Lucky
Mary and her husband Jim had a dog, Lucky.
Lucky was a real character.
Whenever Mary and Jim had company for a
weekend visit, they would warn their friends not to leave their luggage
open, because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy.
Inevitably someone would forget
and something would come up missing.
Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's
toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, along with all
of Lucky's favorite toys.
Lucky always stashed his finds
in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.
Mary found out she had breast
cancer.
Something told her she was
going to die of this disease...she was just sure it was fatal. She
scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders.
The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky.
A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky?
Although the three-year-old dog
liked Jim, he was really Mary's dog through and through. "If I die,
Lucky will be abandoned," Mary thought. "He won't understand that I
didn't want to leave him."
The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.
The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors
had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took
Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the dog just drooped,
whining and miserable.
Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she
arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the
steps to her bedroom.
Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch, and left her to nap. Lucky
stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made
Mary sad, but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.
When Mary awoke she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't
move her head and her body felt heavy and hot.
Panic soon gave way to laughter
however. As she collected herself, Mary realized the problem.
She was covered, literally blanketed in every treasure Lucky owned!
While she had slept the
sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement and back,
bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite toys and treasures.
Mary forgot about dying in that moment. Instead, she and Lucky began
living again, walking further and further together every night.
It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free.
Lucky? He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but
Mary remains his greatest treasure.
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