I remember the sound of the tail as it wagged on the floor. The eyes stared full of excitement behind the chain-link cage. It was the day I caved in. My daughters had begged for months, often doing it daily. They even dragged my wife in on it. The three of them worked on me, and I did it that day. I adopted a dog for the family. A puppy sounded like too much work, so I went to the shelter instead. When I first encountered the white and black pup, I didn’t know what to think. It seemed pleasant though.
“Does it have a name?” I asked Sarah, who owned the local shelter.
“Her name is Izzy,” she replied as she opened the pen. “She is a sweet girl, super loving and responds well. Someone trained her really well”
Izzy walked over and licked my hand, “That is a cute name. She seems pretty friendly. Is she good with kids?”
“She loves kids from what I have seen.”
“How did such a sweet girl end up here?” I asked curiously as I knelt down to pet Izzy who licked me on the face.
“Carson found her wandering the side of the highway,” Sara answered as she patted Izzy’s head. “He brought her in, but she had no contact information. All she had was a tag that had her name.”
I stood up as Izzy rubbed her muzzle in my hand, “I will take her.”
Izzy seemed very obedient, even when I stood in a room filling out the paperwork to adopt her. She did not wander off but rather stayed next to me as I signed the forms. Sarah was kind enough to give me a collar and leash. It also amazed me that Izzy did not tug or fight, but walked alongside me to my car. I rolled the window down for her as we drove. She let the air hit her face, Izzy clearly enjoyed car rides. The only thing that threw me off was she growled at a vintage black Plymouth next to us at a stoplight.
I don’t know why, but I didn’t read much into it.
We left the town and drove down the highway until we reached my road. I could tell she would enjoy where I lived when she looked at all the woods and open fields, luckily for her my yard was a decent size. She wagged her tail excitedly as we pulled into our driveway. I could see two little blonde heads waiting on the porch, both wondering why I was coming home late. When I opened the door that revealed the dog my oldest daughter’s eyes widened, and her smile glowed. We strolled together towards my two girls. While Izzy was pleasant with me, I wanted to make sure she was good with kids.
That fear went away quickly. Izzy’s tail swayed with joy when she met the two girls. My oldest Dani could not help herself as she rushed to Izzy who greeted her by licking Dani’s face. My youngest Lisa followed her sister, also with a huge smile. Before I knew it, the three were playing in the yard.
Dani could hardly contain her enthusiasm, “We get to keep her right? What’s her name?”
“Her name is Izzy,” I answered my daughter as she giggled while Izzy continued licking her face.
My wife opened the front door as I walked on to the porch. I sat in the chair that looked over the yard, the three of them ran around on the grass. The sound of the girls playing with the dog warmed my heart as I hear their laughter and joy. “Well they seem happy,” she said.
“Well, the three of you have only been working on me for months,” I said with a smile. “Watching them makes me wish I would have done it sooner.”
My wife kissed me on my forehead, “They seem thrilled out there. Let’s get everybody inside because dinner will be done soon.”
“All right girls, it’s almost dinnertime,” I yelled, as I watched my daughters run toward the house. Their voices still excited from our new family pet as they pass by. Izzy did not follow them though, her tail no longer wagged. She sat in the yard looking across the road at the woods. I whistled towards Izzy, but it did not get her attention. I stepped off the porch and walked over to her. She also got strangely tense when I laid my hand on her head. It felt like I had startled the poor thing.
Izzy still did not take her eyes off the woods, however. I looked over myself but caught nothing. After a minute, Izzy became more relaxed as her tail hit my leg. She then broke her gaze from the woods. I patted my her head, “let’s go inside, girl.”
Izzy trotted behind me as I walked to the house for us to call it a day.
The sound was faint, but it woke me up never the less. I reached over to grab my cellphone. The time was 1:15 AM. I sat up from my bed to hear something scratching from inside the house. It sounded like it was coming from the living room. When I got out bed, it sounded more frantic. The source revealed itself to be Izzy scratching the front door. I rubbed my eyes and lumbered towards her to pet her. She gave me a whine and ran to a window looking outside.
“Do you need to go outside, girl?” I asked while Izzy ran back barking. When my hand turned the doorknob, Izzy became even more impatient. She dashed outside before I fully opened the door. She stopped at a familiar spot, the same place as earlier. Izzy fixated on the woods again as I followed her to the yard. I tried whistling again to her not being responsive as I got closer and knelt down to her level.
Her ears perked up, and I noticed it too when I heard the sound of twigs snapping in the woods. She barked loudly with the occasional howl as I tried to comfort her. The sound of more sticks snapping became louder telling me something was across the road It was dark, but I noticed that something was there and it was moving. Whatever it was making Izzy bark loudly. I became tenser with every sound as I watched something stepping out from the cover of the trees.
My heart started to beat faster, and a cold drip of sweat came down my forehead. Izzy was remarkably calm. She only let a small bark when it came out of hiding. The shape appeared before us, barely visible to my eyes. It stepped into the road shocked and then scurried away.
