With all her big brothers and sisters off to school, our ranch became a lonely place for our three-year-old daughter, Becky. She longed for playmates. Cattle and horses were too big to cuddle and farm machinery dangerous for a child so small. We promised to buy her a puppy but in the meantime, “Pretend” puppies popped up nearly every day.
I had just finished washing the lunch dishes when the screen door slammed and Becky rushed in, cheeks flushed with excitement. “Mama!” she cried, “Come see my new doggy! I gave him water two times already. He’s so thirsty!”I sighed, another of Becky’s imaginary dogs.
“Please come, Mama.” She tugged at my jeans, her brown eyes pleading, “He’s crying — and he can’t walk!”
“Can’t walk?” Now that was a twist. All her previous make-believe dogs could do marvelous things. One balanced a ball on the end of its nose. Another dug a hole that went all the way through the earth and fell out on a star on the other side. Still another danced on a tightrope. Why suddenly a dog that couldn’t walk?
“All right, honey,” I said. By the time I tried to follow her, Becky had already disappeared into the mesquite.
“Where are you?” I called.
“Over here by the oak stump. Hurry, Mama!”
I parted the thorny branches and raised my hand against the glare of the Arizona sun. A numbing chill gripped me. There she was, sitting on her heels, toes dug firmly in the sand, and cradled in her lap was the unmistakable head of a wolf! Beyond its head rose massive black shoulders. The rest of the body lay completely hidden inside the hollow stump of a fallen oak.
“Becky,” My mouth felt dry. “Don’t move.” I stepped closer. Pale-yellow eyes narrowed. Black lips tightened, exposing double sets of two-inch fangs. Suddenly the wolf trembled. Its teeth clacked, and a piteous whine rose from its throat.
“It’s all right, boy,” Becky crooned. “Don’t be afraid. That’s my mama, and she loves you, too.”
Then the unbelievable happened. As her tiny hands stroked the great shaggy head, I heard the gentle thump, thump, thumping of the wolf’s tail from deep inside the stump. What was wrong with the animal? I wondered. Why couldn’t he get up? I couldn’t tell. Nor did I dare to step any closer.
I glanced at the empty water bowl. My memory flashed back to the five skunks that last week had torn the burlap from a leaking pipe in a frenzied effort to reach water during the final agonies of rabies. Of course! Rabies! Warning signs had been posted all over the county, and hadn’t Becky said, “He’s so thirsty?” I had to get Becky away.
“Honey,” My throat tightened. “Put his head down and come to Mama. We’ll go find help.”
Reluctantly, Becky got up and kissed the wolf on the nose before she walked slowly into my outstretched arms. Sad yellow eyes followed her. Then the wolf’s head sank to the ground. With Becky safe in my arms, I ran to the barns where Brian, one of our cowhands, was saddling up to check heifers in the North pasture. “Brian! Come quickly. Becky found a wolf in the oak stump near the wash! I think it has rabies!”
“I’ll be there in a jiffy,” he said as I hurried back to the house, eager to put Becky down for her nap. I didn’t want her to see Brian come out of the bunkhouse. I knew he’d have a gun.
“But I want to give my doggy his water,” she cried. I kissed her and gave her some stuffed animals to play with.
“Honey, let Mom and Brian take care of him for now,” I said. Moments later, I reached the oak stump.
Brian stood looking down at the beast. “It’s a Mexican lobo, all right.” He said, “And a big one!”
The wolf whined. Then we both caught the smell of gangrene. “Whew! It’s not rabies,” Brian said. “But he’s sure hurt real bad. Don’t you think it’s best I put him out of his misery?”
The word “yes” was on my lips, when Becky emerged from the bushes. “Is Brian going to make him well, Mama?” She hauled the animal’s head onto her lap once more, and buried her face in the coarse, dark fur. This time I wasn’t the only one who heard the thumping of the lobo’s tail.
That afternoon my husband, Bill, and our veterinarian came to see the wolf. Observing the trust the animal had in our child, Doc said to me, “Suppose you let Becky and me tend to this fella together.” Minutes later, as child and vet reassured the stricken beast, the hypodermic found its mark. The yellow eyes closed.
“He’s asleep now,” said the vet. “Give me a hand here, Bill.” They hauled the massive body out of the stump. The animal must have been over five feet long and well over a hundred pounds. Bullets had mutilated the wolf’s hip and leg. Doc did what he had to in order to clean the wound and then gave the patient a dose of penicillin. Next day he returned and inserted a l rod to replace the missing bone.
“Well, it looks like you’ve got yourselves a Mexican lobo,” Doc said. “He looks to be about three years old, and even as pups, they don’t tame real easy. I’m amazed at the way this big fella took to your little girl. But often there’s something that goes on between children and animals that we grownups don’t understand.”
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It was so exciting,we passed the coastline in May 1st,it’s an adventruous experience for me,although I even couldn’t move my legs cause the painful of muscle in the following few days,but I’m still fell happy to experienced a challenge.
