CHAPTER SEVEN
A
TEST OF HEARTS—TWO HEARTS YEARNING TO BE FREE
(30TH
installment, Scruggs and Samantha, by
Mary de la Pena)
For what seemed like hours I watched
Scruggs as he kept his nose pointed to the street, with freedom beckoning him.
I sat quietly watching the dog I wanted to take home with me, feeling his
yearning, and letting it seep into my own soul.
But, soon, the young kennel man heard his name called over
the intercom.
“Hey,” he said to me, “that’s me they’re calling. I’m not supposed to leave you alone with the
dogs, but will you be okay while I answer that?”
“Just leave me the leash,” I said. “I’ll be okay.”
He snapped the lead back onto Scruggs, handed me the loop,
and left the enclosure, leaving me alone with my dog.
As soon as the worker was gone, Scruggs began to dance and
twirl, spinning in excited happiness. I
had to stand to keep up with his gyrations and, before I knew it, he again led
me to the far end of the enclosure. He gently rose up on his hind legs, placing
his front paws on the chain-link fencing, thrusting his nose through the
openings, snuffling the wind from the outside.
I stood next to him, my fingers laced through the fencing, watching the
street and appreciating the same breeze as it rustled our blonde hair.
“Aw, Scruggies,” I said, taking a seat on the grass, pulling
him down next to me. “You want to be
free, don’t you, boy?”
He turned to look at me, giving me a quick swipe with his
tongue.
“It’s calling you, isn’t it?” I asked.
He looked at me again, this time letting his gaze linger on
my face.
“You want out of this place, don’t you? You know there’s something better just beyond
that hill, don’t you?”
Scruggs let out a deep sigh.
He turned to look at the meadow and the hill beyond, gave a brief blink
at a singing meadow lark, and then settled down next to me.
We sat gazing out at the street, both of us lost in thought,
both of us dreaming of being out of our respective prisons.
“You know, Scruggs,” I whispered, “I don’t want to be here
either. I’m tired. I’m tired of trying to hold back the
government from stripping away what few rights we have left. I am tired of clients who make such bad
choices. And, most of all, I’m tired of
not being a good wife to my husband. I
just can’t do it anymore. I’m failing at
all of it, and I’m just so tired. I want
to be free, just like you do.”
Scruggs lifted his head from my lap and swiped my face with
his tongue, then gently licked my fingers.
I pulled him close, and we sighed together, both of us understanding the
need to be free. It was a test of our
hearts to trust enough to let someone enter.
Yet, in the quietude of that moment, I felt a shift in my heart. The rusted hinges of the door to my soul
groaned as it began to open. My heart
began to beat a little faster as I let the scruffy dog in. And, even as I felt my heart stir, Scruggs
sighed again, closed his eyes, and let me enter his.
No comments:
Post a Comment