My Dog Darby

Darby. That was his name. I don’t remember if he found me or I found him but from the moment we found each other we were attached.

He just showed up at my house eager for a friend. My Mother wasn’t anxious for a dog addition to our family so for awhile I snuck food out to this bright eyed pup by lowering food in a pan from my bedroom window. If she thought Darby was going away it wasn’t happening. And soon Darby was a fixture in our household. A well proportioned brown 35 pound mutt with a white throat and black silky ears, abounding with energy and a happy wagging tail was no longer homeless.

But more than that. My loyal pal ,Darby ,was nervous about separation. The first time I went out in the car Darby chased after us. I mean non-stop chase. And so at my pleading and my moms hesitancy , we stopped and hauled him aboard. Darby became a regular traveler.

I was in 6th grade when Darby became my pal. In the 1940’s the dog catcher in a grey truck was a fixture in search of stray dogs. Having a pet was not so regulated as it is today. Darby was free to roam. The dog catcher never found him.

I don’t know how he knew , but one day at school recess who showed up to greet me…my dog Darby. And every day at recess there he was. He sat and watched us kids play kick-ball or Greek Dodge Ball. After a hug from me and greetings from my classmates he trotted away when we returned to the class room. After school and the walk home , who was sitting at the top of the hilly street where I lived? My dog Darby was there to welcome me.

My house was surrounded by forest and the remnants of what once had been a street car track to a neighboring village. Darby and I, sometimes with my friend Harriette and her little dachshund, hiked the trail . We explored giant ant hills and swung on “monkey vines”, wild grape vines that wound around trees along the abandoned dirt trail. On bicycle trips Darby trotted along with us sharing peanut butter sandwiches we packed for lunch. We were a team.

I was athletic and I had a friend who was athletic too. Sometimes he would ride his bike over to my house. We devised a game to play with Darby. Karl would hold the dog and I would go into the woods and find a place to hide. Than he would unleash my dog with the challenge to “go find her”. Off he dashed. Never in all the times we played our version of Hide and Seek did Darby not find me. With a yip and a happy jump in my arms , Darby always found me. I was safe from mischief when my dog was around.

Darby lived a long life with me. On road trips to visit relatives in Michigan my loyal pal was with me. We had never been departed for long. As the years crept by and I graduated from High School, Darby had to adjust to my departures. He was older too and comfortable in my house and my bedroom where he could snuggle on the bed.We had great reunions when I came back from Penn State University. Long treks together were a thing of the past. But my fiesty loyal pal never gave up on me. He was always there for me and he was the delight of my life. I was his Hero and he was my Hero. I was with him when He passed naturally and peacefully and I still cry when I think of my dog Darby and the fun and good times we had together.