They Were Babies, Not Trash

My boyfriend and I were talking about how much I wanted a puppy.

A Border Collie puppy. But the odds of me getting one with our limited resources was pretty bleak.

A few days later my nineteen-year-old son shows up telling me about his day at community service, {paying off fines} they had picked up trash a couple of roads over from a popular lake site. I was only half-listening until he said "And the bag was moving" I looked up quickly, he was now getting my full attention. " So I reached down and tore a hole in the bag, it was full of puppies!!" "Bulldog puppies," he said.

My next concern was " Where are they?" "The community service supervisor told us to leave them." I was shocked! What normal human being could walk away and leave those babies in a bag like trash?

"Do you know how to get back to them?" I asked, he shook his head sadly.

I told him to get on the phone with The community service people, someone, and find out the area they were working in that morning.

Unfortunately, I didn't hold much hope of him doing that or of them telling him.

I was still thinking about them a couple of hours later when Jacob messaged me. "It was Magnolia rd," he said.

I jumped up, great, " do you think you can remember where they are if we ride down this at least three-mile-long road"? "I think so, He said"

That's all I needed. I jumped in the car, stopping to pick him and my ex-husband up. We were on our way to the rescue!

He said there would be big yellow trash bags close to their location. We drove hanging our heads out the windows, backing up traffic, but I didn't care. I knew I could not give up until they were found.

Jacob named off what few landmarks he could remember. A pink box lid, some small pine trees, a ditch. Not much to go on at all.

After a couple of hours, I could tell that he and Will, my ex, we're close to giving up. I just turned the car around and started my umpteenth trek back down the road.

Then Jacob speaks up, " it may be the other road we worked" I almost slammed on the brakes, mouth falling open. "Other road?" I slowly asked

"What was the name of this road?" " I can't remember, he replied" " something like Lakeview or something" but Denise heard the name while I was on the phone, " he said.

Denise was my younger sister. Quickly I called her up. Her memory wasn't good as I had hoped, but it was enough to go on. I quickly typed the Eastview name she thinks might be it into my GPS, sure enough, it was just a couple of miles over.

Off we went, Hopes renewed. Upon reaching Eastview and seeing what a short walk they had made picking up trash, I heard Jacob mumble " It wasn't this road."

So back to Magnolia Road again.

We went over everything he remembered yet again but were no closer to finding these babies. I had a mental picture in my head of some officers looking and finally giving up, the camera drifting down an incline showing the moving bag as the camera fades out. That was awful. I couldn't let that happen.

After traveling up and down the road a few more times, the car running on fumes now, I was at my wit's end, I was starting to get irritable, what could I do?

Finally, I silently asked God, " If we are to save these puppies please let us find them soon". Tired and worried, I pulled the car over, My ex said" maybe y'all should just start walking." and I agreed.

We got out and before I reached the rear bumper of the car I heard Jacob's excited voice "Here they are!!" Relief flooded through me and I offered up a silent thank you.

Jacob brought the little black curb store bag over to the edge of the road and ripped it open more, dumping the many black and white newborn puppies onto the grass.

You could tell some had already died and the. others looked to be close behind. They were wet and covered in feces and fly eggs.

One thing I noticed right off as they were not bulldog puppies as Jacob had stated that morning.

They were Border Collie puppies. And they were dying. I just couldn't see bringing them back this close to the brink of death. They were barely moving and making no sound at all.

Jacob looked at me " Can you save them?' "I don't know, but I am going to try."

After running to the car and grabbing an old piece of carpet that had been put over my busted out window, we put the remaining seven puppies on it and moved them to the car.

I had exactly five dollars in my pocket that Denise had given me for gas to look for the puppies.

Gas be damned I thought and speed toward Laurel. I stopped at the first Dollar general I came across and Jacob and I ran in and used the money to get a baby bottle and a can of evaporated milk.