Animal Tales - Charlie

One day a young Beagle appeared in the yard. He was the handsomest fellow, good coloring, nice disposition and we were between pets at the time and he was encouraged to stay. We named him Charlie. This dog obviously had good breeding, loved being cuddled by various daughters and he loved to chase rabbits. And there is nothing quite like the sound of a Beagle calling and howling while chasing his prey. We had him for several years.

But the bad thing about having Charlie for a pet, was at hunting season, he would disappear. Most nights he would sleep with one of the daughters but he would just as often stay outside because at bedtime he was out chasing. Vern figured out after awhile that someone was taking him to hunt whatever was in season and when that season was over, they brought Charlie home. One time he came home with a chewed rope around his neck. And then he just never came home again.

Fast forward a few years, the daughters were in school or working. Lora was through school and working in the Marketing Department at Commercial Bank. One cold winter evening she came home all excited. When she got in the house, she told her Dad that she had found Charlie. He was in the trunk of her car. Vern went out to the driveway and sure enough, there in the trunk of the car was a dog's frozen carcass. The snow had recently melted and as she was driving along she noticed the body in the ditch, picked it up and put it in her trunk. (Now Lora really dressed up for work and I can picture her in heels and a silk dress and her good coat picking up this stiff animal). Vern looked at the dog and said: "Lora, this is not Charlie, I don't know who this dog is but the ground is as frozen as he is. I don't mind burying our pets but I refuse to bury a dog I don't know so take it back to the ditch you found him". He went with her and that's exactly what they did.

We don't know what happened to this dear fellow but on bright moonlit nights as we would sit on the back porch, Vern would say: "This is the kind of night, if I try real hard, I can still hear Charlie on the trail of a rabbit".