buck would take him out and have him entertain some of the children that came to the soup kitchen. Both Joe and the kids loved it. There was not much that Joe couldn’t do, especially for a dog,

Both Buck and Joe enjoyed their walks to the soup kitchen even on cold mornings. The first part of the walk took them past a park. During their return trips from the soup kitchen, they often would stop and enjoy the scenery. Sometimes, Joe would chase a squirrel or rabbit but usually they would just enjoy the time together.

It was only a year ago that Buck’s daughter had finally convinced him to retire and move in with her. Joe and his daughter, Sarah, had enjoyed six months together before a drive by shooting had taken Sarah’s life. That crime had never been solved. All indications from the investigation suggested that Sarah had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The grief that Buck felt was still overwhelming. Since then, it had just been him and Joe. Buck had thought a lot about moving yet had not brought himself to do so. As painful as the memories were he somehow felt close to Sarah here.

Arriving at the soup kitchen that carried the unlikely name of Grandma’s Home Cooking, Buck started his morning routine. First, he arranged the required pots and pans and began cracking the two hundred and fifty eggs and laying out two hundred and fifty slices of bread that would be part of the breakfast meal. While Buck worked on his tasks other volunteers arrived to take care of all the other chores needed to prepare three meals each day to feed an average of one hundred and fifty people at each meal.

The volunteers were a cross section of people in the community. Most just wanted to offer a helping hand to those less fortunate. Some were representatives of their churches and felt that helping others is simply something that they should do based on their religious beliefs. A few parents had come with their children hoping to provide a meaningful lesson to the children about helping others. A few were working to repay court ordered community service hours.

Buck was somewhat the senior spokesman of the volunteers. Although he had no official position, people respected the older gentlemen’s point of view. If any of the volunteers had a concern or needed some assistance, Buck was usually a good person to speak with. Everyone liked Buck and his kind demeanor.

Having finished his early set of chores, Buck grabbed a piece of toast and spread some grape jelly on it. He then walked back to the storeroom where Joe was sleeping. He gave Joe the piece of toast with jelly. It was Joe’s favorite treat except on the rare occasion when Buck could find some orange marmalade for Joe’s toast.

Having finished the first of his morning routines and checked on Joe, Buck made his way back to the dining area where the buffet line was. The food had been set up on the line and the early crowd had begun to wander in. Buck washed his hands, grabbed a serving spoon and then took a place behind the scrambled eggs.

Buck liked serving breakfast the best. Having grown up on a farm, Buck had fond memories of the early morning breakfasts that his grandmother had prepared. No matter how little food she had to work with, Grandma seemed to be able to make anything into a feast. When Buck left to help Grandpa with the morning farm work or headed to catch the bus for school, he always did so on a full stomach. He enjoyed doing the same for the adults and especially the children that now needed a helping hand. Most of them knew him by name. Many of the children called him Mr. Buck and said thank you when he placed breakfast on their plate. Occasionally there were a few that were not appreciative of what they were being given. They felt the government or others owed them a living. The hard times they were going through were not their fault or due to their mistakes. It was all the fault of others, and they had no responsibility to solve their own problems.

“Morning Buck,” said a tall lean man with long hair.

“Morning Will,” said Buck, “How’s everything going?”

“Everything is a little tough these days, Buck. It’s been hard to find good work and my little boy has been sick. Every dollar I make I send to his mother for medicine, but it is not enough.”

Buck had gotten pretty good at reading people and the young man came across as honest and sincere. He was probably sleeping on the street and trying to pick up day jobs as a laborer at construction sites. The day laborers had the toughest jobs. They carried heavy loads from trucks to wherever they were needed on the construction site. It was backbreaking work but cheaper for the construction company to pay the day laborers than to invest in equipment that would be safer and easier for the workers.

As Buck piled a good helping onto Will’s plate, he said, “Will, stop back by before you leave, I’ve got something I would like to talk to you about.”

