When the Dogs Came

 I shot upright in bed and listened to the rattling from the carport below my bedroom. Someone was trying to pry open the padlock on the carport grill. My heart thumped, its pounding intense around my temples. Someone was trying to break into the house where my special-needs son and I lived. What was I going to do? Other faculty members of the Christian college where I served as academic dean lived nearby, but none were close enough to hear any shouts for help.

I sprang out of bed and switched on the floodlights. Immediately, the yard was awash in white light. Half-hidden by the drapes, I stood by the window. The rattling stopped, but I saw no one. As I shook with fear, my mind dredged up the incidents of murder and break-ins that were prevalent in the area. Dear Lord, please help me! My prayer pierced the night sky into the heavenly courts. I don’t know how long I stood by the window watching to see if anyone would run toward the driveway. Then I saw something amazing happen. A pack of dogs came trotting up the driveway and stopped. They began barking in the direction of the trees and shrubbery on the far side of the yard. They stood together and set up quite a racket. Maybe the culprit is hiding in the bushes, I thought. As the dogs continued their loud barking, my attention was drawn to one of them that seemed to be the leader of the pack. He was huge, twice as big as the others. He looked like a small pony and had a gleaming, light-colored coat. He appeared powerful as he led the yowling chorus. I had never seen any of those dogs in the neighborhood before. Yes, there was one dog in the neighborhood that always rushed out of its driveway, chased my car as I drove by, and then returned to its yard as soon as I passed, but no dogs had ever come into my yard to set off such a cacophony of late-night barking. I watched, hoped, and prayed. The dogs kept up their barking for quite some time. Then, as mysteriously as they had come, they turned and trotted off down the driveway. They never came again.

 I remained by the window for a while before going back to bed. Then I lay in the quiet of the moment, unable to sleep but no longer afraid because something precious and memorable had happened to me when those dogs showed up.

Judith Nembhard