Reigning world and Olympic champion Valerie Vili from New Zealand took the title of women’s shot put at the 12th World Athletic Championships in Berlin on Sunday.
Vili boasted 20.44m to crown the event, host thrower Nadine Kleinert took the silver with personal best of 20.20m while China’s Gong Lijiao pocketed the bronze with personal best of 19.89m.
“I’m satisfied I could defend my title. Tonight the German girl pushed me a lot but I wasn’t worried, we spent proper time preparing to get the right things done,” said Vili.
For the 25-year-old, 20.44m is still shy her world-leading 20.69m in May, but was enough to book the gold, also the first gold medal for her country at the 9-day tournament.
Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei’s defence of her world 800m title ended in the first heat yesterday when she tripped and fell and failed to qualify for the semifinals.
Jepkosgei was leading and looking comfortable when she was clipped from behind by Caster Semenya of South Africa 200m from the finish. The Olympic silver medalist tumbled to the track, got up and jogged home last.
Semenya, who has the year’s fastest time, won the heat but injured her ankle in the incident.
“I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see anything because I was looking forward,” she said. “I just saw the Kenyan fall down and I tried to jump over. I twisted my ankle in the process. At the moment I can’t feel my ankle and I need to see the physio to check it.
While Jamaican Usain Bolt stunned the world with his sensational 100m run at the Berlin World Championships, Chinese athletes have also surprised with a good start to the competition.
After race walker Wang Hao claimed a silver in the men’s 20km on the opening day, his female’s counterpart, Liu Hong, added a bronze on Sunday in her 20km walk and women’s shot putter Gong Lijiao also finished third with a personal best of 19.89m.
The three medals mark China’s best start since they first took part in the event in 1983.
Boosted by the unexpected results of the first two days, officials are now changing their forecasts for the remainder of the Championships.
“The three medals were a little bit out of our expectations but they were not that surprising,” said Feng Shuyong, vice-director of the Chinese Athletics Administrative Center. “The results of race walking are difficult to predict but we are happy our athletes performed up to their potential.”
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, on behalf of the government, bid a farewell to ex-president Kim Dae-jung at the funeral service held on Sunday.
Minister Han praised his accomplishments and expressed the whole nation’s sadness by giving a speech at the service.
“The whole of Korea is truly overcome with great sadness,” he said, calling Kim “a great leader of modern history, recognized not only within (South) Korea but by the world.”
Minister Han introduced the late president’s major achievements in democracy, human rights, peace, and inter-Korean reconciliation.
“Democratization, in particular, was possible,” said Han, citing Kim’s convictions and courage.
Han also honored Kim, saying he paved the way for reconciliation, exchange and cooperation between South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) through the first ever Inter-Korean summit talks in Pyongyang in 2000.
The state funeral for Kim, the second ever in the history of South Korea, started at 02:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) at the nation’s parliament, attended by 24,000 invitees, including politicians, ordinary citizens and foreign delegations.
High-profile foreign delegates, including special envoy of the Chinese government Tang Jiaxuan, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Japan’s former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, also came to Seoul to pay respect to the former president.
Meanwhile, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong-Il also mourned over Kim’s death, sending a condolatory delegation made up of his close aides on Friday.
The six-member delegates paid their respects to the late leader at the memorial altar, laying a floral tribute sent by Kim Jong-Il.
The DPRK’s leader and ex-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung held the first-ever inter-Korean summit talks in Pyongyang in 2000,in pursuit of opening an era of reconciliation and cooperation between the two sides.
Kim died of pneumonia-related complications on Tuesday after he was admitted to a Seoul hospital on July 13.
The funeral service came after a six-day mourning period, during which praise and condolence for the late president came from all over the world.
President Lee Myung-bak, earlier upon paying a condolatory visit to Kim, called him a “great political leader.”
“His work and desire for democracy and national reconciliation will be remembered by the people for years to come,” Lee said.
Expressing his sadness by the passing of Kim, U.S. President Barack Obama said Kim “played a crucial role in establishing a dynamic democratic system in the Republic of Korea.”
High-profile foreign delegates, including special envoy of the Chinese government Tang Jiaxuan, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Japan’s former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, also came to Seoul to pay respect to the former president.
President Lee also asked the DPRK delegation to deliver his message to the DPRK leader, the spokesman said.
The DPRK delegates, in return, said they hoped the two Koreas will “cooperate” on every issue they face, also expressing gratefulness for the meeting, Lee said.
The meeting was said to have been held in a “serious, yet warm” mood, according to Lee.
The spokesman, however, did not identify the details of the message from Kim Jong IL, saying “it should not be publicized as it is a sensitive issue.”
An official at the presidential office said issues related to four detained fishermen or resumption of inter-Korean talks were not brought up during the meeting, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said.
The meeting was widely expected to deal with thorny inter-Korean issues, such as the fishermen hauled by the DPRK authorities on July 30 and restart of inter-Korean dialogue.
