Lost....

The hurricane devastated the family home of the Mutt family.

Planks, platforms and shingles of their home were strewn from Mexico City Beach, clean over to Panama City. Like so many this day.. like so many this day and age... they were lost.

Ole Blue managed to swim into the rising waters and lock his jaws on Lil Max (we call him Pup), hand him over to Mom (Daisy).. then, he quickly swam back and latched onto Sadie and brought her ashore to safety.

After sittin' a spell to dry off.. catch their wits.. discuss 'tomorrow' (and today), they loaded up the family wagon with what dog biscuits they had left.. a big ole bucket o' water.. and they'd found a big chunka of ice floatin' by the Circle K.. they placed it in the small bucket they found - and put the last quart of milk in there to keep it cold enough for it to hopefully last for a few days so they could drink it in celebration of Sadie's 2nd birthday.

"Where do we go?" offered Pup.. "Our country's a mess."

"Sure enough," countered Blue.. "but we'll get on our paws and hind quarters, say a prayer, and then hopefully land somewhere near sanity."

They spent their final night in their now destroyed town under the only remaining shelter house at the City Park.. Bright and early, Blue and Daisy woke the kids - and the wagon rolled North.

First town they came upon: Insurance. "Hey, this looks like a cool place" Pup muttered.. "Yeah, it does, it's really clean.. but son, here, they 'vetya', we can't stay here."... "Whaddya mean they 'vetya' Pops?"... Daisy glanced at Blue.. Blue finally opened with "Well son, we never told you, but long ago you got mange.. Doc fixed ya up all nice and good, and you're really fine now - but because mange is on your record, they won't let you live in Insurance."... The excitement left Pup (and Sadie).. so they laid down in back of the wagon in hopes of comin' upon a town where all could go, peacefully coexist.

After a few dog yawns, Blue pulled into Hate to get gas. Sadie's eyeballs popped open, tiredly she offered "Hey, can we live here? Can we mom, dad.. canwe?".. "Well," Daisy spoke up, "no, I'm very sorry.. this really is a sad town. Some don't like Rots, others abhor Dachshunds..they even recently ran the last Greyhound outta town."..."Mom, why is there hate?"..."We're not real sure. It's hard to understand, hard to see from our paws - there just is. We must continue on and seek a place where there is love."

After a windy stretch of turns, several hills and valleys - they arrived in Bipartisan. Up on all fours peekin' out the window, the curious Pup offered "Hey dad, why are all the homes boarded up here? It looks like a ghost town." Blue had heard about this place. "Well, at one time, they had the very coolest Dog Park this sidea Nashville, all the dogs would come, sniff..oh, there was an occasional tussle, spat, a barkin', a bitin'..but for the most part, they got along in spite of their differences.. then one day they ran outta doggy poop scooper bags. The stench got so bad, it made every dog mad - even the town's oldest Golden Retriever ended up not talking to any Mastiffs.. I hear tell they 'beat paws', and there ain't none of 'em coming back any time soon."

There was still plenty of daylight left for more miles - so the wagon muttered along. As they went through a grove Sadie piped up.. "It's a shame." "Whatta ya mean? Mom said. "Well Mom, look how beautiful it is all around.. we've been thru towns where dogs won't allow certain dogs to live.. anudder where dogs hate other dogs.. and then one that smelled so bad, everyone vamoosed." "I know," Daisy said as she sought the right answer to give.."I just don't really know what's going on in our world today.. it was so happy when I was a pup.."

As they crested the next hill, they came upon Bedroom. "Why do they call it 'Bedroom' dad?".. "Well," said Blue, "I hear tell, they named it that, because they don't really care what goes on in someone's Bedroom.. they figure it's nonea the other folk's business, so - they named it Bedroom." "Can we live here then Dad, we're tired and just wanna sleep for the night" a restless Pup pleaded. "No, I'm sorry son.. we're dogs.. you know we ain't allowed on beds.. besides, we're supposed to live in a dog house, we gotta keep on keepin on."

Ten or so miles down the road, they saw some signs that appeared to have three words.. but they were written in foreign language. Getting Daisy's curiosity, "What'd that say Mom?".. "I don't know honey, it looked to be written in Arabic or something.".. Another sign written in foreign language appeared.. "Dad, what's that one?" Pup asked.. "Well, I'm not real sure Son. I think it might be written in Burmese," Blue shot back.. Finally, they came onto the outskirts and the sign was written in English.. "Welcome to Asylum.. Home of Love, Peace and Thanks."...Sadie, just old enough to now cipher a few words, excitedly said "Love, Peace and Thanks! Wow, that's great, do they have dog houses here? Can we stay here Mom, Dad?"... Again, Daisy glanced at Blue.. Blue had already timed it where he'd glanced at her the exact same moment... Without really knowing what or how to say, Blue answered with "Well Daisy, we're just not sure. We're not sure exactly who/what to believe. We are of the opinion Asylum is a very good thing, then there's folks who will tell you 'There's nothing but crazies in Asylum,', we'd maybe better roll on."

By now, the pups had already taken 12 dog naps.. they'd behaved pretty decently - but the trip to become 'unlost' was starting to even wear on Blue and Daisy too... They held each other's paws and said a silent prayer.

Their trip started with devastation... went thru hatrid, stench, medical woes, infighting, questions about who/what to believe.. they were almost to the end of their doggy rope - when over the horizon it appeared:

Welcome to Heaven on Earth.

Ole Blues ears perked up. Daisy's left rear leg started flicking excitedly back and forth like a good backscratchin'.. The pups had their paws on the front seat, panting like you wouldn't believe. "Is this it Dad? Is this our new home? Are we no longer lost? Is there hatrid here? Do Retrievers and Mastiffs get along here? Can we sleep in any room of the house here?"... "Well," Blue giggled under his breath, "that's a lotta questions, but yes.. I think we've found a home." "YIPPEEEEEEE" Pup and Sadie screamed excitedly!!!! "Can we have the milk now?" Said Daisy, one day shy of her birthday.. "One thing at a time," Mom laughed, "one thing at a time.. let's just be happy we're in Heaven, where it's fer sure there's love and peace - and we should be thankful for that."

Just when the World grasped, choked, guffawed and morale lapsed... We reached Heaven - and the moral is:

All Dogs go to Heaven. May the day come we humans do as well.

By Heinrich Gibson (A German Shephard)

Love, Victurd