brothers
Some of my brothers were notorious for teasing the dog. Ringo would have been a good dog, but all the pestering made him mean. Ringo bared his teeth, growled, snarled and was always ready for a fight. He was the mailman’s worst nightmare and chased anybody that went down the road or came near the house. I was hesitant to even go outside if no one was with me.
One day, one of local preachers pulled into the driveway. He chanced getting out of his car. I guess he felt he was safe when Daddy went out to talk with him. My mother peered through the kitchen window. She sneered a bit as she watched the encounter. There were some people my mother just did not like, and that preacher was one of them. She thought he was sneaky and sleazy. More often than not, my mother’s first impression was prophetic. If she thought someone was sneaky and sleazy, it was usually true.
There was a wheelbarrow on the carport that contained old cans to be taken to the dump. The preacher looked kind of like a cocky strutting rooster. He got a little too comfortable and propped his foot up on the lip of the wheelbarrow. Ringo thought the sleazy preacher crossed the line! That was his territory. He grabbed the preacher’s britches leg, with a little bit of leg in it. Ringo shook his head back and forth just as if he chewed on an old rag. It took some doing to get Ringo pulled off the preacher, but Daddy managed to get him loose and tied up – the dog, not the preacher.
That was the last straw. They were afraid the dog might attack someone else, so he was history. Daddy called the neighbor down the road and asked him to take the dog off and “get rid of him.” I didn’t ask exactly what that meant, but I knew.
I doubt my mother felt any remorse whatsoever – at least concerning the preacher. There were some people she just did not like!