Sweetie's Gift

         Our dog, Sweetie, imprinted with my husband.  We adopted Sweetie and Grunt, when they were tiny, six week old pups.  Mike put one in each coat pocket and he took them everywhere.  Sweetie, the reserved pup, was the protector and guardian.  Grunt was the adorable, noisy, sloppy, fun puppy.  We lived off a dirt road and the last quarter mile they would race us home; Mike tracked their speed at 18 mph.  Every day, Sweetie would get up from her bed in the shade and walk to the front of the house staring out at the highway.  One day I decided to watch her and see if I could figure it out.  Soon, off in the horizon, I saw my husband’s red Jeep.  He was at least six miles out, but somehow Sweetie knew. She had a rare gift.  Years later, we moved to the city and she still signaled that Mike was coming home.  When she was 12, I told my husband I thought maybe she was losing her sense because she sat up but he did not come home for an hour.  He smiled and petted her; he had stopped at the corner to talk to our neighbor.