ADEINA AND NEKENEKE PROUDLY PRESENT: 

CHOCO

https://horsephenomena.com/dogs.php?id=133167

Choco is a Labrador Retriever & is in the category DOG - no tix/shows.

MASCOT PIC ENTRY HERE

BACKSTORY:

As if born from a cliché story, we must begin with a dark and stormy night.

For it WAS terrifyingly dark, and the storm was intense – but not in the way one might think.  The sky was not filled with the crackle of lightning, nor the boom of thunder. Instead, the driving snow came down thick and wet, and the sound was of the angry wind howling through the trees, sweeping the flakes on snow this way and that way.  The blizzard was as if straight from the mountains – thick snow dampening the light from houses and vehicles, and ice building up fast in the sub-zero temperatures.  And while the sky was exceedingly dark, it was sometime in the mid-afternoon as the storm blocked the very sun from the sky.

However, this was the North, and such things do not terrify Northerners.

So it was, bundled in their ski pants and boots, their toques and their mittens, with huge fluffy winter coats atop it all, and backpacks full of enough homework to last the storm, Adeina and Neke stumbled off the bus – squinting through the storm towards the small farm-house in which they lived.  Against the storm they looked tiny, these just-turned-nine-year-old girls, but they were loud and they were boisterous, and storm or not, it was time for winter vacation!  That meant time with the horses, and snowmen, and a snow fort to protect against their brothers, and the coming WAR ON BOYS (except for their daddy, he was always allowed to help them in snowball fights; he ALWAYS took their side).

The girls were excited, chattering about vacation – Adeina bemoaning how much homework she had while Neke barely had any (“Because you’re a goody two-shoes who does extra homework before vacation like a WIERDO.” “Am not!” “ARE TOO!”).  It was then, while Neke was pouting, lagging behind her sister who had jogged towards the house, that she heard it: a weird whining sound.

Now Neke knew better that to investigate by herself – she’d lived out in the country long enough to know that just because it sounded like a kitty, didn’t mean it was harmless – Cougars were scary as heck.  She also knew not to wander into the trees in a storm by herself, because you could get lost, you could stumble and break a leg, what if there was a moose (her mothers voice rang in her ears).  But the whining came again, and any remnant of her mothers ranting about safety was plum forgotten as she shouted for her sister.  The storm swallowed her shouting, as the bush beside their driveway swallowed her small body, and Adeina looked back at the swirling snow to see nothing but snow, and driveway, and the dark.

So, like any reasonable kid would do, she screamed bloody murder for her Nana, and ran into the house.

---x---

Despite what Adeina was screaming at her Nana, Neke had not been “eaten by the storm”.  She was gingerly picking through the trees, listening to the howl of the wind and trying to hear another whining sound.  It was hard to hear where the sound was coming from – it sounded all over, and then was gone, and then it was back again.

But she remembered that there was a fox scrape – maybe it was an abandoned fox baby? – in these trees, and she picked her way that way.  Except she didn’t get more than ten trudging steps in the snow before she saw a box, and hear another whine.  Why was a box whining? She thought to herself, as she scrambled to open the box, ripping her mittens off to pull the frozen tape off.

It was dark, and it was snowy and wet and cold, and her hands were numbed almost instantly.  Plus, she lost her mittens, which her grandma had made her, and she would be sad about that on most days.  Except today – today she didn’t give one care to her cold hands, or her cold knees on the ground, or the snow freezing her curls, or her nose frozen and cold.  Because in that dark, wet, cold box was a puppy.

Now, Neke had never EVER had a puppy.  Her parents had, once, but then her older brother had come along, and he was allergic to everything, and so they had no dogs or cats, and if they touched hay or horses or ANYTHING they had to strip naked in the porch and run to the shower to wash and put on clean clothes.  (Sometimes though, she touched his stuff with horse on her hands, because watching his sneeze was funny, and she hated her brother a little bit, but she loved him too so she felt bad about it sometimes).

