Listen To Me Honey (12 page)

Each Christmas, her parents came
with her to celebrate the holidays at the farm. Even her mother,
Iris, had learned to like the country in winter. She remarked once
it was much nicer to visit Art and Tansy in that season. She didn't
care for the hot summers or the ticks.

Senior year came and went. Amanda
graduated from high school and was ready go for her summer vacation
with her grandparents before she went to college.

When Art and Tansy picked her up at
the bus stop in Saddle, Amanda noticed they seemed frail. Even
Jubel was thinner than before when he hung his head over Old Blue's
side for her to pat him. Age was creeping up on all the ones she
loved at Pleasant Valley.

Some things had changed. Art had
sold the milk cows. He bought his wood from a neighbor already cut.
While she was on the farm, Amanda took care of the chickens for
Tansy which was the only chore.

About a month into Amanda's visit,
the fact that Jubel was Art's loyal companion proved true. Art
hadn't been feeling well. Tansy and Amanda took him to the doctor
in Thayer. The medicine Art took didn't help.

He took to his sick bed with a case
of summer pneumonia. He had a fever and coughing spells which
weakened him. He gave up eating and slept as much as he could
between the coughing fits.

Quietly, Jubel stayed next to the
bed. He stood up often to nuzzle the ill man's hand and laid back
down. Amanda brought the dog's food and water pans and set them
beside him so he wouldn't forget to eat.

Eventually, Art took a turn for the
worse that warned the end was near. Tansy called the doctor to come
check on her husband. After examining the elderly man, the doctor
said there wasn't anything he could do. They needed to let Art rest
in peace.

Amanda called her father. He said
he and her mother would be there as soon as he could drive from
Chicago.

Not long after Jeff and Iris
arrived, Tansy sat on one side the bed, holding Art's hand. Jeff
and Iris pulled chairs up beside Tansy. Amanda sat on the other
side the bed and held Art's other hand.

Jubel laid his head on Art’s
shoulder and closed his eyes. The dog made sure to be within arms
length to Amanda so she could pat his head to give him comfort.
Jubel sensed he was losing his best friend.

The next morning, Jeff made the
call to the funeral home. The funeral director came in the hearse
to get Art. Jeff called neighbors to be pallbearers. Clem Whitman,
Clarence Young, Sid Fertle, Wilburn Cox and Bill Scott came to lift
Art into the large wicker basket and carry the basket to the
hearse.

Jubel stood in the kitchen door,
growling. He wouldn't let the men take Art out of the house.
Quickly, Amanda knelt beside him. The dog quieted down, but he
wouldn't move from the doorway.

The funeral director said the dog
could go along with Art if he wouldn't bite anyone. Amanda said as
long as Jubel could stay with Art he would be good.

The plan had been to keep Art over
night at the funeral home and bring him back to Pleasant Valley
church for visitation and the next day the funeral service. Amanda
told Grandma for Jubel's sake it might be better if Grandpa was
brought home for the services. Besides, Grandpa would have liked it
that way. He loved his farm.

When the hearse returned, the
director opened the back, and Jubel jumped out first. He stood out
of the way until the pallbearers removed Art's coffin. Then he
followed the men, carrying the coffin into the house.

Jubel pattered into the parlor and
watched while the men placed the coffin on four chairs. That
afternoon and evening, the dog stood by Tansy, Amanda, Jeff and
Iris in the receiving line at the end of Art's coffin as the string
of viewers came by. Later that evening when Tansy turned the parlor
lights off, Jubel settled down to sleep by the coffin through the
night.

The next morning after the funeral
service, Jubel didn’t follow the pallbearers as they carried Art's
coffin up the hill to the family cemetery. He walked under the
coffin like an honorary pallbearer.

The family lost sight of Jubel at
the funeral with so many well wishers talking to them. After
everyone left, the family walked home from the cemetery. Iris and
Amanda fixed supper. Jeff and Tansy rocked on the porch and cried
as they reminisced about Art.

At dusk, Tansy missed Jubel. She
filled his bowl with food from the dishes brought by the neighbors,
but when she went out on the porch and called, the dog didn’t
come.

A couple days later, Wilburn Cox
came by to check on the family and leave an applesauce cake Wilma
fixed.

Tansy said, Ya haven't seen Art's
old dog around, have ya? He's been missin' since the
funeral.”

“No,
ma'am, I ain't seen the dog, but I wonder if he's out lookin' fer
Art. They sure were close. Tell ya what, I'll checked around with
the other neighbors to see if the dog showed up at their place,”
Wilburn said.

That afternoon, Wilburn Cox came
back by. “I've checked all over Pleasant Valley, and no one has see
yer dog.”

A few days later, Wilburn had an
idea. He drove to the Craftton farm and walked to the cemetery. The
first thing he saw was dirt flying high above Art’s
grave.

On investigation, he found Jubel,
digging furiously down to the coffin. The dog had the hole so deep
that dirt kept falling back in, hampering his efforts to get to
Art.

Wilburn stopped by the house to
reported to Tansy. “I couldn’t distract Jubel from digging, and the
poor dog hadn’t eaten in days from the look of his
ribs.”

Tansy filled the dog bowl with
scraps from the meal. “Ya have time to take this food back to that
dog?”

“I'd
be glad to make time,” Wilburn said.

“I
want to go with you, Mr. Cox. Maybe I can talk Jubel into coming
home,” Amanda said.

When they neared the cemetery, they
heard the scratching Jubel made as he dug.

Amanda knelt at the hole and
called, “Come here, Jubel. Time to come home.”

Jubel's ears perked up at the sound
of a friendly voice, but he didn't stop his slow methodical digging
with bleeding paws.

Amanda said, “I don't see what else
we can do, Mr. Cox. If I try to bring him out of the hole, he'll
bite me. If we could take him home, he'll just come back. Jubel
doesn't understand what happened to Grandpa.”

Amanda laid down on her belly and
stretched her arm until she could easily drop the dog's food bowl
into the hole without spilling it. Jubel didn't seem to notice. Not
even Tansy’s good cooking induced him to stop digging.

For the next few days,
Amanda and her father walked to the cemetery to check on the dog
every day. Finally, Jubel became too starved and exhausted from his
efforts. They found he'd died in the hole before he reached his
friend.

Jeff asked his mother what
she wanted done with Jubel's body. Tansy said for Jubel’s fidelity
to Art he deserved to be buried in the grave he dug for himself so
he'd be with Art. So Jeff filled in Jubel's hole in Art's
grave.

For the next few years when
Amanda came, Tansy and she took flowers to the cemetery. Until she
died, Tansy placed two bouquets of flowers on her husband’s grave.
One for the man she loved, and one for the dog that loved him so
much.

After Tansy passed away,
Amanda continued to place flowers on the graves for her
grandparents and Jubel during her summer stays.

After Amanda had a family,
her two sons and a daughter came with her every summer to the farm
Art and Tansy had left her in their will. The children walked to
the cemetery, carrying flowers as Amanda told them stories about
growing up in Pleasant Valley.

About The Author

Fay Risner lives in Iowa with her
husband on an acreage. They spent many enjoyable vacations with her
husband's relatives in the Pleasant Valley area.

Readers will find this book is
reader friendly. It is written in larger font which makes it easy
and fast to read. The book was written with children in mind, but
anyone who has ever spent part of their childhood with grandparents
can relate to an enjoyable time on the farm.

If you like this book, please feel
free to leave a review for the story to encourage others to buy the
book.