A Campfire Story
written by: Amber Jane Bell
‘What are you looking at, Dad?’ Nathan asked, noticing his father’s head was turned away from them.
‘That tree over there,’ Grant said, pointing to a River birch that was missing most of its leaves. ‘I think it’s dying,’ he added.
‘Maybe it’s just losing its leaves earlier than all the other trees,’ Grant’s other son Jacob commented while sticking a marshmallow onto a stick.
Grant turned to face his boys and said, ‘No. July is too early for trees to start losing their leaves. But it reminds me of Tess.’
‘Who’s Tess?’ Nathan asked while fireflies danced behind him in the distance.
‘I never told you two about Tess?’ Grant asked.
‘No,’ the boys said simultaneously while roasting marshmallows slightly above the flames.
‘When I was a boy, and we started coming up here, there was an older couple named the Gorski’s next door. They had this little black-and-white cocker spaniel named Tess. We would always hear her first thing in the morning, letting out a yelp while chasing a squirrel up that tree.’
‘Did she like you?’ Nathan asked.
‘She loved us; whenever we went swimming in the lake, she paced up and down the shore like she was on lifeguard duty.’
As the boys blew on their marshmallows, Grant continued. ‘The Gorski’s had taught her all kinds of tricks. She’d get the newspaper, roll over, shake hands, and Mr. Gorski even taught her to get his slippers. Every morning, when he sat down and turned on the television, she would go get his slippers and place them right at his feet.’
‘We should teach Baily some tricks,’ Nathan said, lowering his arm and petting the yellow lab resting alongside his chair.
‘Do you know what Mr. Gorski said happened after she passed away?’
‘What?’ Jacob asked.
‘The night Tess passed away when they were sound asleep, she jumped up in bed and lay between them. She had never done that before; she always stayed in her own bed in the corner of the room.
At first, they didn’t mind, but then she began rubbing up and against them, and Mr. Gorski started to get hot, so he pointed to her bed and said, go on, Tessy, go, get in your bed. But she wouldn’t go. So, he picked her up and brought her there himself.
He laid her down, patted her on the head, and said, good night, girl. Then, the next morning, he found her still as a stone. She had died in her sleep, probably of a heart attack, the vet said.’
Jacob and Nathan let out a gasp of sadness.
‘All day both of them felt so guilty over not letting her sleep in their bed.
Then, the following morning, still in shock over her unexpected death, Mr. Gorski got out of bed, walked to the back door, and called her like he was going to let her outside, forgetting that she had passed away the day before. When she didn’t come, he remembered what happened and, on the verge of tears, he closed the door and went to make his coffee.
While the coffee was being made, he walked into the living room, turned on the television, sat down in his recliner, and looked down at the floor.
And right there at his feet were his slippers. Neatly placed right out in front of him, just as Tess would have done.’
‘Did his wife put them there?’ Jacob asked.
‘Nope, neither Mr. or Mrs. Gorski recall placing them there,’ Grant answered.
The boys looked at each other in disbelief.
‘So, some sort of ghost dog put them there?’ Nathan asked as a log broke apart and sparks flew into the night air lingering above the campfire.
‘I guess. Or maybe they forgot they put the slippers there the night before. Either way, seeing them there made the Gorski’s feel a little better like Tess was still with them,’ Grant responded.
The boys nodded.
‘I guess sometimes you can’t explain everything, can you?’ Grant whispered while looking back over his shoulder at the fading tree.
- A Campfire Story - September 18, 2024
