Help The Animals

When Joseph was seven years old, he thought he could communicate with dragonflies. At the time there was a large brown dragon fly that would follow him to school almost every morning. Typically, dragonflies only live for six months, but to Joe it felt like that special insect was in his life for so much longer.

Always taking the long way to school through the overgrown nature track, Joe was never in a hurry. As he walked, he would focus his attention on his flying friend and a small voice would pop into his head.

At first the voice was so high pitched that he could hardly hear it. With practice, young Joe could eventually focus in and hear the words well enough to make sense of them.

Thinking back on those times, it’s easy to imagine he was dreaming “her name was Loch.” He thought, “Did I make the whole thing up?” Almost twenty-five years since their last conversation, Joe had forgotten most of it.

One memory that remained strong over time, was the day he heard a much louder voice than usual exclaim “In here!”

“In where?” asked Joe. Loch was perched on a small black book. The book looked old and it was damp from having been there overnight “In here, in this!” she said. Joe picked up the mysterious book and placed it into the front pocket of his school bag. “I promise to look at it after school.” He told the dragonfly, who then flew away.

About to fall asleep that night, Joe’s thoughts drifted to the little book he promised to read. The cover was made of leather, but smelled earthy, like the walking track on a rainy day. Inside was an address: 32 Campbell Street and the words help the animals were faded yet still legible.

From such a small occurrence, came the inspiration to follow his passion for helping animals. At the age of twenty-six Joseph Grace took over running a shelter for homeless pets.

Joe was now thirty-one and making a living helping thousands of animals in need every year. Mainly dogs and cats who ended up alone for one reason or another. Common reasons were things like their owner passing away, families deciding to move and not take the pet, or the animal running away from a new home and getting lost.

Often the job required him to work closely with a certain animal that had suffered abused or neglected, to rehabilitate them. Sometimes they cannot be saved, and it is heartbreaking.

Finding new loving homes for such loyal creatures is the happy part and makes it all worth it. He would always be grateful for finding that little black book and the series of events that followed.

Seven-year-old Joseph was intrigued by the message he just discovered, knowing it had to mean something. The only clue he had to solve the mystery was an address that he knew was on the other side of town.

Joe’s friend Benson lived a few blocks from Campbell Street. There was no mention of a town in the book, so Joe assumed it must be near by in the Logan area.

Arranging to spend the weekend at Benson’s house was easy, as he often stayed there. Convincing Benson to help with the investigation was more difficult.

The boys rode their bikes passed number 32 Campbell Street and it was not what they had expected. A small shed sat at the far-left corner of a large unkept block of land. The tall timber fence offered privacy, however, with no lock on the old gate, it had unlatched and swung open. The rest of the yard was empty except for an old rowboat, left to rot among the high grass and weeds.

Benson told Joseph there was no way he was going anywhere near that creepy shed “your just afraid of spiders." accused Joe. That night as they ate dinner with Benson’s Mum and sister, Jo asked Mrs Wright about the strange, abandoned block.

Three years earlier a small single-story home burnt down at that address. Jenny was a friend of Benson’s mother who had told her all about it. Jenny worked at the nursing home down the street and she had cared for the old man that use to live at the address until he passed away a month ago.

Mr Johnson had decided he was too old to rebuild his house and he chose to rent a caravan to set up on his land instead. Unfortunately, by the time he moved to the nursing home Mr Johnson had dementia, so he was unable to remember what he had done with the money he received from insurance. All he ever said when asked was “help the animals, please help the animals”.

Joe was in shock and he and Benson stopped eating and just stared at each other. The next day, spiders or not they would search that shed.

The boys set off at the first sign of daylight. Inside the dusty old garden shed, they were disappointed to find it was completely empty. “well, that was lame” said Benson.

As they walked back towards the gate, Joe stumbled over a brick that had been hidden by the grass. Looking down he could now see that it had been resting on top of something. The very tip of a silver handle stuck out from under the dirt. Both boys began to dig up a black petty cash tin. It was locked but they could feel that there was something inside. “Mr Johnson’s insurance money” they both whispered at the same time, with wide eyes.

Back at Benson’s house, Mrs Wright opened the box with a grinder and inside were stacks of $100 bills, the tin was packed full of them “You boys know we have to tell the nursing home so they can contact the family of old Mr Johnson, right?” Asked Benson’s Mum.

Joseph agreed knowing it was the right thing to do. “But what about the animals?” he added. “We will have to leave that up to the family.” explained Mrs Wright.

The next day Adam, the son of Mr Johnson and his wife June met up with Joe and his family back at his home. “We're so grateful to you for handing over my father’s money” said Adam with so much warmth and sincerity that Joe knew he had done the right thing.

“I just need to show you something.” Joe spoke as he reached into his jacket pocket “I found this on the side of an old bush track last week, it’s what lead me to look for the money. Do you think there is any chance you could use some of the money to help the animals? Maybe by donating to the Animal shelter just out of town?” “Let us discuss it with the rest of the family Joseph.” Answered Adam.

The next day June Johnson called with some information about the little book Joseph found.

In a strange coincidence, their daughter's friend that was living in Joe’s neighborhood, had been given the book. The friend had agreed to help the daughter investigate and she had lost it soon after. The girls had been amazed to learn that the book had played such an important role in all of this.

A couple more days passed before the news came that Adam Johnson and his family had donated $20,000 to the animal shelter called The Second Chance, located just out of town. The donation was made on behalf of Mr Alex Johnson & Joseph Grace. The family also gifted the two boys $1000 each to thank them for all they had done.

As he reminisced Jo decided he would begin writing it all down as soon as he got home. "A story worth telling," he said softly to himself.

Suddenly a large brown dragon fly landed on his hand and he could swear he heard a high-pitched voice in his head say, “great idea”.