A Dog With No Name---Chapter 3

A dog with no name is alone in the world, fearing and avoiding all humans---until he meets a newborn baby that will change the entire world. This is a story of the First Christmas and beyond, and a young dog who meets the newborn Son of God and becomes a valued part of this very special family

Chapter 3: Unexpected Guests

His belly full, and the sun beginning to set, it was time for the dog to return to the cave that sheltered the goats.  It was warm, there was fresh water and he felt safe in the cave.  As he limped to the end of the alley and closer to the street he was puzzled with what he saw.   More humans!  Not only were the streets full of weary travelers, but they were sheltering along the sides of the street against the buildings and throughout the market place.

To the left of the dog was a woman who laid out reed mats for her family to sleep on as a man made a small fire in a clay bowl.   Two children were snuggled against each other, sleeping.  They carried scents that the dog had never smelled before; different even from the other out-of-towners.

As the dog looked around he saw other family groups doing similar things.  Some sleeping on mats, others warming their hands over small fires, still others were breaking bread.  They were smiling and greeting each other politely.    Some children played quietly together while sitting against the stone walls of the buildings.  Others slept.

The dog looked down the street and around the market place.  It was as busy as any time in the daylight!   But it was a different kind of busy.   The venders were not calling out for people to buy their wares.  The venders were not even there!  Other humans, strangers, were camping under the awnings where business was generally conducted.    The dog looked in the other direction at the buildings up and down the street.   He noticed that they were all lit with oil lamps and he could see humans in almost every window.   The buildings were full of people, the market was full of people and the sides of the street were full of people.  There was no way the dog could hide in the shadows to get back to his cave; there were simply too many people.  He would have to go into the road.

The dog nervously left the alley, moving as quickly as he could.  The limp slowed him some, but fear motivated him to move quickly.  He was surprised and relived that the people seemed too busy with other business to pay him much attention.   He made it back to his alley entrance without incident.

The dog limped quickly down the alley.  There was a family making camp there as well!  A man slept on a mat as a woman nursed a baby.   Two young children slept on mats between the man and woman.  There was another child.   A toddler that wobbly approached the dog, arms outstretched.   The dog recoiled and fear again pushed the dog quickly to the end of the alley and he jumped painfully through the break in the fence in a rush to return to the cave.

When he cleared the fence he was startled at what he saw here.  More people!  There were clusters of people in the courtyard behind the building where the cave was.  Not many and they were close to the building.  The dog pressed in close to dark shadows of the rock face and limped to the cave.  He was relieved that no humans were in there.  The goats were back, chewing their cud and paying him no attention.   The dog went to the back of the cave to the water source.  It was cool and refreshing as it seeped from the rocks and collected in the basin.   He lapped until his thirst was quenched.

The dog returned to the dark corner where he had slept the night before.  There was fresh straw.   The dog scratched it towards the recess and then made several turns upon it before he settled down.  Then he tended to his wound.  His fur was still caked with dried blood and dirt.  He attempted to clean it by licking the fur to soften the area and then nibbling at the matted hair to remove it.    The dog had removed most of the caked blood and dirt exposing the pink wound beneath.  It was seeping and stung as he licked at it.    A half hour later the dog was exhausted and fell asleep.

******

The dog was startled awake hours later by the sounds of humans approaching the cave.  He pressed into the recess as much as he could; hoping to be undetected.  He could smell humans, and a burro.   The burro stayed outside the cave, and began grazing, but the humans entered the cave.  The dog could only see one, a man, struggling with a large bundle carried in his arms.    The dog cocked his head as he realized it wasn’t one human he saw, but two.  His nose told him there was both a man and a woman, and the woman was....injured?  She smelled of stress and fear.   The dog could not see the woman at first, because it was the woman that  the man was carrying in front of himself.  She was bundled in blankets and laying across his strong arms, whimpering in pain.   The man gently laid the woman down on the ground.  She grimaced and moaned with a great pain that was coming in waves.  She would cry between the waves of pain and the man spoke softly, stroking her hair as he tried to comfort her.

A Dog With No Name---Chapter Two

A dog with no name is alone in the world, fearing and avoiding all humans---until he meets a newborn baby that will change the entire world. This is a story of the First Christmas and beyond, and a young dog who meets the newborn Son of God and becomes a valued part of this very special family

Chapter 2:  Food

A slice of sunshine lit across the dog’s face, gently rousing him.  There was a crispness in the air as the early morning sun flooded the dark cave with light.  As the dog stirred awake he quickly realized he was alone.  The goats had gone to pasture.  The dog began to stretch, but pain ripped through his hind leg from last night’s injury.     He rose awkwardly on three legs and hobbled over to the water bowl.  He lapped as the cool water refreshed him.

The dog knew a human would likely come in to clean the goat's shelter.  The smell of urine was strong.  So the dog knew he would have to find another place to hide during the day.   He limped out of the small cave and moved through the rocks and grass along the rock face wall.  The dog returned to the gap between the rock wall and the stone fence and slipped through back into the alley.

