Home James

JAMES:

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. My vision is blurry and I am overwhelmed by the smell. I catch a faint aroma that reminds me of home. This is comforting and I almost doze back to sleep, but my reminiscing brings with it the truth that home no longer exists for me. I try to lift my head but it feels so heavy, so I just try to focus my eyes again and I wonder where I am.

When my eyes finally focus, panic sets in. I am surrounded by metal bars and the reality of imprisonment frightens me as my instinct to escape takes over. When I try to stand I am unsuccessful and fall over into the bars. There is a loud howling of pain that echoes in my head and I realize the sound came from me. I feel the sharp pain radiating through my hip into my leg. I am breathing hard, almost a pant, and I try to calm myself; I try to remember. I wait for my captors, who may have been alerted by my cries, but no one comes and so I try to find a comfortable position to lie down.

My last memories before waking up here are not pleasant. The last thing I recall was hiding behind a dumpster in the Joe’s Grocery parking lot hoping that tonight they would throw away enough meat to fuel me up for a few more days of searching. I’ve been searching for my family for so long that I’ve lost count of the days. My hope of finding them now is minimal.

It seems like hours have passed since I’ve opened my eyes and all I can do in this confined space is think. I may have to accept that my family is lost forever. I have often wondered if they search for me at all. I have no hope left, so I close my eyes and dream of the good old days when I was young and useful and most of all loved.

I awake to the sound of someone entering the room. My captors? I stay quiet and hope that they will at least bring me water, if not food. I wish that I could ask them the purpose of my capture and what they plan to do with me. I am so frightened that I shake uncontrollably and this makes my pain ten times worse. I did not mean to, but the pain makes me whimper and now I have their attention. I open my eyes to see the face of a beautiful woman with big brown eyes. She speaks in soft tones, almost melodic and my anxiety is lessened. I stop shaking. She has in her hands both food and water. I look at her pleadingly. I back away from the door and for a second I think of bounding out of this prison, but I know that my injury won’t allow it. If I am not successful, what consequences will there be? I let her place the food and water inside and I wait until she backs away to dive into it.

It may be my last meal.

Youth has left me. If I cannot escape, I must accept my fate. I have heard stories of those unfortunate souls who were snatched up and never heard of again. Rumor has it that if you aren’t young, strong, or pretty enough to them, they sentence you to death. I am only a shell of what I once was. I question my own ability to live happily again; to love again. If there is no more hope, then I can accept my fate. I can no longer survive out there without my family and if I can’t be with them, then I do not want to live.

I awake again, confused. Forgetting about the injured leg, I stand and realize that the pain has lessened considerably. I wish I was able to walk around, but my prison is not a very big one. The pretty lady returns and opens my door. She wants me to follow her and though I am cautious, I really want out of here. She escorts me to a door that leads outside into a fenced yard. The sun is bright and warm and I walk along the fence until my leg throbs. She watches me, but does not seem to be ready for me to return to my cell, so I lie on the ground and soak up the sunlight. It may be my last time to see it.

I assume that I will be escorted back to the tiny cell inside the door, but she prods me to follow her down another hallway into a room that smells of books. I breathe in deep, while familiar it doesn’t smell like home. I sigh, too defeated to be curious, and wait for my instructions.

A man walks by and pokes his head in. He refers to me when he says, “How long till you know what?” The pretty lady looks at me before she scowls at him and in a hushed tone, she replies, “Tomorrow morning”. My head hangs even lower than I thought possible. So that’s it, huh? Not even another 24 hours. I thought I might panic at this news, but I am calm. Accepting fate. At least I know what’s coming. Why would they repair my wounds only to send me away forever? How cruel can you be? I wished they’d just put me out my misery now.

I am awake when Pretty Lady enters the room. She tells me, “It won’t be long now, old man”. Old Man, huh? I knew it. Abandoned like an old pair of tennis shoes. Thrown away like last nights leftovers. She walks me to the outside door and leaves me in the yard to soak up my last rays of sunshine. I lie down and think about the days I would hang out in my own yard. I can almost smell the lake that bordered the property. I’m daydreaming of my old life when the door opens and small, blonde female limps out into the yard and lies down just a few feet away from me. She looks at me and we just stare at one another. She has the same look in her eyes that I do. Hopelessness. I don’t have any encouraging words for the young female so we just lay there in silence and wait.

After a short nap outside the door opens and the pretty lady emerges. She looks at me and tells me it’s time to go. I stop close to other lost soul and try to give her a sense peace and calmness. I try to show her with my eyes that all will okay, even though I am not sure what’s to come.

I take my time following the pretty lady back down the corridor to the room of books. She leaves again and so I make myself comfortable. I take in a deep breath as I dream of Heaven. Just then the scent of home filled my nostrils and I could almost taste it. I closed my eyes and breathed again. Facing death is peaceful, I thought.

JIM:

I'm tired of coming here. We've been here four times and four times we've left disappointed. My family has been searching for so long. We pile out of the SUV and this time no one is running inside full of excitement.

Diane, with her small frame and sweet brown eyes, greets us at the front desk with a smile and a bounding, "Hello, James' Family!". I looked over at my wife and children who seemed to have softened a little at Diane's warm welcome, but the smiles don't reach their eyes. Like the poster with James' picture tacked to the wall, our hope has started to fade with time.

The joyful veterinarian says nothing else. She opens the door to her office and pats her legs with both hands. We are holding our breath when he comes through the doorway, he stops and sniffs the air. His tail wags a little. We all breathe again and the tears begin to fall.

I'm now kneeling down eye level to the old hound I’ve called family for the last nine years. He sniffs as he gets closer and then surprises us all as he bounds forward knocking me to the ground all the while licking my face. He jumps from each family member to the other. His whines are loud and he barks as if to say, "What took you so long?".

Our family is complete again. I look down at my best friend. "Let's go home, James."