A Stray Dog Christmas

Ernest Hemingway once said that 'all true stories end in death'...I guess it's a good thing this is a Christmas story.

Everyone called her Miss Pat. She was a little old lady in excellent health and full of vigor, charm, a big heart and she truly loved dogs. It’s simple... She realized a long time ago that dogs cannot take care of themselves. Maybe if they had thumbs? (she thought) but probably not.

Humans made a deal with dogs or with wolves actually, 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, that we would love them, and we would feed them and take care of them and provide a safe home and play with them in return for protection, and unconditional love and companionship, and the furry fellows all thought that was a pretty neat deal.

So...why in the world would any human drive from the big city out to the countryside, farm lands, fields, forest and vineyards, thinking that it's ok to abandon their dogs and then drive back to the city?

Luckily, Miss Pat lived up on the highest hill with 20 acres of open land... a place she called Straydog, where any stray that found a home with Pat was surely considered a Lucky dog.

Whenever she found a poor, lonely, frightened, hungry stray, she would bring it home and take care of it. Quite simply, if the pup was alone and abandoned, she would come to the rescue. Hopefully she would find the stray a new forever home if she could adopt it out to a loving family, but if not, the older dogs, the blind dogs, and dogs that just wanted to stay with Miss Pat, knew they already were home, and happy.

It’s Christmas time and usually the weather is quite mild but this year it's been very cold with swirling wind, rain, sleet and ice. Snow has been falling for the last few days and NOW a dynamic super-cyclonic snow storm was ripping across the states and projected to hit tonight... Christmas Eve!

This was the first year in many years that Miss Pat would actually attend a Christmas holiday get together, as she was always just too busy taking care of her doggies for any family get togethers... but this year the family would come to her, and she was so excited to see her adult children and their families, other friends and relatives and of course her loving husband who was in the city picking up dog food.

Unfortunately, due to the extreme weather, all trips were canceled! No planes. No trains and no automobiles could make it through all of the ice and snow. On top of that...The main power grid and powerlines in the tiny little town froze up and blew over and now there was no electricity so no communication, no computers, no phone... no, no, no, oh, no, no, no...But Miss Pat was OK, and she had let her small team of doggie helpers go home to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

So now we know all about Miss Pat and her love for stray dogs and taking care of them forever and ever hopefully finding them forever homes, but for the ones that were too old or blind or other people just wouldn’t love... well, they knew they could stay with her forever.

Now let's check in on the big, fat, jolly man, that lives in town. He's an older gentleman, with long, wavy, white hair and a large, white beard, and the one thing he lives for, is Christmas! In fact he works for the towns Post Office and the most special day of the year for him to deliver mail, was and is Christmas Eve... and he doesn't drive the federal regulated postal truck he drives a special truck, introduced in 1948 and he received his beautiful Red Christmas Truck when he turned 18... so let’s do the math, yep... that makes him 92 years old.

The good thing about being 92 is he still gets to enjoy Christmas, but the unfortunate thing is that he's suffered the loss of so many friends and loved ones including his wife, whom he loved dearly, and the loss of his German Shepherd Max just a few years ago. He knows Max is at rainbow Bridge, and will probably see him soon, but now, at 92, he's quite lonely and his only joy is delivering the mail, especially on Christmas Eve.

Christmas mail is the best mail... He usually has hundreds of envelopes, cards, boxes, packages and presents and he loads them all in his little red truck. His truck features a large V-8 engine that offers more than enough power but he had to put custom snow tires and headlights on to guarantee a safe trip for today's adventure.

Chris was bundled up, wearing a red coat, red pants, red gloves, black boots and jumped into his red christmas truck and drove to the post office to load up, and then he'd be on his way.

I know you all want to know what his last name is? Is it Kringle? Could it be? Is this fellow really Santa Clause? Well it was close to Kringle... it was Pringle. That’s right! Chris Pringle, and if you think about it, Pringle is pretty cool...It's actually a more exciting name than Kringle!

Kringle, the name sounds kind of crunchy, crooked, crinkly and cranky, crusty and cracked, but Pringle has a pop! A pip, poof, ping, pang with a spectacular, profound, professional, potentially, potent pizazz to it or at least that’s what he thought, and it always made him laugh when he thought about it.