So part of her knew finding a puppy in a storm wasn’t a good thing, it was one of the BAD THINGS adults talk about when they didn’t think little ears were listening.  Like when that really fat kitty showed up, and then she had a bunch of kittens, and they had barn cats now.

A small part of her was hopeful, though, because her dad never turned away hurt animals, and the puppy was whining and cold, and there was no way he’d turn the little thing away, right?  So, like any kid would do, so picked up the whining, shivering bundle and stuck it right inside her coat and ski pants against her belly, and started back towards the driveway.  It was too long though, and she didn’t know where she was – the snow made it dark and scary in the trees.  But then, when her hands were ice and her eyes were frozen in scared tears – she saw it.  A light!  She moved towards where a flashlight and her Nan’s voice could be heard shouting: “NEKE LOREN GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE OR I SWEAR!?” And quieter, her sister shouting her name, too.

Her Nan was scary when worried, and how the lady found her ear to twist through her toque and hair Neke had no idea, and the shouting kept upright until they got inside.  Then Adeina was right in her face, too, and she’d been crying (you could tell, because even though she wasn’t a redhead like Neke, her face went all blotchy when she cried just like Neke).  Neke didn’t understand the big deal – she was fine, just a big cold – until her gran grabbed her hands and started rubbing snow on them.  They didn’t feel like anything, until they started to burn and hurt and she whimpered and cried and hiccupped and tried to explain.

“But Nanny, I heard-“

“You’ll be lucky if you don’t get frostbite and lose a finger.  Poppa lost his finger remember?  Do you want to lose one?”

“But there was a-“

“I can’t believe you wandered off from your sister, she’s the troublemaker-“

“Am not!”

“But I found a-“

“Hold still child or so help me I will tell your father and he will tan your butt which his belt.”

Now Neke did not often get angry.  She was more of a sulky child.  Her sulks were legendary.  But when she did lose her temper, well she was fire.  She was LOUD.  She screamed!

“BUT THERE WAS A PUPPY IN THE SNOW!”

Her grandmother went dead silent, and her sister had wide eyes like dinner plates.  So she undid her coat, and there the puppy was, shaking and cold, big brown eyes blinking sleepily, and even it’s toes shaking with cold.

“…that’s…a…puppy.” Adeina whispered, eyes wide and curious.

Her grandmother seemed shocked, and then took the towel she had been drying Neke with, and wrapped it up tight, “Girls, call the vet.  Oh it’s so cold…”

Adeina rushed to the phone to dial the number on the board on the fridge (Neke’s cold hands were trying to get her boots off, but they didn’t want to work right).  There were noises in the kitchen and then Nanny was talking quietly, and nodding, and rubbing the towel-lump to warm it.

“Yes, we have that.  Yes, I can – Monday?  Yes I can bring it in then, if it-  Yes, I know it’s not likely to- Yes, I have your home number, I will call if- yes Barry, I’m sure it’s been dumped- yes, I know.  No, Neke found it.  Off the bus.  Can you believe?  Over this wind.  Yes, it’s whimpering.  It’s very cold.”

The conversation made no sense to Neke and Adeina, who were tugging and pulling to get a look at the puppy in the towel.  But then, their grandmother hung up the phone, and started, in her best farm-wife voice, to order them around. (if you’ve never heard a farm-wife voice, count yourself lucky.  It leaves no room for argument – not even for curious girls).  First was throw some towels in the dryer.  Then was get some calf-formula made – but not much!  Then was get some snow in.  Then was get a bowl of cool water and warm water, and some rags.  Then stoke the fire – be careful of your hands! Not much of it made sense to the girls, but they grabbed what their Nan wanted anyhow, eager to help with the puppy.  After all, they’d both helped with frozen calves before – and the instructions were the same.

