Tippy, Chapter Nine

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

I decided my schedule was shorter than the shelter’s. I need to heal up some but get out of this place at once. I ate all the food they gave me and drank all the water, hoping these activities would help restore me. There was an outside exercise yard we would be allowed in every day. They called it the dog run.

Starting the first day, I would go out there and lay on my back with my four feet up in the air, hoping the chicken would see me. The only problem was I didn’t know where the chicken was.

After four or five days, she showed up and sat on the top of the fence over in the corner where the other dogs usually didn’t hang out. After I told her everything that happened, she scolded me for being so careless.  

Then she said, “I guess you don’t need me any longer, looks like you have it pretty good here.”

“NOOO!!!  I need you more than ever. They are going neuter me and I still haven’t found Ivy Hill Drive.”

“Not that again?” she queried. Then after a long pause she said, “OK, I’ll continue to help you. For the propagation of beagles and the destruction of rabbits. Ever heard about the rabbits in Australia?”

I didn’t hear the last part; all I paid attention to was that she would help me. And I didn’t care anything about Australia unless that was where Ivy Hill Drive was.

“Let me think about how to get you out of here,” the chicken said. “You don’t have much time.”

No joke, I thought. The chicken flew away. I thought hard about how to get out of this place but could not come up with a good solution.

She came back the next day, “See that tree at the back corner of the dog run?”

“Yes.”

“Do you see that nearly dead limb that hangs over into the dog run?”

I looked hard at it. “Yes.”

“I will come back about midnight. I will start jumping up and down on that limb. Hopefully, I can break it off just enough that the outer end touches the ground while the tree end stays slightly attached. Then when you come out in the morning, come directly to the tree and climb out on the limb.”

Sounded crazy, but what choice did I have? “Sure.”

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.