May the Irish hills caress you.
May the lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
Thank you Jennifer Tipton Cappoen
for sharing this blessing
Our Wish For All
Captain Jack continues his adventure this month.
We hope you will share with friends and family.
We wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day
The Adventures of Captain
Jack—Explorator™
March 2018—Episode 3
Fairness and straightforwardness of conduct and adhering
to the facts with sincerity.
Quote of the month
“There is nothing so strong or safe in an
emergency of life as the simple truth.”
Recap from Episode 2: Captain Jack and the boy have bonded, but Penelope is still not so sure having a puppy along as they search for food and shelter is a good idea. Penelope’s last words to him were “…you really have lost your mind.”
Episode
3—March 2018
The
three of them walked through what seemed like miles of piles of debris, pieces
of houses, cars crushed like Pepsi cans, and clothes hanging from trees. It was
very, very quiet. There were no people and no leaves on the trees. It was so
quiet it made Penelope start to cry. “I just know we are the only survivors,” she
cried. “How are we going to find our friends and family?”
Captain
Jack felt like he needed to do something, but he didn’t know what. He stopped
in the middle of the street and turned in a circle three times chasing his tail.
The boy looked at the dog, started to smile, put his arms straight out, and
looked up at the sky and turned around three times imitating Captain Jack. He
encouraged Penelope to do the same thing and was starting to laugh as the dog spun
around three times again, and he did too. Then the two of them were walking and
staggering around. The boy was laughing very hard.
“Allen,
stop that this instant,” Penelope yelled at him. “This is serious and you’re
playing around like nothing is wrong.”
“Aw,
come on, Penelope,” Allen replied. “Let’s be honest. There is nothing that says
we can’t have a little fun.”
Penelope
just did not see the humor in this and did not want to play along. She was
tired, hungry, and in a very bad mood.
Allen
and Captain Jack spun around a few more times. The puppy wagged his tail and Allen
tried to imitate him. But since he didn’t have a tail, he looked very funny. Captain
Jack smiled at him, and he smiled back at the dog. It felt good to smile and
have a little fun, even though it was a scary situation. Allen knew how to make
the best of a situation and apparently decided not to let Penelope’s bad mood
put him in a bad mood. Captain Jack guessed it was a good thing for him to be
there to help at least one of them be able to smile a little bit.
It
seemed like hours had gone by when they came upon houses that weren’t even
damaged. Everything looked normal in the
neighborhood they walked into. There were children riding bikes, dads washing
cars, and moms pushing strollers down the street visiting with neighbors acting
like nothing had ever happened. They felt very out of place all covered in mud.
Allen and Penelope stopped to talk with one of the moms pushing a stroller. She
looked at them with such shock, Captain Jack thought she was going to run away.
When she heard their story, she got this funny look on her face like she was
going to cry and called to the man washing the car to come over. They talked a few minutes and invited the
three of them to come into their home.
Once
inside it was apparent that these were very nice people. They gave Allen and
Penelope clean clothes, showed them where they could clean up, and gave them
soap and towels to use. The mom put the baby in her playpen. She turned to Captain
Jack with a nice smile on her face and said, “Come here, little pup.” She
scooped him up and for the first time in a long time, the puppy felt very safe.
She placed him in a bowl, put warm water and soap on him, and gave him a bath.
Then she warmed a towel and wrapped the puppy in it to dry him off.
By
the time she was done and the puppy was all dry and clean, Allen and Penelope
came into the room where a table of food was waiting for them. The lady just
happened to have some dog food and filled a bowl for the puppy. Oh my, they
thought they were in heaven. As all three of them ate, the man and woman talked
in the other room. Captain Jack could hear their voices get a bit tense and
angry, and thought they were in trouble. But when the man and woman came back
in, they were smiling.
They
apparently had talked and had been totally honest with each other in their
discussion. They decided to help the three of them, but first they had to call
the police, they explained. They wanted to make sure and see if anyone were
looking for them. Allen and Penelope didn’t like the sounds of that, but they
were wondering what had happened to their family. They were homeless and
without parents just like me.
The
police arrived and asked lots of questions. Allen and Penelope had to answer
honestly to help them. They filled out forms as the boy and girl answered their
questions. They were very nice to the children. But when the police said they
would have to take Captain Jack away and put him in a shelter, both Penelope
and Allen started to cry. The man and woman who helped them spoke up and said
they would take care of the puppy while the police tried to find Penelope and
Allen’s family. Captain Jack was really scared as they took Allen and Penelope
away in the police car. The children
looked out the back window at him with tears in their eyes and the puppy didn’t
know if he would ever see them again.
Captain
Jack’s life was about to change once again when he realized that there was
another animal that lived in the house. A big
black-and-brown dog was staring at him from the outside looking in. The puppy didn’t know if he was friendly and
would want to share his yard with him. But Captain Jack was about to find out
as they opened the door to let the big
dog in. The puppy closed his eyes and turned his head away since he didn’t know
what was going to happen next. He could
feel the big dog’s hot breath all over his body. The big dog was panting and
drooling all over him, but he dared not move.
Look for what happens next in the fourth blog about
Captain Jack—Explorator™ next month.
Humane
Education Point: Both animals and children become homeless
for many reasons that are often not their fault. How can you help those that
are homeless? Police are professional peace keepers. They are trained to help
those in need. How do you feel about the police? Follow-up Activity: Read about the program Hug-A-Tree. Decide if this could apply to any situations in your life if you were to become lost. Think about a reason you might need a police officer. Do you know how to call an emergency number just in case you need help from a police officer? Practice doing this with an adult.
Story Discussion Tips:
1) Do you think Penelope and Allen did the right thing by taking the puppy with them? What would you have done?
2) What would you do if you were lost?
3) How did the
family decide to help?
4) How did
Allen and Penelope feel about the decision?
©2017
Heddie Wittlin-Leger
Non Profit of the Month
Humphreys County Humane Society offers programs to help offset the costs of spaying and neutering your pet for those, who otherwise, may not be able to afford the full cost. Pet overpopulation is a serious problem, please do your part, be a responsible pet owner, spay and neuter, together we can fight pet overpopulation and save lives.
Contact facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/humphreyscounty.humanesociety/
Small town rural shelters across the country suffer due to lack of funding and community support. The innocent voiceless victims are the animals. This humane society partners with local shelters and rescues to save more lives by collaborating and coordinating resources. They are miracle workers.
