There you are Spot!

Just saw this image of a beautiful pup on Facebook today and thought “There you are Spot!! and was immediately taken back to 58 years ago.  I was between 11 and twelve when Spot came into my life for a short little while. The sweetest and neatest little black and white dog, ever! My step father took him away, I was told, “to nice people who lived on a farm” outside of St. Joseph, MO. One day, on a family drive, he took us by a farmhouse and said that is where Spot lives now.

I really missed my dog and cried many days. For that and many other reasons, including being smacked hard on the back of the head at the supper table and told “that’s just for good measure”, I got up from the table and ran away from home. I went straight to that farmhouse to find Spot. It was twenty miles, give or take (probably more take). By the time I got there, it was dark. The windows of the house were lit up and looked friendly. Yet, I was afraid to approach.  There were dogs barking, sounded like big dogs and most likely barking at me walking down the road. Remember, I was only a child and not given to very practical thinking.

First I tried hiding in the bushes near the house. The dogs knew I was there and came very close, barking and growling. The farmer came out and shouted at the dogs. I heard the screen door slam as he went back in. Then, I walked on down the road a bit. There was a cornfield with bushes along side the road. A good place to maybe spend the night and be able to see my Spot in the morning. Giving the idea some action, I curled up beneath the bushes, curled up like a fetus to keep warm. This was in the later Summer early Fall and even though days were still warm, the evenings were cool. How long I lay there is unknown. It seemed like hours, but most likely only a few minutes. It was cold, there were night noises, probably Raccoons and Owls, maybe some Possums. Definitely there were bugs! Crawling over me in the dark, tiny, disturbing creatures tickling and maybe about to bite me. This caused enough adrenaline to make me chance knocking on the people’s door. Can you imagine a child, knocking on your door, out in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, late in the night? Only now do I wonder what was going through their heads. I am ashamed to say that I fed them a totally fabricated story of why I was there. I only remember that I told them lies, the specifics of the words have long ago left me. They, I now know, knew I was full of it, but played along somewhat.

They were kind, and gave me something to eat and drink. They talked to me and determined that I must have been who the dogs were barking at. earlier in the night. The man of the house stated that he was sure glad he hadn’t shot at what he thought might be critters messing around. That really opened my eyes, literally! Pretty soon they asked me where I lived and wouldn’t I like to call home. I did reluctantly, because I knew who would be coming after me. My Stepfather!

This was very nerve-racking, sure wasn’t looking forward to his ‘Good Measure’ on this particular event! It seemed like a lifetime waiting for him to come. I managed to find out in general conversation that they didn’t have a small, black and white dog, named Spot or otherwise and had not seen any. Then comes the step father, fear consumed me. Yet, instead of the tongue lashing and jerking around, I had expected, he merely thanked them and said that “normally I was a good girl”. He looked very embarrassed or maybe angry, Red in the face in any case. He was quiet the entire way home. This making my fear and anticipation of complete mayhem almost unbearable.

Once home, I was told to go to bed. Surprisingly… there was nothing ever said about the event, NOTHING, EVER. At least to me. I was in dread for several days that something was going to be said or done and it never happened. The only sure thing that came out of my little trip, was I still missed Spot and now wondered “Where are you Spot” for the rest of my life. I think I could have handled the truth better.