WAITING AT THE GATE

 "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."

Chapter 1

A little dog arrived at Heaven's Gate. She had been told she would go to Heaven, and now the time had arrived. She was a young dog, only seven months old, scrawny and almost blind.

On Earth, she had been a Mexican street dog. She didn't remember her mother and her life had been hard.

Her name was Shy. It was a name given to her by a stranger who had become her Friend.

Her sister, Big Eyes, met the Friend first because she was more courageous than Shy and approached the Friend's car when it stopped. Whitey, another sister, decided to sit and watch what happened.

Then a miracle took place. The Friend threw pieces of food from the car window and Big Eyes ate them with greed caused by starvation. Big Eyes gave the signal to Shy and Whitey and they approached the strange car with caution. Most cars didn't stop; in fact they would just as soon run over a dog if one wasn't careful. But this stranger was different. She talked to the dogs and gave them names. The little dogs didn’t have names before, and it made them feel quite important. The food she threw had been irresistible.

There was so little food on Earth and the three little dogs were starving. Sometimes, the workmen who were building a wall threw them scraps and gave them water. But when the workmen weren't there, there was nothing to eat at all.

"Come and get it!" the stranger called in a foreign tongue. "I have wieners for all of you. You look as if you could do with some food. Come on..." she coaxed.

Oh, the wieners tasted delicious! Nothing, nothing ever tasted so good before!

The stranger made sure Shy and Whitey got as much as Big Eyes who was bigger and more aggressive.

The stranger started her car.

"See you later, you darlings," she smiled and she followed a man who was walking with a poodle and a bigger, black dog.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Shy asked.

"One can't tell with human beings," Big Eyes said. "They're capricious."

"I hope she does," was the reserved Whitey's comment.

From then on, life changed for all three of them. The stranger came by every single day, and her bag of wieners seemed to bulge more each day. Rain or shine - there she was, always in the afternoons. She introduced them all to the man who walked with her, and he smiled at their upturned faces.

The stranger became their Friend, and she was the only human being the little dogs depended on for sustenance. She seemed to know that, and made a point of coming twice in the afternoons. "My three dogs," she called them.

As she drove away, the man handed her a red flower for her hair. They laughed and talked and the three dogs realized they must be married.

Shy smiled at the memory. She seemed to be alone at the gates, except for a man with large keys. She was used to locked gates because often the workmen had locked her out of the compound they were building. They had been in a hurry to get home and searching for a street dog was not their business. It had been lonely when her sisters were inside and she had been alone outside the gates. Sometimes it was Whitey who was left alone outside. Shy had wished she could talk to her Friend about it.

She didn't like the dark, and maybe the Friend could have helped her.

Sometimes she had come after sunset and cuddled Shy.

"Here are your wieners," she would say and leave a big pile just for Shy. Then she used to do an odd thing. She would talk to the man she was with, and he had thrown wieners over the wall to Big Eyes and Whitey. He had even made sure Whitey got her share by pushing them through a crack in the door after diverting Big Eyes.

"How smart humans are!" Shy had thought. "How can they know Whitey and Big Eyes are locked in?"

They had seemed to know everything. One day, Shy had noticed she couldn't see well. She hadn't been able to catch her wiener pieces, no matter how she tried.

Her Friend had noticed and fed her apart from Big Eyes and Whitey.

She had eaten the wieners but despite that, she had felt weaker every day. What could the matter be? Maybe it was just a cold?

She knew her Friend was concerned and talked to the workmen. But nothing happened. She had lost her appetite and stopped eating the wieners. That had made her so weak she now preferred to stay inside the compound and her Friend had no longer been able to reach her. She had missed her Friend, so much, but she was too weak to get on her legs.

Then Big Eyes had started acting strange.

"You know, Shy," Big Eyes had said, "I think we have the virus that makes dogs die."

"Die?" It had never occurred to Shy she might die. She had known for sure that her Friend wouldn't let that happen.

"No, you're wrong, Big Eyes," she had whispered. "Our Friend will save us."

But Big Eyes hadn't answered. She had only gone to hide in the forest across the road.

"I don't know what's wrong with you two," Whitey had said. "Our Friend comes every day, and there's always enough to eat."

"I want to eat but I can't," Shy had whispered.

Chapter 2

That day, the Friend had come later than usual. It was already dark when she had reached the gates of the compound, and there were no dogs to be seen.

