Dude

The first time my husband Bart told me about his horse, Dude, I knew their bond had been something special.

Growing up on a family farm, Bart loved all animals. But Dude, a birthday gift Bart received when he turned nine, became his favorite. Years later when Bart’s father sold Dude, Bart grieved (悲痛) in secret.

One evening, as we took a walk, Bart suddenly asked, “Did I ever tell you Dude won the World Racking Horse Championship?”

“Rocking?” asked I.

“Racking, it’s a kind of dancing horses do.” Bart corrected, smiling gently. “Dude was the greatest and most intelligent racking horse ever. Whenever I whistled (吹口哨), he would run at me and dance.”

“Then why’d you let your dad sell him?” I asked.

Bart explained, “When I found a job away from home, Dad figured I wouldn’t be riding anymore, so he sold Dude without even asking me. Running a horse farm means you buy and sell horses all the time.”

“I’ve always wondered if that horse missed me as much as I’ve missed him. I’ve never had the heart to try to find him. I couldn’t stand knowing if something bad. . . .” Bart’s voice trailed off (减弱).

My heart ached for him. I didn’t know what to do. Then one day while walking through the pasture (牧场), a strange thought came to me — finding Dude for Bart. How absurd! I thought. I knew nothing about Dude, certainly not how to find him. The harder I tried to dismiss the thought, the stronger it grew.

One morning after that first “find Dude” thought, I met with our new neighbor, Mr. Parker, and started a friendly conversation. When he mentioned he’d once bought a horse from Bart’s dad, I interrupted. “You remember the horse’s name?” I asked.

“Sure do.” Mr. Parker said. “Dude. Paid twenty-five hundred dollars for him.”

I went wild with joy, barely catching my breath. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“I sold him for a good profit years ago.”

“Would you be willing to try to help me find him?” I asked. And then I explained the situation.

Mr. Parker agreed to join the search, promising not to say anything to Bart.

Getting out of the car, I asked Bart to whistle as he used to do to Dude.

Tom is a special child. Ever since he was little, dogs have been his greatest passion. He often growled (低吼) and barked and sometimes moved around the house on all fours. His parents brought in a little brown female dog named Lynn. Tom was on cloud nine. One day, this little boy, together with Lynn, was sitting quietly down by the side of the street when suddenly a giant dog walked across him. He was a little surprised and started screaming as loudly as he could! All of this frightened Lynn away immediately.

Tom’s parents tried to see what the chances were of Lynn coming home on her own. But five days later, there was still no sign of Lynn. The boy didn’t just have tears streaming down his cheeks — his parents were saddened too.

The woods behind their home stretched for over 50 miles! Together with their neighbors, they searched for over a month. But Lynn was gone. Tom’s parents wanted to choose a new puppy for him. But no dog could replace Lynn for him.

Tom was not the same boy. He locked himself in his room. He seemed to have lost his love for dogs. He could not focus his attention on his classes so he didn’t want to go to school. He would easily get angry with people around him. Tom changed from a happy, smiling boy to an upset and annoying kid.

Tom’s parents wanted him to stay home and he had been studying at home ever since. His parents accompanied him almost every day, but staying home didn’t help much. The boy’s mother worried a lot. One rainy afternoon, she saw him staring out the window. “I miss Lynn so much. I wonder if everything is okay with her?” It had been a long time since his beloved dog ran away, but Tom’s despair was as great as the day it happened. Days later, Tom walked out the front door with his head down and sat by the side of the street.

A huge brown dog crossed the street and stood in front of the crying boy.

Tom ran after Lynn and entered the woods.

It all began when my younger brother, Chris, and I went over to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Howard’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle lived on a farm at the opposite end of town, and Chris and I loved going there. We lived on a farm, too, and we had to do the morning work before we left. When we finally got to my aunt and uncle’s, Chris and I went outside to see if Uncle Howard needed help with anything. He and Dad had decided to clean out the yard before dinner. Chris and I both helped. But we still found time to ask Uncle Howard a lot of questions about turkeys. He thanked our help, and handed us two turkey eggs when we finished the cleaning work.

“You kids put those under a setting hen,” he said, “and in twenty-five days, you’ll have a couple of fine turkeys” Chris was so excited that he nearly dropped his egg on the way to the house. At dinner, we both couldn’t wait for the grownups to finish talking so we could go home and tend to our eggs. Dad put the eggs under an old hen, and every day Chris and I would check to see if they’d hatched yet.

Twenty-five days seemed like forever. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day, Chris and I walked home after school to find the old hen scratching on the floor. Behind her were two little turkeys, falling over their feet and looking sort of confused.

It wasn’t long before the little turkeys began growing feathers. The old hen would stare at her two strange-looking babies, obviously puzzled as to why they looked so different from her other babies. When they got older, we could tell that they were both toms (雄性) Chris named one Bill, and I named the other Timothy. Day by day, both of them grew up and became stronger and stronger.

Thanksgiving day arrived again, but somehow we couldn’t find Bill.

We decided to save Timothy from ending up on Thanksgiving table.