That sounds like a headline one would see in a tabloid while waiting in a supermarket checkout line.
The story was told to me by a wonderful woman named Jane who lives in Pelican Rapids. She lives in a beautiful area, with her home situated right along a lake. This is an area where a good number of Bald Eagles also live. It is not uncommon to see Bald Eagles perched in a tree right in Jane’s backyard.
The story began when Jane’s grown son went on vacation. He asked his mother if she would baby-sit his dog, Fife. Fife was a tiny dog whose nervousness earned him the name he shares with Barney Fife, the jumpy deputy in TV’s “Andy Griffith Show.” Fife was nearly hairless and of the type that some refer to as a pseudo-dog or an auxiliary dog.
Jane wanted to be a good caretaker of the small dog and took it for a walk every morning and again every evening. She made sure that Fife was on a leash at all times. She did this for Fife’s safety.
Jane worried about her son’s dog during these walks as she thought Fife might be the perfect size for an hors d’oeuvre for a ravenous eagle. The leash was like a safety belt for Fife. So during their walks, Jane would keep one eye on the dog and the other eye on the sky. No hungry eagles flew down for lunch, but Jane refused to let her guard down.
One morning, Jane was taking Fife for his morning constitutional. It was then that Jane heard the shriek of an eagle. She quickly located the eagle in a nearby tree. Jane let out a bit of a shriek herself.
Now Jane doesn’t know if it was the sound made by the eagle or the sound made by Jane that rattled Fife. She will never know, because Fife doesn’t want to talk about it. What we do know is how Fife reacted. He reacted in a way that small dogs on a leash have been reacting for as long as there have been small dogs on leashes.
Fife shook and began to run around Jane’s feet, wrapping the leash around and around Jane’s legs. Fife did this without Jane taking notice. Jane’s eyes were riveted on the eagle. The eagle flew. Jane watched it leave. Fife was safe. They could continue their walk. That’s when Jane learned what Fife had been up to.
Jane attempted to take that first step. There was no step. There was a fall. Jane ended up in the emergency room of a hospital. She suffered a broken leg.
As for Fife; he’s still nervous.
©Al Batt 2004 SnoEowl@aol.com