WOOF!

Chapter Thirteen A Friend in Need


Early the next morning, my mother and I headed off to Riley’s house. His mother met us at the door and invited us in for coffee. She looked a bit haggard but didn’t show evidence of having shed many tears. Neither had Jeannie, who soon came into the kitchen, hugging first my mother and then me, thanking us for coming over. Riley entered next and followed suit, thanking us and doing his best to make us feel at home, which is a very southern thing to do, no matter the circumstances.

“What can we do to help?” Mom asked, patting Riley’s mother on her forearm.

“All is well. We’re going to arrange for an immediate cremation this morning and be done with it. My husband lived by the sword and died by the sword. What’s done is done,” she stoically, fatalistically replied. “Blame lays solely with him. We hold no resentments or bitterness towards no one.”

Mother remained quite, a most unusual state, and sat supportably at the woman’s side for some time. Riley, Jeannie and I went to his bedroom to give them their space and to allow us to talk freely.
“How are you doing, Jeannie,” I asked.

“I’m okay,” she said. “I always knew in my heart something terrible was going to happen to our dad, as he was so hot tempered. I wouldn’t ever have wished him to die the way he did in a million years, though. It was just terrible.”

Riley hugged his sister to him. “The police guy who came to the house said he died almost instantly. That was good to hear. We still don’t know why it happened though.”

I couldn’t believe it. How in the hell could no one have told them what had happened. Then I figured the police fella probably didn’t know how to put things. It must have doubtless seemed a damn embarrassing situation, at the very least. I then took it upon myself to tell all my mother had related to me. Riley and Jeannie both shook their heads in sadness and contempt for what their father had been doing at the time.

“I was afraid something was up with that,” Jeannie began. “Riley and I overheard him talking to this Jeffers guy over in Decatur on the phone. It was clear what he was wanting to do, too. He must have bought the thing yesterday morning and went to Smitty’s to try it out.”

“Yeah. That appears what happened,” I said in agreement.

“Damn!” Riley exclaimed. “Once he got shit like that in his head there was no stopping him. As much as I agree with what Jeannie said, he had to be stopped and Max was the one to do it. Damn!”
“I’m sorry, Riley,” I sympathetically said. I felt like hell having to be the one to tell the whole story but it had to be done.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Me, too. But I’m mostly sorry and feel damn bad about what poor Sarah and Ruthie went through. They never deserved treatment like that.”

Mother and I soon left, leaving an open invitation for supper at our house and, of course, a promise to be there for anything that needed done. Mother was as fretful as she could be our return trip home. After parking her car, we remained in it for a good while, talking about what we needed to do for them.

“She asked me, Jimmy, what exactly had happened,” mother began. “I couldn’t believe she didn’t know the full story. I let her know everything, and I’m glad I did. She cried pitifully for what the evil man had done to Sarah and Ruthie. And now, well, I just don’t know what else there is that we can do about it. Time will heal their wounds, but it will be hard to live with the remembrance of what Joe Bob was doing when he died. Of that, I have no doubt.”

“Yeah, I agree, Mom,” I said. “But you and I know, though, their lives will be one hell of a lot better with that bastard dead and gone.”

She nodded her head. We then made our way into the house to find that Tammy and Natalie had put a quick lunch together. After answering their many questions, we each went our way in the house. Early in the afternoon, we had three unexpected visitors.

I was the first to make it to our front door to find Smitty, Sarah and Ruthie on our porch. We made our way to the kitchen table, and I quickly had glasses of iced tea sitting in front of them. Sarah and Ruthie both had large lumps about their eyes, though Sarah had the most egregious looking bruise on the left side of her face. Her once beautiful face looked almost freakish. When my mother, Tammy and Natalie joined us, Ruthie lifted her blouse to reveal a number of large bruises.

“We’re so sorry for what happened,” Mother stated.

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” Smitty quickly replied. “We always knew that. Joe Bob was just too damn mean to go on living for very long. Even though he was my best friend for so many years, I can’t blame anyone for him dying the way he did. The bastard deserved it.”

His words shocked everyone. If there were any living being that would have protected Joe Bob from harm or ridicule, it would have been Smitty. To hear him make that admission seemed almost bizarre. There’s no doubt in my mind that he meant every word of it, though.

“Were you with Max when they put him down, Smitty?” I asked, knowing the man would probably take my question pretty hard.

“No, Jimmy. I wasn’t,” he stammered out. His hesitation and manner of speaking seemed deceptive. “There’s something we have to tell you. And something we’ve got to ask.”

“Yes?” I replied. All eyes were glued on the man.

“I guess you don’t know the Ridley boy, do you?” he asked.

“No, never heard of him.”

