Oh Henry! part 4 ~ the end

Jarred fell to the ground and covered his face. 'Two gun shots?!? Dad is a perfect shot, so why were there two gun shots.' He thought to himself. "Jarred! Stay right there, and keep your eyes covered." Mr. Crow shouted. He didn't want his son to see what was going on. Jarred heard his father move closer and he just had to look. "HENRY!" Jarred cried out in a sudden gasp of air. He saw Henry laying on the ground a few feet away. "Is he dead dad? Is Henry dead?" Jarred frantically asked with a crack in his voice. "NO!" His dad shouted. "No. He's not dead, help me get him up and into the car!" Then while side stepping the lawnmower he left in the middle of the lawn, another gasp. "WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE?" Jarred asked backing away. "Never mind that, just help me carry Henry to the car." They gently picked him up and put him in the back seat. There was a little bit of blood and a little whimpering coming from Henry. Jarred sat in the back seat and tried to comfort the grown pup. "It's okay boy. Dad didn't mean to shoot you." Jarred said. "I sure as heck did." Mr. Crow replied back. "Well at first." He muttered to him self. Mr. Crow pressed hard on the gas pedal. "Hold on to Henry, Jarred." His dad said as they rounded another corner. Then all of then sudden Mr. Crow slams on the break, puts the car in park and jumps out. Jarred looked to see his dad run across the street to the sheriff’s car. He tried intently to listen, but Henry whimpered again, and he only heard Mr. Crow say the word ‘backyard’. Then as his dad came back he saw the cop car lights flash and heard the siren as his dad put their car back in gear and off they went. Momma Meyers and Stephen just got home and walked into the house when Mr. Meyers turned them right back around. They got in their station wagon and headed out the drive. Stephen was a bit occupied with the cast and all until he saw the flashing blue and red lights as his dad pulled up to Jarred’s house. Mr. Meyers jumped out of the front seat, then stuck his head back in the car to say "STAY HERE! Both of you." He was only gone for 3 or 4 minutes, when he came back and they started off again.

They drove for about 20 minutes and then pulled into the vets office. "What are we doing here dad?" Stephen asked. Mr. Meyers looked at his wife then turned around in his seat to look his son square in the eye and said. "It's Henry son. He's been shot." Stephen's eyes started to well up, but he just sat there stiff like fiddling with his cast, and listened as his dad explained what was going on. The Meyers' went inside to see Mr. Crow and Jarred sitting in the waiting room. "Hey Jim." Mr. Crow said with a 'I can't believe this is happening' kind of voice. "Hey Bruce. Where's super mutt?" Mr. Meyers asked. Super Mutt was the one nickname that could make the boys smile no matter what was going on. Yet the little grin they both gave seemed painfully forced this time. Jarred stood up and walked over to Stephen to look at his cast and said. "My dad shot him!” They both looked over at Mr. Crow in disbelief. This was the man who would say “Why kill a spider when you can let it go and it will eat the bugs that bug you. & Live and let live.” So why would he shoot Henry? “The vet is operating on him now." Mr. Crow started to explain everything.

"Well Jarred, you were right." He looked around the room at everyone's faces and continued. "There was wolf. I talked to the sheriff briefly and he said that there were a few other sightings, but it was just too hard to believe. So they looked around a bit, but found no real evidence. It left no distinguishable paw prints or doggy piles behind." "Is that what bit Stephen and almost got me?" Jarred interrupted. "Yes. When I saw you in the back yard and caught a glimpse of Henry, I was still under the assumption that Henry attacked you Stephen." He glanced over at Stephen to see him looking at him with eyes asking 'Why'd you shoot my dog'. Mr. Crow looked away with a bit of guilt on his mind. "Anyway, I went in to get my rifle and came back just in time. It seems that Henry was defending the boys. The vet said that Henry's limp was from a bite. And the blood on his face was probably from biting the young wolf back. Sherriff guesses that the wolf got lost from it’s pack up north and well, found it’s way into Gruberville." He stopped for a second to address Jarred and Stephen. "Boys! I'm real sorry that it came down to this. I don't feel like I had much of a choice with you getting ripped open...." He looked over at Stephen. "......and you looking like you were going to be attacked....." He looked over at Jarred. "At first I only saw Henry. And then when I got back to the door with my rifle, he was jumping at Jarred." He looked around for some kind of acknowledgement or justification to his actions. Mr. Meyers nodded his head letting him know that he would have done the same thing. "So my first shot hit Henry, and then I had to jerk my rifle back up to shoot the wolf who was right behind Henry. It all happened so fast. All I can think is that Henry was maybe trying to knock Jarred down to get him out of the way." The boys leaned in and gave Mr. Crow a silent ‘we understand’ hug. Mr. Myers grabbed a Fish & Tackle magazine and sat down.

