My new friend Abe

A couple of days ago, Mom, Dad and I went to a local mall so Mom could shop and Dad and I would work on my social skills. I’m pretty scared of unexpected noises so Dad and I sat on a bench watching the cars, people and the dreaded skate boarder pass by. Mom told Dad, he had to brush up on his social skills at the same time!

We were there for about 20 minutes when we noticed a man walking right towards us. I’ve heard the expression, “like a moth to a flame” and that’s just what he did, came right to us. As he got closer I could see that he and the world had had a skuffle or two but he looked like he had won the latest skirmish.

When he got to us he asked if he could pet me, Dad said I’m getting socialized so, let’s give it it a try. He kneeled down and slowly brought the palm side of his hand up and very quietly said, “hi boy, how are you doin’ today?” He introduced himself, “my names Abe and Dusty looks alot like my dog that just passed. His name was Bo, we spent the last sixteen years together; would you like to see his picture?” Absolutly, I’d love to. His phone was pretty beaten up, the screen was so cracked…but there was Bo. He really was a great looking dog.

He told us he was doing some carpentry work for a guy and saw a bunch of puppies and made an offer. “I’ll knock some money off the job if i can have one those pups.” The deal was made, he walks over and picks the runt of the litter. He told me that since he was a Dingo and the runt, it wouldn’t be long before the mom would have killed him and I couldn’t stand the thought of that…not his fault.

Abe said at first they had it all, great house, plenty of work, life was good, then the recession hit. From a home to homeless the two of them did the best they could. Living and life was tough, very little work, hardly any food. “Bo always ate first, he depended on me and I wouldn’t let him down.” One night they were parked not too far from a fast food resturant, so he left Bo and walked into the resturant and asked to speak to the manager, she walked up and said, yes? He asked if he would sweep and mop the eating area and then clean the bathrooms, could he have a couple of hamburgers? In a mix of english and spanish he barely understand most of what she was screaming at him, but he understood “bum and lazy”! Weeping as he continued his story, he said “I didn’t want anything for free, I just wanted to work for a couple of hamburgers…it was so cold and we were so hungry. I wasn’t and never have been a bum!” A few minutes later a man eating at the resturant tapped on the window, apologized and gave them some food.

Work began to appear and things began looking up. He said he gave his life to Christ; he and other Christian carpenters started a group to help others like themselves. He is so excited about this new mission.

“Can I show you another picture of Bo? This is what cancer did to him, took his beautiful coat and you can see what he looked like”. Abe said, “I think it’s the dog food that causing all the cancer in dogs.” Dad said he’d read about it and lots of folks agree with you. “Bo loved meat loaf, so a few days before he passed, we had meat loaf!” Smiling he said, “loved Kentucky Fried Chicken, so on his last day, we ate all the chicken we could.”

He took him in and holding his best friend for the last sixteen years, helped him on his way and let him go.

“I got his ashes back 2 days before Christmas, so we got to spend this Christmas together…”

All throughout his story he would pet me, talk to me and tell me how much I looked like Bo. Dad asked him if he believed in Devine Appointments, he said he did. God put Dad and me and Abe there to meet. Dad asked if he would remember us in his prayers and we would do the same for him. Dad also told him what a blessing it was to meet him and asked if he needed any help, he said no, he was doing great. They shook hands and I got some more pets, then we walked away.

A couple of months after Dusty came to live with us, we had our friend Mary, an animal communicator, check in with him. See how he was feeling, if he liked his new home and family. Dusty said he was so happy here, felt some pain in his leg that was no longer there, but overall he was great! He told Mary “I want to do the same work that Shelby does, I want to help people feel better and put a smile on their face.”

Guess what Dusty, you’re already there.