“Ok, Buck, will do,” responded Will.

Those needing breakfast continued to file in and Buck continued to fill the plates. A few of the children asked how Joe was doing and some asked if they could play with him. Buck promised to bring Joe out after they ate if it was OK with the children’s parents. Receiving a begrudging approval from the overstressed parents, Buck told the little girl who had asked very politely that he would bring Joe out.

A few minutes later Will stopped by and Buck asked another volunteer to take his place serving as he and Will walked back to the storeroom where Joe was. Entering the storeroom, Buck pulled out his wallet and withdrew $200 in cash and handed it to Will.

“Will, take this and make sure that your little boy gets the medicine he needs.”

“Buck, I appreciate it, but I don’t know when I can repay you.”

“I’m not worried about that. Now, get out of here. Joe and I have some kids to entertain.”

Expressing his appreciation again, Will quickly left as Joe and Buck went to the back of the dining room where Joe entertained the kids by performing his repertoire of tricks and allowing the kids to pet him until the parents had enough and insisted on leaving.

The rest of the day was pretty much routine for Buck and Joe. With breakfast over, the volunteers cleaned up everything and started preparing for lunch. Depending on the schedule some volunteers left after the breakfast cleanup, some stayed on to help with lunch. Buck and Joe usually worked into the midafternoon to still have some daylight to enjoy the park.

With a quick check to see if anything else needed to be done and goodbye to everyone still working Buck and Joe headed out for the walk home with a short detour for time at the park.

While in the park, Buck sat on his favorite bench while Joe did his best to roust a rabbit from the brush hoping to be able to give chase. The rabbit, however, chose not to cooperate so Joe chose to go and sit by Buck at the bench. Buck was always happy to have his dog close by.

Leaving the park Buck noticed a battered old pick-up truck with three occupants parked on the street near the entrance to the park. Thinking nothing of it, Buck and Joe continued their walk home that took them in the opposite direction from the truck. They were just a short distance down the sidewalk when Buck heard a voice behind call out.

“Hey Buck, hold up a minute.” Turning around Buck noted a now empty truck and three men walking in his direction. As they drew closer, Buck recognized Will from the soup kitchen.

“Hi Will. What’s up?”

“Hi Buck, I appreciate the money you gave me this morning but it’s sort of like this. You see, my buddies here want you to give up some more. We figure if you’re willing to give away $200 then you have plenty more in your pockets or at home. I need it all.

“So, tell me Will why do you owe these guys.”

“I screwed up Buck; I was only going to make one drug delivery for them, but I lost the load and now I have to pay it back or they’ll kill me. Give me all you got, and maybe they will let us both live.

“It doesn’t work that way Will. You’ll just get in deeper. No money Will.”

“You stupid old man! These guys will kill you just like they did your daughter when she wouldn’t cooperate.

With an even tone, through clinched teeth, Buck growled, “So you are the sons of bitches that killed my daughter.”

“It was her fault,” yelled Will. “All she had to do was give us some money and everything would have been cool, but she refused so we took her out. Now it looks like we are going to have to take you out too. Don’t worry, Buck, I’ll take good care of your dog. Maybe, I’ll serve him as dog stew in the soup kitchen. It would be a lot better than the shit you serve.”

Buck didn’t have to wonder what Joe was doing. The two of them had been in too many situations like this. Joe had quietly moved to Buck’s side and Buck could feel the tension in Joe’s body just waiting for Buck to give a command.

“Will, I don’t think that’s a good idea. How about this. You and your friends get in your truck and drive down to the police station and turn yourself in. Joe and I will go on home, and I’ll come to the police station in the morning and put in a good word for you.”

The three sons of bitches confronting Buck started laughing at Buck’s suggestion and that was just enough distraction for Buck to yell get him Joe and for Buck to get close to the asshole that he thought most likely had a gun. In the blink of an eye, Joe barreled onto Will’s chest, knocked him down, and locked his jaws around Will’s left forearm tearing deep into the flesh.

