There was a house up the street that had a large wooden fence
around it. Everyday I had to walk pass this house on my way to school.
On the other side of the fence was a very large dog, with a loud bark.
I once looked in-between the slits of the fence, and all I could see
was teeth.
I don't know why, but I started saving part of my lunch, to
give to the dog after school. I fed the dog for the next couple of
weeks, parts of peanut and jelly sandwich, or maybe it would be devil
ham, it did not matter to the dog. The dog no longer barked at me, I
could see his nose pressed in-between the slits, as I walked up to the
fence after school. I just finished giving a sandwich to the dog and I
started walking along the fence line on my way home. As I walked past
the end of the fence, the dog started barking, he never did that
before.
I whistled and to my surprise, a large German Shepherd came
sailing over the wooden fence. I just sat down, hugging that dog while
he licked my face. I took the dog home with me, I didn't change out of
my school clothes, I just sat on the front door steps petting and
hugging that grand dog.
A man came walking up to us; he had a leash in is hand. "Radar,
heel!" the dog broke out of my hold, and ran to the mans side and sat.
The man put the leash on the dogs collar, and walked away with my new
best friend, I got up from the steps and rain into the house, my heart
was broken, I flopped down on my bed, crying.
The next day after school, I called the dog by his name, and
once again he came sailing over the fence. Together we went to the
playground, and I showed my dog off to the other kids. Radar and I
played all afternoon, till dark. I knew I had to go home, it was
dinnertime. I was trying to figure out, where I could hide Radar, when
we came around the front of the house; my father and the dogs owner
were standing on the steps. "John," my father said, "Mr. Green wants
to talk to you." Mr. Green gave the order to sit to Radar, then the
three of us walked into the house.
I was only seven years old, and I never love anything so much
as I did Radar. Mr. Green told me, Radar was a trained attack dog, and
he had saved his life in the war. I don't remember what I said between
sobs, but it must have been the right things. The agreement was, I
could play with Radar during the day, but at dinnertime, I had to put
Radar back over the fence. I had to promise Mr. Green, if Radar ever
attacked anyone, I would tell him.
As time went on, I learned what Radar could and would do for
me. One day, Larry and I were wrestling in the yard, when suddenly,
Radar jump in on us, and got a hold of Larry's coat and pulled him off
of me, then Radar stood over me barring his teeth. If I flopped down
on the ground, Radar would be right there, standing over me; you could
not get within 10 feet of me for fear of Radar attacking you.
A few years later, Mr. Green gave me Radar. My three sisters
hated Radar. One of them would be vacuuming the rug in the living room
and another sister might be in the kitchen. I would creep into the
living room with Radar, and flop on the floor, Radar would go into his
attack mode, all three sisters would run out of the house. This was
great fun for me, but my sisters got smart, they would lock the doors
before they started vacuuming. Radar was getting old, and he was blind
in one eye. He would just lie around the yard, and waited until I got
home from school.
One day Radar was hit and killed by a car, I did not see it,
some kids told me. I held back my tears until; I was out of sight of
everyone. I was 13 years old then, and I sat with my head in my hands
crying, I kept thinking about all the good times Radar and I had
together. Its been 47 years, since I lost that grand dog.
I still have warm memories, of long summer days, when Radar and I
roamed the neighborhood.
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