So it was that a few minutes later they watched as their Nan rubbed at the puppies ears like she had with Neke’s fingers – cold snow that melted in warm hands until the puppy whimpered loudly at the pain once the blood began to flow, then cold washcloths that got warmed each time until they were warmed.  The little lumps tail and paws were rubbed and warmed too, and the belly until it went from icy white to pink.  It seemed to take ages, but the violent shaking and sleepy blinking became shivering and wide eyes, then the whining changed as the pup sneezed.

“Is it gonna be okay?” Adeina asked at some point, braver than Neke.  She was getting a dryer-warmed towel for her Nana to wrap the puppy in, as Neke took the now dirty water and rags away and grabbed the warm milk.

“We’ll know by tomorrow.” Was all Nanny would say on the subject as she worked.  Neke and Adeina exchange a glance – they’d heard that before.  When a cow gave birth when it was really cold, or the calf got stuck and Poppa had to pull it.  When a horse got hurt bad, and the vet was called.  Sometimes – like with their Mom’s horse, they were fine.  But sometimes calves died.  It was sad, but it was part of being a farm kid – didn’t mean they didn’t bawl like babies every time. “If she eats, it’ll help.”

They were quiet in the dim light, watching their grandmother warm the puppy until it was squirming.  Then she dipped a syringe into the milk Adeina had made (she had always been better at mixing it, Neke thought it smelled gross) and dripped it in the puppies mouth.  The puppy slurped noisily, and milk got everywhere, but they fed it a bit, and it’s little belly bulged.

Then Nanny wiped it down again with a fresh cloth, and bundle it – but before she wrapped it up they could see it’s colour.

“It’s like chocolate!” Adeina said, giggling.

“But it has black, too!” Neke whispered, touching the sleeping puppy.

---

The night continued that way – with the girls by the fire (backpacks and homework forgotten in the porch), feeding and wrapping the puppy.  Their grandmother did most of it, but they helped when she asked, and didn’t complain when their grandmother was so distracted their dinner was burned and ruined, and they had grilled cheese instead – Adeina was an expert at grilled cheese, since it was Dad’s favourite!  Then bedtime came, and the girls protested – what if the puppy needed them in the night?  Their grandmother gave in, and they bundled up in sleeping bags and pillows by the fire, the puppy between them and sleeping soundly.

Some hours later the phone rang, and their grandmothers voice could be heard assuring the other end it was perfectly okay, and to be safe as the roads were (a bad word they weren’t supposed to know yet) and of course she didn’t mind- have you heard from the boys yet?  Did they wind game one of their hockey tournament?  The girls dozed after that, waking when their grandmother took the puppy to check and feed it throughout the night and late into the morning.  Adeina stayed awake most of the night, rubbing the puppy warm and feeding it’s little mouth.

The puppy lived the night, and the next night, as the snow blew and the wind howled.  Their parents were gone for the weekend – their father at a hockey tournament with their brothers, and their mother working in town for the weekend and choosing not to drive.  They called a few times, but their grandmother, with a saucy wink, never said a word about the puppy – and Monday morning came too soon.  The little thing had begun to squirm and walk around, though it was small and fell over a lot.

So it was that Monday morning, instead of eating sugary ceral and watching cartoons, they were bundled up in the warm truck, heading to the veterinarian, to get the little thing looked at.

Dr. Barry Ross was a very nice man, and he gave the girls sucker candies while they waited and he spoke to their grandmother about the puppy.  They sat and watched the other dogs go by, until their Nan opened the door, inviting them in.

“I think it’s a Labrador – but it’s a runty one, and a brindle.  Probably somebody who has registered dogs – they don’t like the brindles. You definitely saved it Diane, but it’ll always be a bit small and it’s ears are going to be frostbite damaged forever.”

“But it will live?” Their Nana asked, concern in her face.

“If it lived through that storm.  It may have some issues down the road, being cold for so long.  Seizures, maybe, or kidney issues.  But she’ll be okay to keep, I’d think.”

Neke grinned at Adeina, who whispered sadly, “Mom’ll make us give it away ‘cus of Ward.”

