Editors' Choice Award
The visitors had been reminded to leave their furs and good jewelry behind, in order not to appear too far distanced from the homeless folk. So, clad in their designer jeans and Nikes they piled into three SUVs for their expedition to see how the other half lives.
A man named Nick seemed to be a spokesperson for the people they visited, living in cardboard boxes and tin lean-tos under the Whetstone Bridge. Not everyone in the encampment of about 30 adults and a few children was happy to see them. This was disconcerting to these folk who had hoped that their charitable largesse to a denominational social services agency that was trying to help these people would afford them some insights into what it was like to be poor.
Nick’s nephew Tony, a boy of 10, had a bedraggled dog who looked like a purebred Golden Retriever, and the visitors speculated whether it might have been stolen from a good home. The thought caused them great pain. The dog, called Daisy, had recently given birth to pups, two of whom were already dead from lack of food. With not enough food for the people in the encampment, there was hardly any for Daisy and so not enough milk for the pups.
The visitors were shocked and alarmed by the conditions under which the dogs were being held. They convinced Tony and Nick to part with one of the pups in exchange for $20. It didn’t seem quite right that they should pay for a dog they were only trying to rescue from these deplorable conditions. And they worried that their money might be spent unwisely, on liquor or drugs. But a couple of the visitors came up with $10 apiece so the week-old dog could go home to New Windsor with them.
Marnie, who had come up with the idea of rescuing Cuddles, as they named their new pup, and Caryn the pastor’s wife who had contributed one of the tens, acquired puppy formula and bottles, blankets and hot water bottles, and made up a schedule that had Cuddles circulating between a total of six homes, moving once or twice each day in order to receive the round-the-clock care he would need to survive. Caryn’s daughter Angel, Marnie, a couple named Matt and Ernie, Angel’s friend Jamie, Mel who had contributed the other $10, and a couple named Bowser who had a hand in every church activity passed the dog around, changing the schedule constantly as their own busy lives demanded.
By the time Cuddles was growing into a healthy pup, Caryn and Marnie were doing most of the dog care, though not without rancor. Each felt that the other was alternately shirking her responsibility to Cuddles and being greedy for too much time with him. Yet they persevered. After all, doing the right thing does not come without cost.
By the time Cuddles was ready to move to a permanent home, the church members were exhausted and cross with each other. Marnie was thinking about changing churches so she wouldn’t have to deal with Caryn any longer. But they had all learned from the experience. They had found out how hard life can be for a homeless dog, and they had done something about it!
Tony, still under the bridge, missed his pup and sometimes wondered if that one had survived.
I loved it!
This definitely has the ring of truth and experience with religious hypocrisy, manipulative social service agencies and dog rescue efforts.
Perhaps the good folks at NWCC would have fared better had they just sent a couple of representatives with thermos jars of hot soup for everyone. Although, that may have left them wondering if the jars would be a waste of money.