"They're locked in," she had said to her husband. "We'll have to throw the wieners over the wall. Big Eyes, Whitey, Shy!" she had called, several times.

Her husband had looked through the crack in the door. The Friend had gotten out of the car to look, too.

Shy had heard ringing voices and someone was crying. Whitey was nuzzling her but she was too weak to move. She sighed and closed her eyes.

All of a sudden, Shy could see. A long tunnel stretched before her but there was a light at the end. She stood up and ran toward the shining light. There, she found beautiful white gates where her instinct told her to wait.

She could look down on Earth through a hole in the ground, and she saw it was her Friend who was crying. Shy’s body lay lifeless on the ground, and Whitey was trying to wake her. She realized then she had died and gone to heaven. With timidity, she approached the man at the gate.

"What is it , Shy?" he asked in a language Shy could understand. "I'll open the doors soon."

"Sir, I don't want to go to heaven, please," Shy said in a polite voice. "My friend on Earth is crying for me, and I can't go without her."

"I understand," the man said with a smile. "Don't you worry. She'll be here soon. You see, there is no time in heaven, so it will seem like a few minutes to you."

"But I don't want her to cry," Shy said with unusual courage.

"Shy, her time hasn't come yet," the man said. "She has many Earth years left to her, and she's needed on Earth. Be patient. You'll be together soon. Your souls will never be apart again when she comes."

Shy had to be satisfied with the answer. She looked down again and saw Big Eyes hiding in the bushes.

Whitey was alone inside the compound with Shy's body. The friend and her husband were throwing her whole wieners, and Whitey ate with a ravenous appetite.

The Friend left a big pile of wieners for Big Eyes beside the bushes while her husband combed the forest to try to find her. But Big Eyes remained in hiding.

"Maybe she'll come out and eat them after we leave," the Friend said. "She must be afraid of us now. She won't be found unless she wants to be found."

"We'll come back tomorrow.”

After the Friend left, Big Eyes came out to eat the wieners.

"This stuff is poisoned," she said. "That's what makes me feel so weird. But there's nothing else to eat."

"I’m not poisoned," Whitey called from behind the gates. "Just eat and you’ll get well."

"I don’t trust human beings," Big Eyes said and went back to hide in her hole in the forest.

Whitey was sad. She loved her Friend and couldn’t understand why Big Eyes said such things.

Stranger things were to happen.

Shy watched as the Friend came the next day. The Friend and her husband cuddled Whitey and put her into their car! What could this mean?

The husband again searched the forest for Big Eyes, without success. Again, a big pile of wieners was left for Big Eyes.

"I hope she eats them," the Friend said, and they drove homeward with Whitey in the car. The ugly compound that once had been home for the little dogs was now deserted and looked forbidding and grim.

Then another miracle happened. Shy watched the sky on Earth change. It had been a dull day but now the sky was ablaze with purple colors and looked as if it were on fire. She looked at the man with the keys with a question in her eyes.

"Don’t be surprised, Shy," he said. "When God looked down on Whitey, he smiled, and it lit up the sky."

"Isn’t Whitey coming to Heaven, too?" Shy asked, puzzled.

"Not for a while yet," the man said. "Whitey will become part of your friend’s family now. She will be taken to a doctor, and together, they’ll make her well."

Shy said nothing. She couldn’t help but wonder why Whitey was the chosen one. Had Whitey been better than Shy? Did the Friend love her more? And would they save Big Eyes? Her mind was full of questions.

The man at the gate knew what she was thinking.

"Little Shy, we mustn’t question what God has decided," he said. "Your time came sooner than Whitey’s. Your friend would have taken you but it was too late."

Then, there was a bark. When Shy turned around, she saw a scrawny brown dog running toward her. It was Big Eyes! Shy couldn’t believe her eyes.

Big Eyes ran to her, and Shy was speechless with happiness.

"I died, too," Big Eyes said. "But Shy, you can see me, can’t you?"

"Yes," Shy said. "When I died, I could see again. Why are you so thin? Didn’t you eat the wieners?"

"I did," said Big Eyes, looking shame-faced. "They weren’t poisoned as I thought. Our Friend was only trying to help us."

"Then why are you here?" Shy asked.

