Louie’s Big Adventure

By Rob Poindexter

The message simply read, “Louie is missing.”

It seems the landscapers who had done some work for us recently left just a big enough hole under the fence for 12 pounds of curiosity covered in dog fur to slip through.

Yes, Louie was indeed, missing.

Keep in mind, this is no ordinary dog. My wife adopted him shortly after he was weaned. That was some 14 years ago. Since that time he has been her constant companion. He can usually be found curled up in his bed not far from wherever she is working. He’s not much of a conversationalist, but, as she says, just having him there makes her feel a little less alone than when no one else is at home.

I was seated at my desk with a line of customers outside my office when the message came across and was essentially useless as far as being any help to her at the time. I felt bad for her, and I knew it would be a long night at my house if he didn’t show up soon.

Around 8:30 pm I pulled into the driveway and headed up the stairs. I fully expected to see Jac splayed in the middle of the living room floor, weeping and vowing vengeance on all those responsible for this travesty, including me to some degree, I’m sure.

But no, she was in the kitchen preparing supper and doing her best not to cry. I told her to shut everything off, and I headed to the bedroom for some jeans and comfortable walking shoes. She got the flashlight from the kitchen drawer and met me at the car.

So began our search, up and down each street, shining the flashlight, as we went, into every dark corner of the neighborhood looking for the reflection of two little eyes. We were sure by now he was curled up, scared and alone peering helplessly into the dark night full of strange creatures and strange noises.

We called to him over and over, whistling and clapping our hands so he would know his saviors were coming for him. We asked everyone we saw if they had seen him and gave our phone number to countless strangers along the way.

Finally we were filled with hope as a gentleman approached us to ask if we were missing a dog. No sir, we are not missing a dog, we are missing a member of our family, you savage. That is not what we said of course, but if you’ve ever lost a pet, you know how we felt.

Sure enough, he had seen Louie just within the last half hour or so. We now knew we were close; it was just a matter of time and he would be safe again, and I could get my supper and full night’s sleep. We drove around the block once more like cops looking for an escaped convict, shining the flashlight into every back yard we could see, every porch, every row of bushes and even into the tops of trees. I know, I know, but we were getting desperate, man!

About the time we had worked our way back to the house of the man who said he had seen our little orphan, I spotted movement just beyond the headlights.

“Could it be?” I asked myself.  Without saying a word I got out of the car and walked quickly in the direction of the form. As I approached, I hollered back at Jac, who was in the throes of a game plan with our concerned neighbor on how best to cover every square inch of the planet in order to flush Louie out, “It’s him; it’s Louie; he’s here!”

Jac was now close on my heels, and we were within 50 feet of calling to him, clapping our hands, rushing to his side ready to forgive every bad thing he had ever done. He looked up at us as if to say, “Hey, what are you guys doing here? Did you find a hole in the fence, too?”

Well, soon enough we were all three back in the car, Louie on Jac’s lap, stubbed tail wagging as he kept an eye on me.

I couldn’t help but think to myself as I looked at him perched there, happily in the arms of his “mommy,” he was the only one who didn’t know he was lost. We knew it, all the neighbors we ran into knew it, every car that had to squeeze past us doing 2 mph down the middle of the street knew it.

But, Louie, no. Louie was quite content and knew exactly where he was; he wasn’t lost as far as he knew. Rest assured, though, had we not found him as soon as we did, he would have recognized there were no treats nearby, no warm puppy bed to curl up in next to Mom and Dad’s bed when he got tired, no bowl of water sitting next to his food dish, (which has never been empty), no shelter from the lightning, the rain, the cold wind.

Once those things became apparent to him, would he know then that he was lost? Probably not. He would know his life had changed, but I don’t think he would have equated that with “being lost,” per se.

As in the story above, so many job seekers are lost without even realizing it.

They hand in their resume to countless hiring managers with no phone calls; they go into interviews with no concept of what to do once they are there.

Louie was sure that he was okay, but in a very short period of time reality would have sunk in, and he would have been anything but okay.

When you are on the search for a good home/job, be sure you have someone looking out for you by hiring a professional to keep you from winding up with no dog food in your dish.