Hugging the shadows in the alley the dog worked his way towards the street.  There were so many new scents and sounds, indicating that even more people had come into town overnight.   The dog’s stomach pulled inward painfully with hunger.  The smells of food wafting from the streets into the alley caused him to drool.   He wanted to run to the delicious smells with all his heart, but the smells of the people made him anxious.  The dog licked his nose, calming himself as well as improving his sense of smell.   He smelled dried fish and goat meat, spices , cheese and dates from the market place.   The smell of food overwhelmed him and the dog felt an urgent need to leave the safety of the alley.

The dog hesitated as he glimpsed at the street from the edge of the alley.  He had never seen this many people in his town, even at the busiest times.  A wave of anxiety passed through the dog.  He knew that people did not like dogs, except for herding dogs who worked hard to maintain their low status in a human pack. The dog would have to maintain his distance while searching for food.

There was no break in the foot traffic in the town street.  Humans of all kinds were walking in the streets, most on foot, some on the backs of donkeys, and a few others in carts pulled by thin horses.   There were men leading their families while carrying sparse belongings on their backs.  There were soldiers in the street barking orders at the townspeople and new comers.  There was no way the dog would be able to cross the street in the daylight with all these humans.  He had learned that the hard way.  The dog sniffed and licked at last night’s injury, trying to muster up his courage to leave the alley.   The smell breads baking brought his attention back to the street and the dog began to drool again.

The scent wafted in the current, swirling around the dog, finally enticing him from the alley.  The dog saw a tall pile of baskets at the corner of the alley and street that he was able to slip behind.   The dog worked his way, limping, hiding behind baskets, clay jars, and tables following the scent of baking bread towards its source.

After a slow navigation, the dog emerged from under the last table.  He was very close to the source of the smell.   He hoped maybe someone would drop a piece of bread, or carelessly toss a half-eaten piece onto the street near him.  He waited for a several minutes.  Many people came and went, but no pieces of bread fell.   Famished, the dog would try to go around the building into the alley and behind the building.  Perhaps there would be trash, burned bread or other some wonderful meal.

Just as the dog left the safety of the table to cross the doorway and dart into the alley, a man emerged.  The man yelled at the dog and tried to kick him.  Luckily the man missed as the dog scurried back under the table.   The man continued to yell and the dog pressed against the wall of the building.  A stick poked under the table trying to find the dog but his luck continued to hold as the harsh blow missed him.  Just as the man was about to strike again, another man approached.  The two men started to talk and then began to walk away.   The dog shuddered and curled up under that table, his hunger forgotten.   Trembling, he began to lick at the wounds of his hind leg to soothe himself the way his mother would when he was a tiny pup.  As the dog calmed down, the suns glow settled upon him coaxing him into slumber.

******

"Shoo!  Shoo!"
The dog was startled awake by the noise of an angry woman.  She pushed the table exposing the dog.   The woman shook a broom at him forcing him to scurry across the door step and down the next alley.  The woman continued to yell at him as he limped as quickly as he could down the alley.   She seemed satisfied with the distance he had put between them because she went back into the building. 

In the alley the dog’s stomach rumbled.  He had not planned to fall asleep under that table, but the warmth of the sun against the stone building, had made sleep irresistible.  His stomach groaned again painfully, reminding him of his current goal.  He licked his nose and sniffed the air.  He could still smell the bread, but it was not freshly baked as it was this morning.  As luck would have it, the alley he was chased into led to the back of the house that had been doing all the baking.   He could smell burned pita bread, falafel and leban at the end of the alley.

The dog limped to the back of the stone building and came to a stone fence.  There was a gate and fortune held again, as he discovered the latch was not secured.  The dog nudged the gate open with his muzzle and sniffed the air cautiously.  He did not smell any dogs or humans nearby.  He spotted a wooden barrel near the back door.  He limped towards it, aching for its contents.  However, with his injured hind leg he could not balance himself well enough to reach the top.  

The dog was feeling frenzied now, as he had not eaten in two days and the delicious smells were overwhelming him.  The dog leaned back and then pushed his shoulder with all his weight and strength and toppled the barrel.  It made a clatter and the dog knew he must be quick.  He gobbled down a falafel and then grabbed a pita bread and limped quickly back into the alley.  He pressed into the shadows holding his bread tightly in his jaws, drool running nad hanging from his lips.  He could hear the woman enter the yard from the stone building.   She looked around the yard, picked up the barrel and pulled the gate closed and secured the latch.  When she returned to the house, the dog relaxed enough to eat his prize.

A Dog With No Name----Chapter One

A dog with no name is alone in the world, fearing and avoiding all humans---until he meets a newborn baby that will change the entire world. This is a story of the First Christmas and beyond, and a young dog who meets the newborn Son of God and becomes a valued part of this very special family


Chapter One

A dog with no name limped deeper into a dark narrow alley, pressing his injured body against the cold stone wall.  He tried to disappear into the safety of the shadows, hoping he was alone as he examined his left flank.  The slice in his hide had stopped bleeding, the fur caked with congealed blood and dirt from the road.    The dog tried to put weight onto his left hind leg then yelped in pain.  It throbbed but he summoned up the courage not to whimper.