The door to the operating room opened and everyone stood up and looked toward the door. The vet walked out and said. "Everyone have a seat. Please." And he walked over and sat down with them. "I have some good news for you young Mr. Stephen. Since it was the wolf that bit you, you were in danger of a possibly having rabies. But the Sheriff brought the wolf in the back way, and I've already examined it’s body. There's no sign of rabies, so I'm sure the lab work will come back clean. No worries there." "What about Henry?!?" Both the boys said in harmony. "Well, I removed the bullet and patched him up. However, it's really not looking very good. The gun shot did only a minor damage. It was the wolf’s first attack that did the most. There’s also a nasty infection." The vet looked down at his chart and continued. "With Henry being on the run, since we all thought he was attacker…and with him not getting any medical attention or getting fed for all this time, he is in a pretty weak state. He's just hanging on with the added shock to his body. With all he’s been through I honestly don't think that he's gonna make it. I'm very sorry." He paused for a second and said. "You boys can go in and see him. But remember he's in a lot of pain. I gave him something for it but..."
The boys ran into the operating room. Everyone else followed. The boys were fighting back their tears and trying to be the good pals that they always were. "Henry buddy." Stephen said. I wagged my tail a little bit. "See he's gonna be okay." Jarred said looking back at the vet and pointing at me. I was hurt pretty bad. And if I ever see that wolf again, I'll rip it’s tail off. But 'YAWN' I feel kind of tired right now. I only closed my eyes for a second when I felt a tug on my front paw. "Henry?!? Wake up Henry." I opened my eyes and saw Jarred up close to my face. I couldn't lift my head, but he was close enough so I licked his nose and cheek. Mmmmm! Remnants of BBQ sauce on his cheek. I could go for some of that. (cough cough) "yipe, whimper" I said. I meant "Ouch. That really hurts." I tried to tell everyone not to tell any jokes cause it would hurt too much to laugh, but I think they missed the message. 'YAWN' man am I tired. "Henry! PAL." Jarred was saying as he lightly squeezed my paw again. I licked again but only got air that time. 'YAWN' I closed my eyes again. "Henry! HENRY!" They boys started to shout. I could hear them, and could feel them tugging on my paws, but I wasn't able to open my eyes. "Henry wake up boy." The boys and their mothers started to cry. I think even their fathers had a few tears in there eyes. "Henry wake up. Wake up Henry. Com’on Boy don’t leave us." The voices were starting to fade away, and I thought. 'Why can't I open my eyes?' Then I heard "Henry! I love you boy." "Me too Henry. I love you, you crazy dog." And that just echoed in my head. "you crazy dog, you crazy dog, you crazy dog." Then it all just faded away as I heard "HenryNooooo!"...

"Henry! You lazy dog. Get up." I jumped up. 'Sausage. I smell sausage.' Half a link was dropped to the floor and I instinctively snatched it up. "It's about time you woke up you ole fur ball!" Stephen said, tossing me another half. 'Mmmmmmmm that's sooooo good.' "Yeah. For a minute there, we thought you were dead." Stephen snickered. "Com'on Henry. We're going to the lake." I just stood there looking at them both and thought 'Stephen?!? Where's your cast?' 'And hey, what are we doing in the kitchen?' "Com'on boy. Let's go." Jarred tried coaxing me with another sausage link. "Man, that must have been some kind of dream you were having Henry. With your legs moving like that, we thought maybe you were dreaming about running some kind of race." Stephen said. The boys started out the door. 'Hey wait. There wasn't any race. Hey wait up guys.' I barked to them. 'Hey?!? Is the wolf really dead? Wow, I'm not limping. This is great.' 'HEY Stephen, what exactly did you mean by DREAM?' 'Are we gonna chase the girls today?' BARK 'Hey Jarred, you wanna go for a swim?' Jump, bark, jump, bark. "Hey boys, hey Henry." A voice said from across the street. "Hey Sheriff." They boys said back. 'Bark bark.' I replied.