“Well, his dad and I grew up together. He works as the Humane Officer here in the county and he’s the one who picked up Max. I knew that whenever someone is hurt, or worse, by an animal they have to put them down and send off the head to have some tests run by vets working for the state. I guess they figure rabies is involved most times or some other thing like that. We know that wasn’t the case with Max, though. You know that, don’t you?” he asked out, looking at me and then the girls, plainly wanting to see their reactions.

“Yeah, Smitty. We all know that. Hell, Max was protecting Ruthie,” I replied.

“We were sure you’d understand that,” Smitty replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “That’s what we’ve come to ask you - - - a favor for us and Max.”
“Max? You mean he’s alive?”
“Yeah. I’m going over to pick him up this afternoon once the county humane office closes. The Ridley boy’s gonna load him up for me. But here’s the deal, Jimmy. The boy’s really sticking his neck out for me. It seems there were several dogs put down today. One of them will be tested. As far as the county records shows, Max was put down today and that’s it. If you wouldn’t mind, I need to bring him over here for a while, as the police fella’s will probably be over to our house off and on before they close the case. Hell, Jimmy, everybody knows Max ain’t to blame for what happened.”

“Yeah, Smitty. We’ll take care of him for you. You know we’d do that - - - no questions asked.”

“Thanks, Jimmy. You don’t know how much the hell Sarah, Ruthie and me appreciate that. We were damn scared ol’ Max was going to be killed for something he couldn’t help and didn’t mean to do. He was just protecting the girls. We all know that.”

Everyone breathed out a big sigh. Mother and Natalie, in fact, were actually crying in relief. It seemed almost unconscionable Max was nearly killed for protecting his best friend.
“What about Riley and them?” Tammy was the first to ask.

That stopped us cold, but Smitty just shook his head.

“They’ll bear no ill will against, Max. Believe me, they’ll be okay with it,” Smitty said in reply.

“What will happen to the family, Smitty? Did Joe Bob provide for them?” Mother worriedly asked, as she fully knew how hard it would have been on our family when my dad died if it wasn’t for his survivor annuities and such.

“Joe Bob worked many years out at the plant,” he said. “They’ve got about the best life insurance plan in the whole darn state. I know Joe Bob had a good one, too, as he bitched about how much it cost him all the fuckin’ time.”

“At least that’s good to know,” my mother said.

It was well after dark before Smitty’s old truck pulled up in front of our house. After unloading Max and a number of large bags of dog food, the man had one further request.

“Don’t let him go outside without a leash on, Jimmy. He’ll most likely want to make for home, and we can’t have that happening for a while yet. Okay?”

“Yeah, I understand,” I acknowledged.

Max had plopped himself down on the rug in front of our couch and went about licking himself. We both smiled at that dog thing.

“Damn, I wish I could do that,” Smitty said, chuckling. He jerked in astonishment when he realized how that must have sounded. “I mean, to myself, Jimmy. Don’t look at me like that. Damn! It’s a damn good thing we’ve got the girls around to take care of that chore, huh?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s expression. “Yeah, a damn good thing.”

Smitty soon left. Max stretched out on our rug like he was damn happy to be anywhere there wasn’t a cage. Natalie and Tammy, of all people, laid down with him and began scratching and rubbing at the old mutt like he was a long lost friend. Max was in heaven.

“Maybe he should sleep up in my room,” Natalie demurely said. “I wouldn’t want him to be lonely.”

“Lonely?” mother exclaimed, laughing out. “Lonely she says.” Mother looked my way, nodding her head toward Natalie and cackling out at her daughter’s very feeble excuse to have the heavily hung beast in her bed. “Max needs his rest, Hun, not a piece of ass.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at their exchange. “Mother knows you too well to sneak something so obvious by her, my darling little sister,” I said. “But I agree, Max shouldn’t be alone. It’s hard enough being away from Sarah and Ruthie.”

Mother smiled largely and chortled. Knowing my mother as I do, I suspected it was probably due to some hilarious thought or notion she just had. Mother looked my way and gave me a wink before speaking up. “It would probably be best, all the way around, if Max stayed in my room.” She then licked her lips seductively, making sure Natalie got the full effect.

We laughed so hard we shook all over, upon noting Natalie’s instant reaction to that statement. She nearly fell all over herself jumping up to her feet. “Mother! How dare you!”

Mother and I laughed until tears were running feely down our cheeks. Tammy, too, joined in once my mother’s little quip soaked in.

“I thought you were still sore,” was my sister’s retort.

“That’s when I like it best,” came Mom’s quick reply.

Even Natalie got a kick out of her quick comeback.

Needless to say, Max stayed in mother’s room on his first sleepover. I can’t say what happened that night, but they both seemed very happy the next morning.

I considered myself luckier than the mutt, as I had two young pieces of ass in my bed that night. All things considered, I guess we both made out like champs.

Even as exhausted as I was, my last thoughts when I closed my eyes were of Riley and his family. We had much to do yet, on that score.