My Name is Miracle

The Only One Left

As my mother promised, we began spending a great deal of time romping around the yard outside. My brothers and sisters and I chased each other, played hide and seek, wrestled, dug holes, and stalked butterflies all day long to our hearts' content. Sometimes when it was really warm I would just lay down in the sun and doze for a while.

I was growing more and more curious about what lay beyond the fence surrounding our little paradise. I could see a bit through the cracks, but only caught glimpses that weren't disclosing enough information for me. I began pestering my mother daily about what was out there. She was ever patient and she tried to describe the world to me as best as she could. She didn't go out there much anymore, but she used to. She was a police dog before she had us.

It wasn't long before she began teaching me to read. She said that if I was so curious about the world, reading was one of the best ways to learn about it if you couldn't go out yourself. Little by little, she taught me and I did learn quickly. Our human owners notices my intelligence right away. They began to brag to friends about me and I felt silly as they asked me to perform trick after trick. I didn't see what the big fuss was about. Those tricks were really basic. 

My siblings didn't learn as quickly, although I did do my best to help them. They couldn't quite grasp the human language like my mother and I did. Oh, they understood the gist of it, but it took them all much longer to learn commands and stuff like that. My mother didn't attempt to teach the rest of them to read, but they were fine with that. They told me it looked boring.

One day a couple came by with their little boy. They came into the yard with our owners and the little boy ran around and picked each of us up. He was excited and he made all kinds of noise as he cuddled and played with all of us. One of my sisters really took to him. She stayed in his lap for a long time, licking his nose and nuzzling him. I wasn't into all that hugging stuff. Sure, I liked a good scratch behind the ears and a bit of a pet now and then, but I had too much to do to stop and cuddle with humans.

Well, that little boy ended up carrying my sister over to his parents and holding her up for them to see. Then his dad leaned over.

"Is that the one you want, Taylor?" he asked.

"This one, Daddy! She's perfect and she likes me!"

I stopped what I was doing and watched. What were they on about?

"Alright son." The dad turned to our owners. "Looks like she's the one!"

Then the strangest thing happened. That boy carried our sister off with him and didn't bring her back. Ever.

"Mother?" I asked, nudging my mother.

"Yes?"

"Where did they take my sister?"

She looked down at me with eyes full of sadness. Then she just leaned down and gave me a little lick.

"They are taking her home with them to become part of their family. We won't be seeing her again."

I stared at her in complete shock. "What? They can't just take our sister!" I was outraged.

"That's what happens, my love. All of you will eventually go. Even you, Miracle. Especially you."

I began to whimper and my little body started to shake. "I don't want to go to a different family, Mother! Please don't let anyone take me!"

She nuzzled me with her warm nose and let out a sigh. "It isn't my choice. Your destiny is somewhere out there in the great big world and you can't fight destiny. You'll be alright, my brave little son."

I didn't know about this destiny stuff, but I sure wasn't going to go without a fight. I decided right then that there wasn't going to be anyone taking me away from my mother. I belonged with her and that was where I planned to stay.

One by one my sisters and brothers began to disappear. The people who came to get them all seemed nice enough, but every time someone came along, I would run off and hide. I didn't greet anyone and I didn't allow them to greet me.

One little girl who came looking for a pup found my hiding place and let out a squeal of delight. As she reached for me, I began to bark ferociously, growling and snarling as viciously as I could muster. She ran back to her parents, wailing like a banshee. I stood my ground with every hair on my neck bristled. No one was taking me away!

My mother gently scolded me for that little outburst. She told me that the owners would eventually become impatient if I was never able to find a family. I didn't care. They were stuck with me and that was final.

Time went by and soon I was the only puppy still there. Every time one of my siblings left, my mother was sad. She would stare off in the direction they were taken and whine deep in her throat. She was worried about them. All of them. I asked her why she worried and she shook her head and laid down next to me.

"Miracle, the world isn't always a happy place. Especially for dogs," she explained. "Sometimes people get a dog without realizing how much effort they have to put into caring for the pup. There is training and feeding and walking and bathing to be done. Many times a new puppy becomes distraught from being separated from their mother and they do things that annoy the new owner."

"Like what?"

"Well, some puppies chew. Some whine or even bark constantly. If the new owner locks them in a room alone, they might scratch at the door frantically. Puppies can get pretty destructive if they aren't trained properly. They often have separation anxiety. Then the humans can become angry and do things they shouldn't."

"Do they hurt the puppy?"

"Sometimes." Her gaze was distant and I snuggled closer to her. I felt so helpless. I supposed she did too. She had no control over the fate of her children and I thought that was just awful.

Our human owners didn't seem in too much of a hurry to send me away. They enjoyed how smart I was and when people came to see me, they didn't get mad when I was unfriendly toward them. They just shook their heads, maybe a little embarrassed, and said I was different. Special. People didn't want a smart pup. They wanted a friendly one and I did my best to show that I wasn't a friendly dog. I growled and barked at all of them. They were mostly families with children and they didn't want to take any chances.

So, I stayed with my mother and enjoyed life, even with no siblings to play with. My mother was happy to be able to keep me close, too. She told me how lucky she was that our owners weren't trying very hard to find a family for me. We both cherished our time together.

I still didn't know what was outside of that fence, but I figured it could wait. If it meant I could stay with my mother, well the world would still be there tomorrow.