"It was too late for me, I guess," Big Eyes said. "The sickness got into my brain, and I didn’t trust anybody. I know the Friend tried to find me but I was weak and afraid. Well, on my last day on Earth, I wandered into the compound because I was so cold and shivering. Our Friend and her husband tried to get me but…"

"Go on," Shy said.

"Well, I tried to bite them. I didn’t know what was happening, and I was scared." Big Eyes looked ashamed.

"Bite our Friend? Oh, Big Eyes!" Shy looked alarmed.

"Then they trapped me into a box. I can’t tell you how scary that was! They put wieners in the box, and next thing I knew, I was lifted into the car."

"Then what happened?" Shy asked.

"They took me to a place…I think it was a veterinarian. I tried to bite there, too, but they muzzled me. The vet checked me out and shook his head. I could tell I was  finished then." Big Eyes said. "I don’t remember much more. The vet talked to our Friend and her husband…"

"Did you come through the tunnel?" Shy asked.

"What tunnel?" Big Eyes asked. "The Friend came over and stroked me, and the vet gave me a needle. So I would stop shivering, I guess. I felt so warm and sleepy I must have dozed off. Next thing I knew, I was here, and I spotted you standing by the gate."

"We’re in Heaven," Shy said.

"If this is Heaven, where are the wieners?" Big Eyes asked.

"Can’t you think about anything but food? You’re dead, and you don’t need food."

The two little dogs heard the man with the keys laughing.

"Come, little dogs, there’s all the food you can eat in Heaven."

And then, he opened the gates.

Chapter 3

For a moment, a dazzling light made Big Eyes and Shy close their eyes. When they opened them, they were in a large room, filled with dogs.

"There you are," a chubby man with an apron said. "We’ve been waiting for you. Come in, come in!" He laughed so his apron almost slid off.

"I know what you want, Big Eyes. There are all the wieners you can eat in Heaven,"

"Is this room Heaven then?" Big Eyes asked, looking around.

"This is only the lobby," the chubby man said. "The fields and lakes are out there." He waved his hand toward large portals where nature beckoned.

It took all the courage Shy had to speak.

"Sir, will our Friend find us there? I mean outside."

"She will." The man nodded. " But you must relax and eat. You’re spirits now and don’t need food but you don’t know it yet. Your brain still tells you to eat."

He took out a big pile of wieners and chopped them up with a sharp knife. Then he put the pieces into two dog dishes - one for Big Eyes and one for Shy.

"Thank you," the two little dogs said and Big Eyes began eating the meat while Shy took more ladylike bites.

"Sir, may we look down on Earth?" Shy asked when she finished.

"In that mirror, over there," the man with the apron said. "But you should call me Sam."

"Thanks, Sam," Shy said and ran to the mirror.

"Our Friend, where is our Friend?" she asked. But there she was! She was driving the car as always, and throwing little wiener pieces to her three dogs who now included Whitey. How good Whitey looked! She had gained weight and her tail had grown a bushy tuft at the tip.

"Shy, don’t worry," Sam said. "Whitey is happy and well. She gets everything she needs now."

"But Sam, why does my Friend look sad?" Shy asked.

"She’s sad because she just drove past your grave, little Shy. She’s remembering you and Big Eyes."

"Does she know she will see us soon?" Big Eyes asked.

"She knows. If you’ve had enough to eat, it’s time to investigate Heaven and make new friends. Run out into the fields!" He clapped his hands and the portals opened. All the dogs in the lobby ran out into the fresh green grass, barking and chatting.

There was a shiny lake where some dogs stopped to drink. It was surrounded by trees and flowers. Best of all, there were people walking and children playing.

Above them, hovered smiling angels with wings and little fluffy clouds drifted in the blue sky.

"Heaven is beautiful," Big Eyes said, and Shy couldn’t agree more.

"Do we need wings?" Shy asked.

"Not as long as we can run," Big Eyes barked and she took off to chat with some young girls who were reading on a bench.

Shy smiled. It was just like big Eyes to make friends right away. She looked around and saw a man walking alone. She joined the man who stroked her.

"Did you just arrive, little one?" he asked.

"I’m Shy," the little dog said and licked his outstretched hand. "I just came from the lobby."

"Then come with me and I’ll show you all the wonders of Heaven," the man said, smiling. Shy did not yet know her companion was Saint Francis, Patron Saint of all animals, and followed the kind man.

-The End-

© Amy Thompson 2010