My years with a dogman: Through personal recollections & letters by McConnery Mike

Author:McConnery, Mike [McConnery, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-03-28T22:00:00+00:00

Thimble

A Letter

Here is a story of an invisible dog. Several years ago, a small boy wanted only one thing: a dog. His parents were poor, so to feed a dog was out of the question. The boy, like other children in those days, had to work. He cleaned coal bins and stables to help his family survive.

One day while eating his bread, his mother noticed him tear a small piece from the crust, dip it into his milk, and then tightly grip it in his hand.

“What is this you are doing?” asked his mother. “Have we food to waste?” the mother continued.

“No, Mother,” the boy answered, “It is for my dog.”

“Dog? What dog?” she asked the boy. “We cannot afford a dog.”

The boy replied. “He is there in the yard. I found him in the street. I call him Thimble, as he is so small.”

The boy’s mother rose to look out the window. Upon looking, she saw no dog.

“I see no dog. You are fooling your poor mother,” she said.

“No, he is there,” the boy said and pointed toward an old board leaning against a brick wall.

“I see no dog,” the mother said again.

“Hush, Mother,” the father then said. “Can you not see our boy has found the only dog we can afford to give him? A pretend dog.”

The boy jumped up from the table and ran outside with the milk soaked bread.

In the days to come the small boy filled the house with laughter at the stories he told of the adventures of himself and Thimble. Often he would pull his mother to the window to see the dog, but never was there a dog that could be seen.

Day after day the boy saved his invisible dog a scrap of meat or bread to eat. It was an accepted fact that Thimble was a pretend dog. The boy even convinced his mother to sew the name “Thimble” across a piece of cloth for around the dog’s neck.

Finally one day, the father having had enough of the boy’s stories and of the wasting of his food, told the boy there would be no more talk about this invisible dog. It was not healthy, he had said. No longer was it a game. They were becoming worried about their son with this storytelling.

The boy fought against telling the many things he wanted to tell. He bit his lip to seal his mouth from angering his parents. Still he managed a bit of bread for his dog until the day his father saw him taking it.

This time the father waited until the boy left the kitchen to meet with this invisible friend. He then followed behind, making certain he stayed out of sight.

The boy went to the corner of an old shed and got down onto his knees. Then he called out softly, “Thimble, Thimble, come here to me.”

The father waited, thinking his son was playing a game of sorts. Then, from the bottom of a floorboard, emerged one of the largest rats the man had ever seen.

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