One Shall Be As Ten
They all stood around the open grave and stared at the casket with
a single fresh cut rose laying on top. A gentle Colorado breeze
blowing through the leaves of the great Oak tree in the corner of
the Private Cemetery. It was the final resting place for Les. Thats
what he went by, it was short for Lester. Kevin had tears running
down his checks, he was trying to be a man about it. But he was
thinking of how much fun he and Les had playing together. Kevin
was fifteen and Les was ten. They were always together, if Kevin
jumped out of the hay loft, Les would too.
Pastor Paul was conducting the grave side service. Kevin’s father
and Papa was there, everyone from church was there too. Les was
very well liked. Pastor Paul wasn’t real thrilled about the idea, the
first time Les came to church.
Kevin came carrying Les in church that day and Pastor Paul said,
The Pup has to go. Kevin said, If he goes, I go. Pastor Paul gave
him the stare, Kevin stared right back, neither blinked. Pastor
Paul gave in. He said, Just this once don’t bring him back again.
Every Sunday Morning Kevin would bring Les and manage to
work it out for him to stay. Les attended church more than some
of the regular church members. Soon Kevin and Les would just
come in and take their seats, up front. No one else sat up front, it
was a Baptist Church.
Kevin was five when they found Les beside of the road. The
mother dog had been hit by a car, the other pups had already
perished. Les wasn’t the type to give up. The first thing he did
was growl and grab Kevin’s dad by the pants leg and tried to shake
him around. Kevin’s dad said, Look at him, at least he has a
backbone. You can see his ribs too, lets see if we can find him
something to eat in town.
He took right up with Kevin, like they had known each other for
years. They drove on into town, Kevin held Les on his lap the
whole way. His dad parked in front of Belle’s Diner and said,
Kevin you keep him out here, no dogs are allowed in the diner.
Kevin said, Blind Joe the Indian takes his dog in there. His dad
said, Thats different son he is a seeing eye dog. I’ll get Belle to fix
us all some sausage and biscuits.
A couple of minutes later Kevin came in the door of the diner,
walking the pup behind him by a hay string that he had found in
the back of the truck and he had made a leash out of it for the pup.
Belle said, Kevin you get that dog right back out of here, this
instant. Kevin declared : He is my seeing eye dog and his name is
Lester! Belle, taken by the pure innocence of the boy’s statement,
said, Well take your seeing eye dog Lester and sit down over there
with your father and wait for the biscuits to get done.
Through the years Kevin would sit on the back porch and read his
Sunday School lesson. There was Les, looking over his shoulder
like he was reading too. In church when everyone would shake
hands in fellowship, Les would hold out his paw too. He didn’t
growl or bite in church. He’d lower his head during prayer, his
Amen was a real low "Ruff".
The two grew up side by side until a couple of days ago. Kevin
liked to hike in the woods. Kevin’s dad didn’t worry too much.
He knew the Lord was with Kevin, and looking out for him. Kevin
knew this country and he had that dog, he was old but he went
where ever Kevin did, sometimes it was all the dog could do, to
keep up with Kevin. Les was getting Arthritis in his joints, it was
hard for him to even walk now days.
They were walking along a path by some high rocks. Kevin
looked up, just in time to see a cougar leap off the top of one of the
rocks and land on him. It’s weight knocked Kevin to the ground.
In a split second Les was in the fight, and had the cougar off the
boy. Everyone knows a ten year old dog and a fifteen year old boy
are no match for a cougar. Kevin was all cut up and bleeding, he
tried to make a run for it. He got only a few feet and fell, he seen
the death fight. Les and the cougar was locked into, but he could
do nothing to help out his long and faithful companion! Then he
passed out and was unconscious the rest of the time. It was over
quick, it was an uneven match. The cougar was twice the dogs
size. Ten years old is real old for a dog, the cougar was in his
prime, and hungry.
It’s getting late, Kevin’s father thought, they should have been
back a couple hours ago. His dad told his papa, I’d better go
looking for them. That old dog has probably died on Kevin up in
the hills some place, and Kevin won’t leave him. I don’t know how
I will ever find them, this is big country, and it will be dark soon.
He opened the back door to start his search. There on the back
porch, where Kevin spent so much time reading his Sunday School
lessons, was Les. He pulled himself another inch further onto the
porch. Then nothing not even a breath. What could have possibly
happened and where was Kevin? That dog has never left his side a
day in his life, his papa said to Kevin’s dad. He’s all covered in
blood. Kevin’s dad said, There is a blood trail he can’t be far, the
way that dog was bleeding maybe 1/4 mile at the most.
The two men followed the blood trail the dog left behind him as he
drug himself home. A couple miles had gone by, the trail was well
marked with blood. The man said there is too much blood where
is it all coming from, that dog didn’t’ have that much blood in his
whole body? A 1500 lb. bull would have bled to death before
leaving a trail that thick and that long. The dog couldn’t have
crawled this far. The men went on another mile, the blood trail
stayed the same all the way. They found Kevin laying on the
ground and still unconscious. The cougar was there too, about
five feet from the boy. They got Kevin to the hospital, he would
be fine as soon as they stitched him up and give him a few pints of
blood. The authorities collected the cougar’s body and was
making out the report on what had occurred.
The man in charge of the investigation asked Kevin’s father, How
many dogs did he loose? He said, What do you mean? The man
said, You usually loose three of four good dogs when you take
down a big cat. Those trained dogs are expensive to replace.
Kevin’s fathers said, It was just my son’s pet, he wasn’t trained.
The man writing down the report said, I know my job there had to
have been at least ten dogs there to take down that cat and do what
was done. I could tell by the blood trail you had to have lost four
or five dogs and must have drug them off in a sack with horses.
No one could explain how one dog could fight like ten, loose that
much blood, and crawl that far, and he was old too.
Kevin insisted Les have a regular funeral and Pastor Paul said, No
at first, but when he heard the details, he knew who had stepped
in. They gave Les a beautiful funeral, and a head stone that had at
the bottom:
"TRUST IN THE LORD"
FOR WITH HIM ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE !
Written by: Johnny lee Hall