Neke hadn’t once thought of her brother, and she frowned, tears welling up in her eyes.  Adeina was almost crying too, as they pet the puppy, because how unfair was it that they worked so hard all weekend to get the puppy healthy, and now they’d have to give it away?

Neke picked up the puppy, as it kissed her face with its warm tongue, and cried the whole way home. Even when they stopped at a store for their grandma to go in a grab something.  She knew she shouldn’t, because she wasn’t a little kid anymore, but she cried anymore. Adeina stared out the window, quietly, and their grandmother said nothing when she got back in, or when they got home.

When they got home, their dad’s truck was back, and the porch smelled of stinky hockey gear.  Nanny said nothing, again, when Adeina tucked the little puppy into her sweater, casting worried eyes at her sister.  Their Dad was home, and that meant Ward was home, and if Ward was home and he started sneezing, they would have to go right back to town to the SPCA, Mom would make them.  The girls didn’t know much about the SPCA, except that it made her parents sad if they asked about puppies they saw on TV.

Neke took ages getting her boots off because her hands still kind of hurt, and ignored her grandma and dad talking as she rubbed at her tear-stained face.  Adeina was also ignoring them, and still had her boots on, when their Daddy came into the room, and kneeled in front of them.  He was smiling, and his green eyes twinkled.

“Your grandma said you have a Christmas gift in her for us?”

Adeina looked at her sister, and unzipped her sweater, so the squirming puppy could stick its head out and let out a small woof at their dad.  He was quiet a moment and then smiled, running his rough fingers over the puppies tiny head, “Hey boys, come help us name our puppy.”

Adeina looked past her Dad, at her Mom, who was handing their brother something to swallow, and smiling.  Finally, she looked at Neke

“But Ward…”

And then their little brother Wes, ever the loud one, can running up to Neke and hugged her, “GUESS WHAT?  Dad says Ward’s old enough now he can take anihistaminnines, and we can have a dog in the house and we were gonna go get one for Christmas but Nana said you found one and so we can keep it and where is it?  Is it a girl or a boy?”

Adeina started crying this time, but she was grinning too, happy crying.

---x---

Later that day when their mother got home, the sky was crystal clear, and their Nana had long since gone home to her own farm across the road.  Their father was plowing all the snow with Wes in the big tractor, and Ward was working on the boy’s snow fort (because, as the eldest kid, he knew how to make them best he swore).  And Adeina and Neke were sitting in the snow, throwing a ball between them, as the puppy bounced between them, falling over and ears flapping in too-big calf ear-muffs.

“She looks just like hot chocolate!” Mom said, smiling at her girls.

“We should call her Choco!” Adeina said, running over to her Mom and giving her a snowy hug.

“Choco!  Yes, I like that!”

---x---

Our story began with a dark and stormy night, when the ground was frozen and snowy, and two little girls found a frozen little runt of a puppy.  Thankfully, Choco’s story did not end there, on that cold night.  Instead, two little girls rescued her, and brought her back to warmth with their love.

Choco ate the best table scraps – with her favourite being cheese (even though it gave her the worst farts).

She loved to play fetch – with a rope, a frozen glove, a ball, or even a rock.

Like most Labradors, she loved to swim – and would even dive if you threw a rock into the dugout.

She had her own chair to curl up on, and a blanket in each child’s bedroom.

She loved to trot along on horseback rides, and cattle drives, and sit on the back of the quad to go hunting.

She was smart, and loyal, and sweet – and a devil with a tug of war rope.

And she loved to lay by the fireplace, warming her belly.

She was beautiful – even though her tail always wagged kind off center, and one of her toes fell off, and her ears were always sort of crusty around the edges.

---x---

Based on the story of Choco, the puppy Neke found in the winter of 1998.  Found her while getting off the bus, in a blizzard, and stumbling into the house half froze with a puppy in her coat.

SUBMITTED: March 2nd, 2021

Cherised by all;
Honoured by many;
Obsessed with;
Candy canes and;
Oreos

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