Asshole Number Two did in fact have a pistol but long before he could aim it at Joe or Buck, he was unconscious and laying on his back from Buck slamming him to the ground and intentionally breaking his arm in the process. It was a move that would have impressed even Buck’s most advanced martial arts students.

Unfortunately, it was three against two and as it turned out, Asshole number three also had a pistol and was able to put one bullet into Buck’s right shoulder before running for the truck. Buck normally fired pistols with his right hand but with the bullet in his right shoulder causing him extreme pain and bleeding profusely, he picked up the pistol with his left hand, took aim, fired, and watched Asshole Number Three crumple to the ground before reaching the truck.

Joe still had Will on the ground and continued to chew into his left forearm. Despite the immense pain he was in from a 90-pound dog having him for dinner, Will reached into and his pocket pulled out a switchblade knife and cut deep into Joe’s abdomen.

As Buck collapsed, he squeezed the police identifier in his pocket. The identifier immediately sent his location to every police unit within a five-mile radius and the message that an officer was in trouble. In less than ten minutes the area was surrounded by law enforcement officers, and more were on their way.

The first law enforcement officers on the scene found a dead body near the truck, an unconscious individual with a severely broken arm and bleeding profusely from having had his head slammed into the sidewalk. A trail of Will’s blood led into the park clearly showing the route that Will had tried to use to escape the scene. He was apprehended a short time later.

A retired law enforcement officer lay unconscious with a bullet would to his shoulder. A retired police dog lay beside the officer still willing to defend the officer despite severe bleeding from the dog’s abdomen. Two experienced canine handlers lifted the dog from where he lay and placed him in their car. With lights flashing and alarms clearing the way, the dog was rushed to the animal hospital that handled police canine emergencies where veterinarians were standing by.

The first paramedics that arrived at the scene worked on Buck. The bullet had passed completely through his shoulder and was far enough away from anything vital. Buck would have to take it easy for a while, but he would make a full recovery.

Six months later, an old man walked out of his beachfront condominium on one of Florida’s most beautiful and peaceful beaches. The sun was just rising, and the only sounds were those of the waves crashing against the shore and the seagulls flying overhead. There was something he needed to do that he had postponed for too long due to the emotions that he knew would tear at his heart. Picking up his backpack, he walked down to where the waves began to wash up on the shore.

Pulling a thermos of coffee from his backpack, he sat on the sand and thought about the experiences of his life that somehow had placed him in a Florida condo for his golden years.

He had often thought he would live his entire life on Grandpa and Grandma’s farm. The visit of a recruiter assigned to the U.S. Army Special Forces changed that. Buck’s military career was a blur of secret missions to places in the world that most people had never heard of. Along the way he became one of the military’s top marksmen and martial arts expert and commanded many dangerous missions. When it came time for him to leave the Army, he found the closest thing he could find to his former duties and trained law enforcement officers in the skills that may save their lives someday. His one effort at family had failed. His former wife was not cut out for the rigors of military life. When he was always away from home and never around to be a part of the family, the stress on his former wife was just too great. The one great success of his marriage had been Sarah and now she was gone as well.

The military and police working dogs he had served with were the relationships that had lasted. There were many of them. Several had sacrificed their lives to save his life. The last one of these was Joe. Buck refused to go to the hospital for his treatment until he went to see Joe. The veterinarians had tried but there was nothing they could do. Buck had saved lives and when necessary killed men all over the world. He was as tough an individual as you could ever meet but his tears flowed as he held Joe for the last time.

Buck was looking forward to settling into a much quieter life in the Florida sunshine. There had been enough excitement in his one life for a dozen lifetimes. He would be very happy now to be a quiet old man.

Buck reached into his backpack and pulled out a box that contained Joe’s ashes. He walked out into the water and allowed the waves to spread the ashes of his friend.