Rodney Saves the Family
by Ken Sanes
Rodney was sitting in the bedroom in front of the television set as
the winds howled outside the window.
"Hurricane Irene has turned out to be much worse than anyone imagined,"
the weather forecaster was saying on the TV screen. "It is now bringing
winds of 145 miles an hour."
"In addition," he said, "we have serious flooding, with rain pouring
down onto hills throughout the area and then streaming down into lower
areas."
Then, as the weather forecaster spoke, the television went dead as the
lights in the house flickered a couple of times and then went out.
Rodney looked around. Suddenly, everything was dark. He had no idea what
had happened. Oh, he had heard the weather forecaster explain that the
hurricane outside their house was bringing some very bad winds, which
can knock out the electricity. But Rodney was only a dog -- a Basset
Hound to be precise, with big floppy ears and short legs. All he knew
was that it seemed pretty bad out there when he looked out the window.
There would be no walk before he settled in for the night.
In fact, Rodney wasn't even sure where he would go for a walk even if
his owner, Jimmy, were to take him. The street in front of their house
was now flooded with rain from the hurricane. So was the first floor of
their house, with couches and chairs that were mostly under water.
Fortunately, Jimmy and his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Davis, were safe in the
second floor hallway.
Now in darkness, with all the lights out, Rodney walked out of the
bedroom and into hallway where Jimmy and his parents, Mr. And Mrs.
Davis, were sitting huddled in blankets.
"I told you we should have gone to a safer location," Mrs. Davis said to
Mr. Davis. "What good is staying here to watch the house if there's no
house left to watch?"
"Well, it’s too late now. We can’t safely leave the house with all this
flooding" Mr. Davis responded as the wind howled and the rain beat down
on the roof.
Just then they heard a crash -- kablong -- as a pine tree
outside was knocked over by the wind right onto the house, breaking a
large glass door. Then another window broke in the same room, as the
wind started rushing in from the outside and things started to fly
around. There went Jimmy's school notebook with his half-written
assignment on Thomas Jefferson. There went Mrs. Davis' favorite
stationary.
But just as they shut the door to the bedroom to stop the wind from
coming into the hall, they saw water rushing in under the front door to
the living room. Jimmy grabbed Rodney and held him close.
"Someone's got to do something" Mrs. Davis cried. "The house is going to
blow away."
Then a tree crashed, knocking their front door open, as water flooded
into the living room.
Rodney didn't know anything about hurricanes but he knew the family that
he loved was in trouble. So he jumped out of Jimmy's arms, ran down the
stairs and paddled through the water in the living room with his stubby
feet, to where he knew his doggie door was. Then he pushed his way
through the doggie door, to the outside.
Lucky for him, the eye of the hurricane -- which is the calmer middle
part of the hurricane -- was just passing through as he came out of the
house.
Rodney then swam like his life depended on it, paddling with his short
legs. He knew exactly where to go -- to the home of Mr. Jackson, the man
who always gave him a treat when he came by. Mr. Jackson had the
strongest house in the neighborhood, which was made from extra-thick
concrete blocks. And it sat high off the ground, so nothing could blow
it away or flood it.
Rodney barked in front of the Jackson house. Nothing. He barked again.
"What's going on out there," Mr. Jackson said as he opened the front
door a crack. "Oh. you're stuck out there. Come on in, boy."
But Rodney refused to come in. He barked again. And again.
"I can't go out to get you, boy" said Mr. Jackson. He knew all too well
that the eye of the hurricane is still extremely dangerous. It may have
seemed calm but, if he went out, he could get caught in the second part
of storm that was about to arrive.
But Rodney barked again. Finally, Mr. Jackson got the message and
realized the safety of his neighbors must be at stake.
He waded over to his motorboat, which was floating in what was once his
side yard, and pulled Rodney into the boat. Then, he turned on the motor
and raced over to the Davis house, where Jimmy and his parents were
waiting in the hallway.
As Jimmy looked down the stairs from the hall, he saw something he never
imagined he'd see in his life -- the front of Mr. Jackson's motor boat
sticking right through their open front door, into their flooded living
room. Boy were they happy to see him.
Jimmy and his parents rushed down the stairs, walked through the water,
and got right into the boat. Mr. Jackson then took them back to his
house and made them hot chocolate, while they safely waited for the
storm to end.
There was a lot of cleaning up to do, and a lot of rebuilding, after the
storm was over.
But before they got down to work, Mr. Jackson called the local
newspaper, named The Chronicle. It did a story on the front
page. "HERO DOG SAVES FAMILY," the headline said, with a big photograph
of Rodney with his floppy ears, next to the story.
Then they gave Rodney a medal. He sniffed it and lost interest.
Fortunately, they also gave him a foot-long dog biscuit, which looked
large enough to keep him chewing away until the next hurricane. Everyone
hoped that wouldn’t be for a very long time.