Pappies and Puppies
Jarrod Barkley always was a late night man, usually the last to head to bed, preferring to wind down with a newspaper or a good book. When he planned to take the next day off, he stayed up even later. Everyone else had gone up to bed and he was catching up on the local news when he heard it – the barking. At first he thought someone was just out walking around and woke one of the dogs up, but soon the barking was right outside the library door to the verandah. Jarrod put the paper aside, got up and went to the door.
When he opened it, Patches, a male dog who actually belonged to one of the hands, was standing there, looking up at him. "Hello there, Patches," Jarrod said. "What's the problem?"
Patches gave a bark, turned and walked a few steps, then gave another bark back at Jarrod. Jarrod got the picture. Something was going on Patches wanted him to pay attention to.
"Wait a second, Patches," Jarrod said. He fetched a portable lamp from its place near the fireplace, lit it, and came back out the door.
Patches had waited for him and now led him to the stable in a hurry. Jarrod was surprised, thinking the problem might have been with Patches's owner in the bunkhouse or something, but then he remembered – Patches had mated up with Gretchen, the family's female dog, and she was going to have pups. Patches led Jarrod inside the stable through the open side door. He lifted the lamp on the corner Patches headed to and understood.
Gretchen had birthed her pups, six of them. Three of them had latched onto her already and were feeding, but the other three were just lying there. Patches sat down beside Gretchen and looked up at Jarrod.
"Stay, Patches, stay," Jarrod said.
He went to a stack of towels that were kept near the door and fetched one. In a moment he was back and picked up one of the limp pups into the towel. He gently rubbed the puppy's back a little while Patches and Gretchen watched. He carefully put his little finger into the pup's mouth to clear the breathing passage – not an easy chore, since he had big hands and a big little finger – but he was gratified when the little thing started to suck on his finger.
"There we go," Jarrod said and put the puppy down at one of Gretchen's teats. She gave the pup a few licks, and the puppy latched on and began to feed.
Jarrod did the same thing with the other two seemingly lifeless puppies, and even though neither one sucked his finger, they both whimpered a little. He put them down with Gretchen, and she licked them, and they started feeding.
Jarrod grinned. "There we go!" he said again. He gave Gretchen a soft stroke and Patches a scratch on the head. Gretchen lay down gently on her side, and Patches lay down as well, beside her.
Jarrod marveled at what he was seeing, at what Patches had done to come get him. It was clear these pups were his – most of them had his dark brown coloring – but Jarrod had the distinct feeling that Patches would be this attentive even if they weren't his.
"Well," a voice said behind him. "Looks like you got busy."
Jarrod looked over his shoulder. Heath had come in. Jarrod stood up. "I didn't know you were awake."
"I wasn't, but Patches woke me. Everything all right now?"
"Yeah, it's looking good," Jarrod said. "It's been a long time since I've been a pappy to puppies."
"I'd say Patches helped you in the pappy department tonight."
They both looked down at the puppies eagerly feeding now. Patches looked up at them.
Jarrod smiled. "We pappies have to stick together."
The End