Weave

“I heard you got a new pup,” said Dale as he walked up the stairs of Jimmy’s front porch. Jimmy just nodded. “You think that wise?”

“Her mama dead,” said Jimmy soberly, looking at a little ball of fluff chewing on the rail of the porch, before spitting over the railing of his porch. 

“Her mama dead, and I’m sorry about that, but she a coyote. You remember last time. A coyote gives birth to a coyote. Do you want to do that again?” 

“You saying I ain’t no dad?” snarled Jimmy with fire in his eyes.

Dale looked sadly at Jimmy.

“Jimmy, I’m your friend. I’ve been your friend for nigh on seventy years. Since we were in diapers. You was the type to try to catch lightning with your bare hands. How long is it since you had a drink? Moreover, how long is it since your trusted yourself to have one? I’m just thinking of Mabel and hers. She’s not going to want a coyote pup around her little ones. If Weave had been a border collie type, like your wife, like Maybel, it would be a completely different story. People are just saying you should sign the papers. You have to think of yourself. Of Mabel and her little ones,” Dale paused to look at the coyote puppy chewing on a fragment of the porch, “you ain’t signing her death warrant. She could go to another family. Maybe someone who knows about coyotes.”

“Didn’t you just say I was a coyote? Who knows better about a coyote than a coyote?” snarled Jimmy. Dale knew his temper was close to the surface and that he better tread carefully. However, he also knew he had to say what he had to say. He couldn’t bear to see the pattern repeat. Jimmy spat again and continued, “I thought you was pro-life.”

“Damnit, Jimmy, we all know that isn’t what this is about. If God takes the pup, that’s God’s business. You ain’t helpin it along. You’re just telling the people in the hospital to stop meddlin’. You can stay home. Watch Maybel’s kids if she’ll still let ya. Enjoy your old age insteada paying all the damn hospital bills. How many times they brought her back?”

Jimmy darted out of his chair with speed and accuracy that few at that age still had and broke Dale’s nose with a quick punch. Dale didn’t dodge or wince. He just started at Jimmy as he sat back down. He knew he’d gone too far, but he had said what he had come to say. 

“She a purdy pup,” mumbled Dale. “Her mama was a purdy one too. We’ll be round when you bring her home. We’ll watch Maybel’s kids while she works if she won’t let her kids around the pup. Just watch her. Her mama was always chasin’ lightning, just like you, just like your grandad, and so on. Goodbye Jimmy, Susan’ll call your wife to make some plans Thursday, I ‘spect.” And with that, he was gone. 

Jimmy pulled out his phone and took a look at the lock screen. He could count ten little fingers and ten precious toes. She looked like her mama. She looked like himself. Jimmy briefly let himself feel the weight of the future upon himself. He didn’t know what he would do if it happened. Maybe she would luck out against all odds, and his wife’s genetics would shine through. Maybe he could protect her from the storms. He couldn’t protect her mama, though he’d tried. And he wept.