Runaway Maggie
It had been a long day at the farm where I was caretaker for a week. At nearly midnight I decided to clean up the kitchen and go to bed. Suddenly I noticed that the dog was not in the house. I frantically ran downstairs to check, and then back upstairs. Maggie was nowhere to be found, but the slightly-open sliding door gave me a clue to where she had gone.
“Oh no,” I thought, “I’m in trouble now!” I had been given detailed directions to keep the dog in the house and never let her off her leash. “If she runs away, she’s impossible to catch,” her owner had told me. Even though I was already in my pajamas, I raced downstairs, grabbed a flashlight and Maggie’s leash, and hurried out into the night.
“Maggie! Maggie!” I called, running up and down the long driveway. But no answering bark came from the dark woods. Maybe Maggie had run off for good! As I ran frantically around the house, I decided to pray for help. “God, help me find this dog. Please, help Maggie to come back!”
Shortly after, I heard a faint bark from the direction of the pond. I bolted through the woods, desperately calling the dog’s name. As I approached the pond, I could make out a faint shadow running along the edge. Maggie!
I ran towards her, calling, “Come, Maggie. Be a good girl!” But she was in no mood to come to me. She was free and she knew it. The minute I lunged for her, Maggie jumped into the pond and started swimming! I couldn’t let her escape, so I plunged in after her. “Maggie, come back!”
I tried to keep the flashlight dry as I sloshed through the muddy water. But Maggie swiftly swam off and I was left wallowing in knee-deep slime. This was not going to work!
The dog sped off into the woods at the other end of the pond and I began to think of another plan. Maggie liked to chase moving things. “I’ll grab a rooster from the chicken house,” I thought. As I made my way back to the dark pond with the screaming rooster in my arms, I prayed that the bait would work.
Sure enough, the commotion brought Maggie zipping back. As she came running by, I dropped the rooster. Maggie darted towards him and he scampered into the woods.
“Maggie!” I called, “Come to me, please!” The dog stopped in her tracks and took a few steps towards me. In a moment my fingers closed on her collar. As I snapped on her leash, I breathed a huge sigh of relief! It didn’t matter that I was trembling and mud-splattered. I had Maggie, and I was very thankful!