After a six-hour drive with a low number of snags, I made it home to Texarkana safe and sound for my Christmas visit. And wouldn’t you know it, no sooner did I walk in the door, the Christmas drama Story began.
Ok. As I’m grabbing my stuff from the car for the first load into the house, I noticed that my uncle Randy’s truck was running. I looked inside and saw that he was either asleep, passed out, or just really, really chilled out. Out of the ordinary, yes, but for some reason I can expect that here. So, I walk into the door and my aunt Janet greets me. First words out of her mouth tell-all that she’s had a few too many. And she’s bawling.
“Janet, what’s wrong?”
“We can’t find Lucky.”
“How long has Lucky been gone?”
“He’s been gone for a few hours. We’ve looked all over, we’ve yelled for him, Randy has gone out to find him, he’s just, he’s just uh,” and Janet starts crying again.
So, I put my stuff away, fetched the second load, and made an attempt to wake Randy up. After a few too many knocks on his window, he stirs awake and has a tougher-than-usual time getting the truck door open. He succeeds, and I help him out.
“Yeah, that damn dawg done run off. We cain’t find ‘im. Sumbitch prolly got killed or run over. ‘Bout ta believe somebody done run off with ‘im.”
“Well, it’s possible, yeah. I’m thinking he just found a nice warm place or something.”
“Yeah, that’s a poss’bility, but I still think that damn boy, uh, what’s his name, did something.”
I nod my head. We go inside where he offers me some dinner. After nuking some nice smoked turkey, hot links and beans, we sit down and start shooting the shit about what’s been goin’ on, what’s happening at his job, some of my Austin stories, and we’re just enjoying our dinner.
Well, Janet, bless her heart, she’s sitting in the living room in sadness, despair, and heartbreak worrying about her dog. She calls me in there to ask me a question.
“Shawn, is it possible that Lucky will, I mean, y’know, it is possible he’ll come back?”
“Yeah, it’s likely that he will. Some dogs usually do, I suppose. I don’t think anything’s happened to him.”
“Oh, ok. I hope so. Thank you, Shawn, thank you.”
I go back to the kitchen, and Randy and I get back to dinner and keep chatting.
Well, about ten minutes later, roughly five minutes after the stroke of Christmas morning’s midnight, we hear Janet opening the front door and talking loudly. We bend our heads around the corner to see what’s going on, and wouldn’t you know it, Lucky zooms right into the house and runs to the kitchen to greet everybody. Lucky made it back home!
Janet was so weepy and happy that Lucky had made it home, she ran over and hugged me in a way very much resembling the way that a woman with a little too much to drink would run over and hug someone when they’re happy. She said, “Oh, Shawn, thank you, thank you for bringing Lucky back. Thank you. Oh my Lord, thank you Shawn.”
I was at a loss for what to say. I didn’t bring Lucky back, but to aunt Janet, by saying something positive about the situation to keep it from getting worse, I guess I made the miracle happen.
So, there we have it. There’s our Christmas Miracle for this year. Enjoy it in warmth. And remember, if you keep things positive, you might get Lucky. (yes, this whole story is true. Thank you.)
Mahrry Chrishmiss!