About the only time Buddy ever saw his brother, Teddy, cry, was when his old dog Gator passed away. They had a ceremony out in the backyard. Said a prayer, filled the hole, and put some fresh flowers on top. Teddy made a grave marker out of an old board and some paint. ‘Here lies Gator, the finest dog that ever lived,’ was what it said. Then, when everybody went back in the house, Teddy just sat there right next to where we’d buried Gator, tears rolling down his face.
After a while, Aunt Kate and Buddy went out there and sat down next to him. “We’ll get you another dog, Teddy,” Aunt Kate told him.
Teddy just shook his head and said, “I don’t want no 'nuther dog.”
“Think of it this way - ole Gator is up there in dog heaven. Shoot, he probably gets steak and hamburger instead of dog food,” Buddy put in. But, pretty soon, they got tired of trying to cheer him up and went back to whatever they were doing.
Right about sundown, when everybody was getting ready for supper, Teddy was still sitting there. Aunt Kate called him and called him, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally his uncle, Slim, came over to try to talk him into coming inside. Aunt Kate said, “Slim, I can’t do nothing with him. He just sits there, sometimes crying and sometimes not."
”Lemme talk to him. I know what it’s like to lose a dog,” answered Uncle Slim. So he went out there and sat down with Teddy.
“You know a dog’s life ain’t as long as a person’s life. Why one year of a dog’s life is equal to seven years of a person’s life. Gator lived to be eighty-four in dog time,” explained Slim patiently.
Teddy just looked at him with sad eyes and nodded his head.
“Remember the time he followed you to church and slipped in the door and sat next to you and everybody just about died trying not to laugh?” Slim continued.
Teddy smiled a little bit then, which was a good sign. After about an hour of them talking and slapping mosquitoes, Teddy finally agreed to come on in the house. Everybody pretended like they didn’t know he’d been crying so he could save face. Aunt Kate handed him a warmed over supper plate, but he just picked at his food. After awhile, she came and took it away. Then, he stayed up talking with his Uncle Slim half the night.
The next morning, Teddy got up and went straight to Gator’s grave. Buddy went out there and tried to get him to shoot a few hoops, but he just said, “I don’t feel like it right now.”
“How much longer is he going to be like this?” whispered Buddy to Uncle Slim.
But things change and eventually Teddy went back to being his old self again. They swam in the river, shot hoops, and talked about girls. The grave marker Teddy had stuck in the ground got moved out of the way so Slim could cut the grass, and after that, nobody could remember exactly where they had buried Gator.
Then one day the next fall, the brothers were looking for aluminum cans at the city dump. The price was up and they figured they could make some money for gas in the truck, so they could go riding around. Teddy had just gotten his driving permit and he was already trying to burn up the road. Then, they heard something. A faint whining sound. They looked around and saw that it was coming from an old refrigerator. The doors had been taken off and it was lying on it’s back, partially filled with rainwater. When they looked inside, they saw a skinny little puppy wading around in the water and trying to get out. Teddy smiled a great big smile like Buddy hadn’t seen him do in a long time. “Poor little thing,” Teddy said. “Good thing we came along when we did. Another rain and it would have drowned.” Teddy's eyes looked misty and far away. Then Teddy reached down and picked up the shivering puppy, hugging it gently to keep it warm.
“Gonna keep it?” Buddy asked.
“Maybe,” Teddy replied softly as he stroked the little dog’s head, “Maybe I will.”
