He knew
When I was an officer, I was dispatched to check a residence of a woman who had committed suicide. She was a middle aged professional woman who had jumped to her death from a bridge spanning a 1000' deep chasm a long way upstate. My task insure there nothing further amiss that might require our intervention.
I arrived at a small but very pretty house in a semi-rural area outside of town. There was no answer to my knock so I walked around the house and looked in all the windows. Through the bedroom window I was a small brown dog lying on top of the bed next to the pillow. It was looking at the open bedroom door and took no notice at all of me. It just peered at that door.
I got in the house somehow, I don't remember if a neighbor let me in or if there was an unlocked door. It neat and very attractively furnished; everything was just so. There was nothing out of the ordinary and I found no notes or last communications.
I didn't want to scare the dog, so as I went through the house I told it I was coming and what I was doing (don't laugh, that helps with dogs). He didn't care. Hewas a little brown mongrel with a lot of spaniel in him. When I entered the room, he glanced at me briefly and then resumed his staring at the entrance. He never moved as I looked around the room and spoke to him and he never looked at me again.
He knew. He knew there was trouble with his master so he had placed himself as close to her as he could to watch for her return. That was his mission and he would not be distracted. Only she was never coming back.
I asked a neighbor to look out for the dog and make sure it got food and water. She said she would and told me later one of the woman's relatives came and took the dog with them.
I will always remember the expression on that dog's face as he watched for his master to return.
I arrived at a small but very pretty house in a semi-rural area outside of town. There was no answer to my knock so I walked around the house and looked in all the windows. Through the bedroom window I was a small brown dog lying on top of the bed next to the pillow. It was looking at the open bedroom door and took no notice at all of me. It just peered at that door.
I got in the house somehow, I don't remember if a neighbor let me in or if there was an unlocked door. It neat and very attractively furnished; everything was just so. There was nothing out of the ordinary and I found no notes or last communications.
I didn't want to scare the dog, so as I went through the house I told it I was coming and what I was doing (don't laugh, that helps with dogs). He didn't care. Hewas a little brown mongrel with a lot of spaniel in him. When I entered the room, he glanced at me briefly and then resumed his staring at the entrance. He never moved as I looked around the room and spoke to him and he never looked at me again.
He knew. He knew there was trouble with his master so he had placed himself as close to her as he could to watch for her return. That was his mission and he would not be distracted. Only she was never coming back.
I asked a neighbor to look out for the dog and make sure it got food and water. She said she would and told me later one of the woman's relatives came and took the dog with them.
I will always remember the expression on that dog's face as he watched for his master to return.
posted by Carl at 5:18 AM
6 Comments:
It's know that sometimes just having a devoted pet has pulled people back from the brink of depression and suicide - I hope the dog didn't think he failed her-if such a thought could have occurred to him.
Was one of the hardest parts of your job as an officer trying not to take people/pets home and solve their problems? Do they teach you that necessary emotional distancing, or is that part of OJT?
i was always sad that i couldn't fix the broken people. i was never dissappointed in myself in this respect, and i never took it home with me. i knew nothing could be done. but they always made me sad.
i think most officers were about the same.
most officers will agree, also i think, that the hardest part of the job wasn't what you saw or did. the hardest, most stressful part of the job was dealing with the police hierarchy (sic). the bossses were the thing made the job hard, not the work itself.
Carl, In any job the heirarchy is always difficult. (Just because I am beautiful doesn't mean I don't have a brain).
I love your stories like this one, they bring a tear to my eye. This just proves that you can be Mr. Compassion even when as a trooper you had to put up the facade of a tough guy. Now you just need the right girl to discover your secret.
aw, shucks.
This story reminds me alot of the one about the old man who couldnt face life but couldnt take his faithful companion with him. I think we could learn alot about loyalty from our dog friends. My sister in law once compared her husbands loyalty to that of a dog. My husband is cut from the same mold, but I think they are insulted by the comparison. I cant think of a better compliment.
They may pretend they are insulted by their loyalty being compared to that of a dog, but deep down inside, they are wagging their tails at the thought.
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