Under The Gumbo Limbo: The Abandonment of Trouble

With the end of daylight savings, winter darkness comes fast to areas of rural Jupiter Farms. Deep in the northwestern part of the county, there are no street lights to illuminate the night. The sun dips, briefly coloring the sky a brilliant orange. Suddenly, the rapid transition to evening and blackness is complete.

The sound of an old pickup is heard as it rumbles over the potholes on the shellrock road and comes to a lumbering stop. A truck door slams shut and a young dog is called out of the truck bed. Leaping down, the 6-month-old Retriever mix pup bounds out onto the road and races around sniffing the multitude of new smells in the air. He turns back to wag his tail at his master.

But the truck is pulling away, accelerating down the rocky road. Puzzled, the pup runs after the truck, barking loudly, racing as fast as he can. Perhaps this is a game. He runs until he is panting and his master's truck is just a flash of red lights in the distance.

The young dog stops. Confused, he makes a sad noise and sits down by the side of the road. Maybe he just has to wait for his master to return. His empty stomach grumbles. After the long chase, he's thirsty. Sniffing the air, he smells water in a nearby canal and the aromatic scent of rotting garbage coming from a bag lying in a ditch.

After a quick drink in the canal, the plastic bag is easily scratched open and its contents spill out. Some chicken bones and some old spaghetti noodles are quickly devoured.

Suddenly a bright light glares in the darkness. A man yells loudly at the pup, terrifying it. Racing for the cover of bushes on the other side of the road and shivering in the November evening chill, the young dog finds a dry place under a pine tree and falls into a frightened, exhausted sleep.

In his puppy dreams, he is in his soft bed in the corner of his master's room. He whimpers softly in his sleep for the man who drove away and left him all alone.

Little puppies are always cute. Sam had allowed his wife to talk him into the pup because he had grown up with dogs. He hadn't remembered until later that puppies chewed and howled and had to be housebroken because when you are a young boy, someone else deals with that. But Jenny wanted a puppy, even though they both worked long hours. She thought they were ready for the responsibility.

That was before the messes on the new carpeting, the chewed-up expensive work boots and the flea epidemic caused by the recent rains. When Sam finally got tired of "bringing up puppy", he simply loaded the dog in his truck, headed west of town, dropped him off and drove away into the night. Problem solved; but only for Sam.

For the pup, the nightmare had just begun. This story has a multiple choice ending. Each ending is legitimate and could easily have happened. You get to chose.

a. The young dog saw a big white truck pull up and stop by the roadside. A lady climbed out and called to him in a nice voice. He wagged his tail and walked shyly over to her. A leash appeared out of nowhere and snaked around his neck. Within minutes, he was lifted up and placed in a small cubicle in the back of the truck, which then headed back down the rocky road. He could hear dogs scratching and howling from other cubicles in the truck. The pup was taken to a stray animal holding shelter. No one came to claim him and he was not lucky enough to be adopted.

b. On the fifth night, the lonely pup thought he heard his master's truck coming back for him. He rushed out onto the road toward the oncoming vehicle. The driver tried hard to avoid the dog, but the pup's head collided with the rear wheel. He was killed instantly. The driver stopped and felt the dog's chest for a heartbeat. There was none. He carried the pup to the side of the road and left him there.

c. Caught with his head inside a garbage can, the pup was startled by a kind voice. He froze. Looking over the top of the can, he saw a nice lady who reached out her hand to him. Warily, he sniffed and slowly wagged his tail. After assuring him she meant no harm, she brought a bowl of water over to him and began to pet him slowly, while gently pulling the burrs out of his sadly neglected coat. Later that morning, after submitting to a bath, the young dog turned around three times on the makeshift bed of horse blankets in the corner of the nice lady's bedroom. He settled down and fell asleep instantly.

All over this country, thousands of animals are abandoned daily. Out of ignorance, people believe that domesticated dogs and cats will fare well in the wild. This is never true, under any circumstances. The most unfortunate part of this story is that, while you have a multiple choice of three separate endings, this pup and so many others like him never have any choice at all.