The weather was getting worse, as Chris Pringle dashed and danced, slip sliding away, racing through the snow, his truck and engine like a Mustang Horse Open Sleigh!

Miss Pat was safe and sound in her little home. The bigger, stronger, healthy dogs actually loved playing in the snow storm, but when they tired, their bellies were full, and they had plenty of straw and extra blankets to snuggle in their individual dog houses. The smaller dogs, and the older dogs, and the sick dogs, and the tiny pups were all inside with Pat sleeping and content with the roaring fire, providing warmth and a visual of crackling wood and flames dancing to the Christmas Jazz Music playing on Pat's small transistor radio.

Pat sipped on a glass of warm, red, dry wine and stayed warm with the a giant comforter, and a bunch of puppies that mulled her playfully.

Suddenly the front door blew open! Swirling wind and snow forced its way through and a few small windows exploded with glass shattering into a million pieces! Pat got up and raced to the front door desperately trying to shut and secure it, when the bizarre sound of deep, low thunder crashed around the home and then a BOLT of LIGHTNING zapped Pat, and tossed her like a doll across the room and into the wall!

She was unconcious. The dogs all came to her rescue, or to try and help. Big dogs, small dogs, fluffy dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, even weiner hot-dogs, but the most important dog that sprung to action was William... He was a handsome Greyhound, that could run 50 miles per hour, and he knew that he had to race to town for help. William said goodbye to the other dogs, and they wished him luck! William stopped at the door, looked back, and said: "Take care of Miss Pat while I'm gone"... and then he dashed away!

Now Chris Pringle had just finished all of his deliveries, except for one letter addressed to Miss Pat at Straydog, on top of the highest hill. Chris was clear across town, and the storm was over bearing. He decided that he could deliver the letter tomorrow.

Visabilty was terrible, but Chris still drove and tried to negotiate the country roads the best he could. A DYNAMIC SUPER FLASH appeared in the sky! "Wow!" he thought. “Was that a meteor, a sattelite, a rocket or Santa Clause?”

The bright, ball of flames approached closer and closer and was on target to smash and explode directly into Chris Pringle and his Christmas Red Truck. Chris SLAMMED on the breaks, which caused the truck to SLIDE and SPIN like a top, finally crashing into a forest of Pine Trees.

Chris opened the drivers side door and fell out of the truck. He was ok, just dazed and confused, but alive! Suddenly a small, cute, golden, labrador puppy sprung out of the hole that the meteor from the sky had produced. The puppy ran as fast as his tiny, chubby legs could go and jumped into Chris Pringle's arms!

The puppy was some sort of Angel and seemed to speak to Chris, and he unbelievably understood him, and realized that Miss Pat was in trouble, but the Red Christmas Truck was totaled, so he held on to the golden lab and headed out, on foot, to Straydog.

William the Greyhound had made it to town, and was able to get the Doctor, the preacher, the butcher, the baker and even a candlestick maker and of course Big Joe from Big Joe's Snow Plowing Truck Service, and his big snow truck, and they just made it back to Straydog to check on Miss Pat.

But, the situation did not look good. Poor Miss Pat was in bed, and her eyes were closed. The doctor held her hand, but just shook his head, as all of the doggies huddled by her bed. I’ve never seen a dog cry, but William the Greyhound had tears in his eyes. He looked up at the Doctor and said: “Please, please try!”

Meanwhile, Chris Pringle and the puppy fought through the super snow storm and finally made it to the foot of the hill. Miss Pat’s home, and Straydog was way up on top. Chris Pringle was so very tired, but he just couldn’t stop.

Chris Pringle almost made it to the front door but his heart gave out and he collapsed into the snow! He set the puppy down gently and said: “Don’t worry about me, just GO, GO, GO!”

There was a twinkle in his eyes, and he smiled, as he seemed to fall asleep.

The puppy raced to the front door, and it blew open as he jumped from the ground. The Puppy landed on her bed, barked and danced around, and then the cute Pup kissed Miss Pat on the lips and continued dancing, prancing and and even flipped upside down!

Suddenly Miss Pat’s eyes opened and she smiled, hugging the stray puppy tight. It was a Merry Christmas, and it was a good night!

...and way up high, in the sky above, Chris Pringle was with Santa on their way to Rainbow Bridge and then Heaven.

THE END