A dog's duty

In the past three years, I have often told people how Dickens, our little Maltese dog, will begin to watch me closely as 3:00 pm comes around. I see a sadness in his eyes, if I look at him, but I never mistook the fact that he was in the habit of going to get the boy at school every afternoon at about that time. And so every day, I would take him "Bye, bye" and he would be as excited about it as ever. Because I like Sonic drinks and that was often a part of our daily outing with Dwight, I take him there. I thought this satisfied his need to go somewhere as though he couldn't remember the real reason.

So, today, as I do every day when I am not working, I loaded up Dickens and we went to Sonic. I even talked to the carhop, who also has a similar type dog, about how he needs to take an afternoon trip everyday. But the minute he gets in the car, Dickens lays down and sleeps. I think it's funny for him to be so excited about going and then sleep all the way.

On the way home, I drove a slightly different way than I usually do. I avoid school zones and their heavy traffic when the children have just been let out. But today, I drove within a block of the school. I could hear the children's voices and see them running in all directions. From the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw Dickens struggle to stand up. The little loyal old dog who went so many times to pick up the boy was prepared to do his duty. He faced the school, his little ears picked up, his tail curled over his back happily.

I turned off the street before reaching the congestion around the school. He tottered a bit, his head dropped and then his tail and then laid back down. Tears stung my eyes. No, he has not forgotten his duty. He has been wondering and worrying all this time that we haven't been going to the school and today, for a moment, he thought I had remembered.