The dog was confused by the recent increase in the numbers of people entering this quiet little town.   From the alley the dog looked at the buildings across the way.  He could see people in every window and crowding the doorways.  They even filled the cobblestone streets and were becoming impossible to avoid.   By their strange smells the dog knew they were travelers from great distances.   They carried on them scents unlike any he knew. 

Being a stray the dog had never trusted people.  He avoided the people and the people ignored him and that relationship suited the dog just fine.  But now there were so many people it was difficult to avoid them, making it harder to find food and shelter.  The dog licked at his injured flank and recalled how earlier this evening he had tried to run across the street to a dependable source of food.  The dog dodged one group of travelers but did not see the oncoming horse pulling a heavy laden wooden cart.   The dog could not dodge the horse's hooves quickly enough.   He was struck, clipped by a hoof, and tumbled between the horse and the cart it was pulling.   The wheel narrowly missed him and the dog scrambled back off the street towards the dark alley.  Injured and scurrying away he heard people shouting but they did not follow him.

The dog could not go back to the streets.  He could not return to his usual shelter by one of the outer gates of the town.   The dog would need to find shelter close by.  He sniffed the air.   Cool air from the hill above drifted from the back of the alley towards the dog.  It did not carry the scent of humans. The dog limped deeper into the alley looking for shelter.  To his left was a large mound of rubble, he would not be able to cross that, not with his injured leg.   To his right was a fence of roughly laid large stones that set the boundaries of the yard for the small stone house that edged the alley.  He sniffed and limped along this wall.  He could not jump over it in his condition, so hoped he could locate an opening.  He could smell a current wafting from further along the fence.  This smell was different than the alley or the street, and it was at a low level, so probably not coming from over the wall...it was hopefully indicating an opening in the fence, an opening hopefully he would be able to squeeze through. 

As the dog limped along the fence line, the smell became stronger.  Goats!  He quickly identified that smell; there were many goats throughout the town.  And where there are goats, there is shelter, bedding and water.  He felt his luck turning as he saw a gap in the fencing where it met a large rock face.   He sniffed cautiously through the opening to be sure there were only goats on the other side.  He did not want to meet up with a herding dog, or worse, a human.   But all he could smell was goat.  He wedged himself through the opening, pressing and scraping his injured flank.  As he stumbled into the well grazed paddock, he held in a yelp, not wanting to alert anyone that he was there.

The dog surveyed the paddock.  To his left was the rock face, a steep hill with no vegetation.  To his right was the back of the buildings that lined the streets of the little town.  Some of the buildings were seemingly stacked one on top of the other and merged with the rock face in the distance.  Immediately in front of the dog, the ground was rocky and dry and what little grass he saw was brown.  The short scrubby trees were stripped of their leaves, except a few dry brown leaves dangling from the highest branches.  He did not see any goats, but his nose knew they were nearby.  He could also smell that a human--a male--had walked through recently.  The dog hoped this meant a final check on the goats and that the man would not be back until the break of dawn.  He did not smell another dog, a good sign for him. 
The smell of the goats grew stronger as the dog limped along the rock face to a dark opening.  It appeared at first, a cave.  But as the dog got closer, and the smell of goats stronger, the dog realized this cave was the shelter for the goats, and for him.  The cave’s opening was wide, but narrowed the deeper it went.   Once inside the cave grew smaller and darker.  The ceiling was lower than the outer edge of the cave.    It appeared that it was made by a human, probably rocks scratched out of the rock wall were the same ones used for the fencing....at least they smelled the same.

There were several goats in the cave. Most were bedded down, huddled together, chewing their cud; three goats were standing at a wooden manger pushed back against the cave wall, pulling at the hay left by the human.  There was coarse straw on the floor for bedding.  There was no watering trough, but the dog could hear a dripping sound near the back of the cave.  There must be a spring behind those walls, the dog thought, smelling the coolness of the water.  The drippings from the rock were collecting into a stone basin placed on the floor.  That is what he needed, water.  The goats paid no attention to the dog as he lapped at the water.  It was as if the goats were used to dogs....not a good sign.  But the dog was tired and would deal with other dogs in the morning if necessary.  The dog found a dark corner, a bit of a deeper recess in the back wall of the cave.  Some straw was pushed against it and the dog, limping, made several circles on the straw creating a bit of a nest.  This would help to hold in his warmth.  The dog laid down, surveyed his surrounding once more, then quickly fell asleep.  As he drifted off, the dog sensed his world was changing but little could  he understand  that this change would impact not just him, but the entire world.

Flash Mob--Christmas Style

Be sure to watch to the end  =)

God's Love

God takes us as we are

He breaks us down

He pours Himself out on us

Re-shapes us

Makes us New

In us, He creates something beautiful