My nerves calmed as I watched the deer run away.
I witnessed the girls and the dog playing in the yard when I pulled into the driveway. They were playing fetch with Izzy. I watched as Dani would toss a stick, and with Izzy who chased after it with her tail wagging. The three of them were excited to see me when I stepped out of the car. Izzy rubbed her muzzle into my hand as both of my daughters ran to me with smiles on their faces. It was genuine happiness as I walked inside.
“How was Izzy today?” I asked when I stepped into the kitchen to my wife placing plates on the table. “Did she do anything weird?”
“No, she just played with the girls most of the day,” she replied as I grabbed a beer from the fridge.
“That’s good.”
The girls had guessed that dinner was close. The sound of their tiny feet and Izzy’s paws beating against the floor told me that. Laughter followed the racket of their footsteps as the three entered the kitchen. The girls found their places at the table, and Izzy waited patiently by her bowl.
“Daddy, I think Izzy sees something in the woods,” Dani said as waited for her dinner.279Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgOhILtix3
“It’s probably just a deer,” I replied remembering what transpired last night.
It was only second day with Izzy, it was fair to assume she was getting adjusted.
I woke to the sound of Dani screaming, Izzy’s barking followed her screams. Something was wrong as I jumped out of bed and ran into my daughter’s room. Izzy seemed in a frenzy. My daughter had tears in her eyes, she looked terrified. I watched Izzy who on was her hind legs again, barking while she peered outside. I hurried to my daughter to console her as she clenched me tightly.
She sobbed, “Daddy, I saw someone out there! Someone was looking into the window at me! Izzy saw him too!”
Izzy dropped from the window and rushed pass me when I walked over to check the yard. No one was outside, but between my daughter’s tears and Izzy’s barks, I believed them. The howls from Izzy in the house told me they were still near. My wife woke up from the commotion inside the house and screamed from our bedroom.
“I saw someone pass by our window!” she shouted as I raced back into the hallway to see my wife standing in her pajamas frightened. “Someone is outside!”
“Call the police!”
Izzy howled loudly from the living room when I entered. She scratched at the door violently, almost like she was trying to burrow her way through it. I walked to the door and looked outside. I caught a glimpse of him too, a man at the edge of our yard looking on to our house. He was barely visible, but he turned around walking back to woods across the street.
I foolishly opened the door when Izzy barged through, almost knocking me down. She dashed toward the area where the man had gone. Almost like she was pursuing him. She barked loudly, but the sound faded as Izzy disappeared into the woods.
“Izzy!” I heard Dani’s voice behind me. I turned to see her looking even more upset that Izzy had chased after the man. My wife was on the phone holding our other daughter, who rubbed her eyes. She was the only one of us that seemed not to be woken up.279Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0j0sEeIkVU
Dani pointed, “Daddy, don’t let that man hurt Izzy!”
“Don’t go out there,” My wife said as she shook her head. “The cops will be here soon.”
“Daddy, what if he hurts her,” Dani screamed. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. I love her!”
I stood at the open door and looked on to the woods. I didn’t know what to do, and I felt torn. Between my daughter’s tears, and my wife being visibly terrified, I stood still, just looking outside helplessly. A faint bark came from the woods, it was quiet, but I knew it was Izzy. I looked back to my daughter who was distraught. It was her tears that made my decision.
I ran outside towards the direction of our dog’s bark.
The woods were dark, I could barely see, but Izzy’s yelps guided me. The trees ended, and I was standing alone, looking on to a field. My dog was sitting next to the man creeping around our house. He looked in his late thirties. His skin was a pale white, and he had dark hair that looked messy. He wore a flannel shirt over a dirty white tee shirt. The man smiled at me, which was strange for a man who had trespassed in the middle of the night. The thing though that really caught me off guard was Izzy. She licked his hand as I slowly approached.
“I didn’t mean to scare ya,” he said as he crouched down to Izzy who licked him in the face. “I just had to know.”
“What did you have to know?” I stuttered.
The stranger stood up, “I just wanted to make sure she was with good people. Now go on girl go be with them.” Izzy looked up at the man who smiled down at her. She licked his hand again and came over to me.
“Just promise me you will take good care of my girl.” the stranger said as I knelt down looking to Izzy to make sure she was not hurt. I turned my head up, but the man was now gone. Almost like he had disappeared into thin air. I checked around the field to no avail as I heard sirens coming.
I patted Izzy on the head as we headed home.
I told the police the story, and they canvassed the area, but they found no one. One morning a few days later I saw him again, except it was in the paper. The man had disappeared, his car abandoned in a field. The police did not see any signs of a struggle. The man's wallet, phone, and keys were left behind in his vehicle. It dumbfounded the Cullman police, which isn’t surprising.
I don’t know what to say about all of that, but I can tell you one thing though. Izzy is in good hands.
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