"Taking Care Of Business"
And so it was. As the years passed, Toby continued to be playmate and baby-sitter, protector and friend to my youngest son and to any other child that happened to visit the farm.
Then came a time of change. The days grew shorter and school started. It was time that the big lumbering
I didn't think much of it when Toby first started disappearing. He wasn't on the rock so I figured he was taking a break or getting a life. Maybe he was remembering that he was after all, a dog and could now do doggy things. Maybe he was checking out the groundhog hole in the near pasture or chasing a cat or two in the barn. He would leave his post afternoons about three twenty and without fail be back on his rock at three forty-five to meet and greet the bus.
It wasn't until a neighbor mentioned my dog up on the main highway that I grew concerned about Toby's afternoon jaunts. The next day I called him in before he could leave his rock and disappear. He paced restlessly. He whined at the door and was noticeably upset in being confined to the house and so I chose to follow him. The following afternoon I was prepared and I watched as at the usual time, Toby left his rock. He headed up the driveway past the barns and continued on. I lost sight of him on the wagon lane. This trail topped the North side of the far pastures giving us access to the land when a fence needed mending or (God help us) an emergency.
Our access lane came to its end at the start of Mr. McPeat's corn field. As I neared our property line I caught sight of Toby. There he was crouching behind the first row of tasseled corn. His unwavering gaze concentrated on the divided highway right where it became visible and started into a major curve coming down the hill.
He met it where the highway shoulder began. He ran parallel with the bus around the curve, Toby staying on the shoulder. The bus slowed down as the children cheered the dog. He ran with the bus to the end of the curve and then as it gained speed once again, Toby stopped. He stood watching the bus a moment as it sped out of sight.
Some would say that Toby was one of those undisciplined dogs that chased cars. Others would jokingly say that the dog was bored with the farm and needed some time in the fast lane. I say that Toby was a dog with a mission. The bus, the children, the dangerous curve in the highway. Knowing the dog, I like to believe that Toby thought he was slowing the bus down; Protecting the precious cargo. Even though it was not my son's bus, there were children on board.
It was that way year after year. Shorter days, school in, school out and different schedules, but always Toby taking care of business....And just maybe he WAS slowing that bus down.
Story and Art work by L. L. Baker ~ � 2008
The Poem "No Vermonter's In Heaven"
I would have preferred Toby to have worked on the farm. He was a Border Collie and I had needed him to take the place of Josh, our aging herd dog, but Toby had different ideas concerning his job description. He loved people - especially kids. From the time he came to us he would be overjoyed when fate dealt him a day with children. He was playful but gentle. Watchful and protective. When I put my youngest son in the playpen outside, Toby took his place next to it and stayed sentinel until I took the baby into the house.
school bus would come up the pitted and pot-holed road right after lunch and take my son off to kindergarten. For the first week or so Toby would sit on the big ledge rock by the mailbox and wait. All afternoon he would stay until the great yellow beast would bring his best friend home again.
I stopped to watch. Toby seemed to ready himself as a big yellow school bus came into view. As the bus moved into the curve Toby took off and ran toward the highway. He had his timing calculated to the second. I held myself still. I muffled the overwhelming urge of yelling a command to stop. At the same instant I heard children's voices shouting, "There he is!" and "Here he comes!" as various heads were visible from the bus's open windows.
In an instant he was racing back down the lane, past the barns, down the driveway and back to his place on the ledge rock. It was a few minutes wait until my son's bus came up the old road and brought him home. Another day of Toby keeping things right in his world.
