RDP Thursday: UMBROUS

When this little good boy came into my life I was suffering from severe depression and in the process of rebuilding my shattered life.

He was only 12 weeks old and he proceeded to save my life.

Hamish Macbeth
Photo A.M. Moscoso
September 2014

10 years later my good boy, Hamish Macbeth and I were out for an evening walk- we ended up turning a corner and found ourselves in a street full of of police cars and what turned out to be a very nasty domestic dispute.

My neighbor had been beaten by her partner and the police were looking for him because  after he hurt her he ran off and came back a couple of hours later and all they knew was that her partner was in the neighborhood – that’s when me and Hamish came along.

When I saw what was going on I turned around and started to make tracks back home when we passed a bunch of trees and bushes all of the sudden Hamish tore the leash out of my hand.

He stood next to me and in the blink of an eye he turned into Cujo- he barked he growled he snapped his hackles were up. He didn’t run away from me, he didn’t charge- he pushed against my leg and continued to lose his cool.

If you’ve never heard your dog snap his bone crunching teeth together in fury, I’m going to tell you that once your do  you will never forget that sound.

In his entire life I had never seen this darkness and anger in him.

I grabbed his collar and started to pull him along when the police sort of swarmed passed us and I could hear them chasing and catching someone in the side yard we were caught in front of.

Hamish’s ears pricked up. He sniffed the air.

I looked down at Hamish, he looked up at me and then he wagged his tail and we went home.

Hamish Macbeth
2024

There’s a movie about a dog called Indy who wants to save his beloved owner from supernatural forces.

Not all good boys are fictional characters- some of them are very real-thank God.

Hamish Macbeth
2023
A.M. Moscoso