I
write for three different online sites. This one is called Warm
Fuzzy Stories.
~KERNEL~
~©SHARON
JEAN BRYANT~
(October 7,
2002)
We've always
heard that a dog is man's best friend. I beg to differ with the definition
of "man." For there was a time, long ago, when a little black cocker/lab
mix dog became the most important "person" in a little boy's life.
My mom had
a poodle named Lucky. She may have been lucky, I'm not really sure, but
we know she wasn't choosy. She "married" the neighbor's lab one day and
produced two gorgeous puppies. They LOOKED like cocker spaniels, they were
just BIG cockers. Mom gave me one. I named him Kernel.
Kernel was
4 years old when I was pregnant. He knew something was going on.
He watched me put up a baby crib, he sniffed around the room and checked
out everything I put in the room. I disappeared for three days and came
home with a bundle of joy, my firstborn son, Andy.
Mon had given
me a bassinet all trimmed in yellow for the baby's arrival, so that is
where Andy went for the first month of his life. Kernel never left the
side of that bassinet. He laid under it 24 hours a day unless he had to
go outside to do his duty.
When I held
Andy, Kernel was right there by my side, whining, licking my hand, looking
at "his" little baby boy. The bond was made from that first day, and nothing
or nobody could separate dog and child.
When Andy got
old enough to play with Kernel, I would laugh at the giggles that came
from Andy's mouth as he threw balls for Kernel to chase after. When
Andy was big enough to put into the bathtub, Kernel took his bath with
him. He even let Andy put shampoo on his fur and in his eyes, and all he
ever did was bark at him.
I remember
the time Andy had gotten a bottle of bubble soap from my mom. I did not
see him dump it into Kernel's water bowl. Kernel drank it. When Andy squealed
that Kernel was "Blowing bubbles" when he "talked," I saw Kernel barking
at Andy. Sure enough, bubbles were coming out of his mouth!
The years passed.
If I could see Kernel, I knew Andy wasn't more than six feet away from
him. One day we let Kernel out to do his duty in the yard. I'd noticed
a ground mole a few days earlier and saw the hole he'd made in my fenced
backyard. So did Kernel. Andy was four that year. He opened the door to
call Kernel back inside the house, then he yelled at me, "Mom, come quick,
Kernel's in trouble!"
I ran for the
door, and all I could see was that snubbed tail and half of his body sticking
out of that hole. He was barking and his bark was coming through another
hole the mole had made. We tried everything we could to get Kernel out
of that hole. He was wedged so tight...I had to take my garden tools and
dig out a larger hole to give him room to back out. What a squeal of joy
when Kernel came out of that hole backwards! Kernel must have
licked Andy
100 times in the face, and Andy must have hugged him 150 times.
On October
24, 1977, Kernel's life, and mine, changed. We lost our little boy that
day. I was in a state of grief so strong, but so was Kernel. He'd always
slept in Andy's room with him each night, but after that night, he would
lay outside Andy's doorway and whine all night long. He'd come to me, put
his head on my legs and look at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen.
I'd hug him and tell him I missed our little boy, too. For the next year,
mother and
dog grieved together for the loss of their little boy.
Then, Kernel
stopped eating one day. I took him to the vet, and he said nothing was
wrong. He knew about Andy's death, and I told him how Kernel had been acting
the past year. He told me to just love him, and he would come out of his
grief and sadness.
He was wrong.
Kernel never got over the loss of his little friend. He died in my arms
one fall day that year. The vet told me he died of a broken heart. He is
buried outside Andy's room in our old house in Michigan. I knew that's
where he'd want to be, as close as possible to anything Andy was connected
with.
I made a marker
for his grave with a single piece of wood. Two lines were written on it:
"Kernel, Andy's friend forever!"
I know they
are together, and one day I will once again get to hug that little mixed
breed who gave so much love to my son on earth. I know he's with him in
Heaven today.
PLEASE VISIT
SHARON'S WEB SITES
~IN
MEMORY OF ANDREW FRANK DUNBAR~
~AN
ANGEL'S PATH TO HIS MOTHER'S HEART~
~ANGELS
REMEMBERED~
~TANNEHILL
SWEET SHOP~
"IN GOD'S HANDS"
~ANDREW
FRANK DUNBAR~
~GOD'S LITTLEST
ANGELS MEMORIAL SECTION~
~A
TRIBUTE TO ANDY~
~ON THE WINGS
OF ANGELS MEMORIAL SECTION~
~WHAT
ABOUT US~
|
~ONE
HEART~
|
~HOW MUCH IS
THAT DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW~
