A Dog for Christmas by Linda Byler

Author:Linda Byler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

That was the beginning.

It was the start of something new. It brought a light into Henry’s life that made his world different, thinking of quiet Katie as a companion for both himself and Lucky.

Lucky was getting old now. There were white hairs on his chest and below his jaw, and he no longer bounced on his front legs with his backside in the air. He walked steadily, in places where he used to run. He no longer catapulted himself into the pond from a perfect standstill, either. He still accompanied Henry everywhere he went. Henry still put both arms around the big shaggy dog’s neck, laid his head on his back, and cried when missing Harvey became as heavy as a stone in his chest. No one else understood. No one else sat quietly and knew what he was feeling except Lucky.

The change was not about the dog, his faithful friend. It was the glimpse of a life where there was the reality of something greater than missing Harvey. It was even different than knowing about God.

When Henry had times in his life when the pain became unbearable, he had often felt a caring, like a soft whoosh of breath. At night, alone in the double bed, when he remembered that Harvey would never come back, he shuddered with sobs that came from deep within the stone of pain, smashing his resolve into a thousand pieces.

Usually, when those times came, it was followed by the absolute knowing, the recognizing of God’s love and His caring about the missing of Harvey. Sometimes, Henry thought the comfort might be angels, die engel, he heard about in church, the angels Ephraim talked about in his evening prayer. He believed in angels. He believed they watched over him, and that they were sent by God. His faith had no beginning and no end. He could never tell where it started. He just knew that he had always been aware of heavenly beings.

These angels had certainly been there when he and Harvey walked side by side down the road to spend the rest of their lives with Ephraim and Rachel.

Harvey had argued with him, when he mentioned this. It was funny about Katie, the way he never noticed her much. Malinda was there, loud and bossy, someone to be reckoned with, and Anna was the playful one, who spent more time with the twins than anyone else. Katie never said much.

Harvey said once that she was someone who was afraid of her own shadow.

Not now she wasn’t.

She was a good fisher person.

Till autumn’s cool breath chased away summer’s stifling heat, she had acquired the art of perfect casting. That was when they became competitive, battling to the finish to see who could catch the most, the biggest, the best.

Henry admired her. His admiration changed to awe when she used cheese on her hook and landed the largest, fattest small-mouth bass Henry had ever seen.

He laughed at her for putting cheese on her hook.

“You wait, Henry Esh,” she said.

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