The Christmas tree lights had been turned off and the bird dogs heard footsteps creaking down the hall above them, two doors closing, then silence. The humans had gone to bed. Everything was quiet except for Molly the Red Setter’s snoring that seeped out from under the closed door to her room. Maggie and Bella, the German Shorthair Pointers didn’t mind. They were used to it. Both dogs lay on their towel beds inside their kennels staring at the stairs that led up to the living room.
“Bella,” Maggie whispered. “Are you sure this is the day?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” Bella whispered back. “Mike is home and we saw them put some presents under the tree.”
“But Mike comes home all the time. How do you know this time is different?”
“Because, they all said Merry Christmas and that’s when Santa shows up.”
“Will you two be quiet?” Growled Molly from her room. “I’m trying to sleep.”
“Molly, aren’t you excited about Santa coming?” Squeaked Maggie.
“I would rather sleep. You wake me when he gets here.”
No matter how much she tried, Maggie just couldn’t stay awake and drifted off. Bella lasted a little longer, but she dropped off too. They hunted in a new place that day. New places make gun dogs think and brain work tires them out faster than physical work. To be fair, the physical work was hard too. Tall grass and lots of water. The birds were spooky and flushed wild, but Kerry was happy with the dog’s work until… well, you’ll see in a bit.
The clock in John’s office chimed midnight. Bella yawned at the noise and flipped over in her kennel to get more comfortable when she saw a flash of light reflected off the white staircase walls from upstairs.
“Maggie!” Bella whispered. “He is here. Wake up!”
“Hmmmm …what?” Maggie replied only half awake.
“Santa! He is here!” Bella’s tail excitedly thumped against the side of her kennel like a jackhammer.
Maggie, now fully awake, jumped to her feet and bumped the roof of her kennel.
“Molly! Molly! Santa is here!” She called.
Santa glided down the stairs with his finger to his lips and sat down on the second step.
“Hush you two. You’ll wake everyone up.”
He waved his hand and the kennel doors opened. Both GSPs rushed out and practically jumped in Santa’s lap. One hundred pounds of dog almost tipped Santa over. He pushed both dogs back and they immediately sat down.
“Hi Santa! Did you bring us treats?” Maggie asked all a quiver.
“You know I always do Maggie.”
“Santa. Could you please open my door?” wheezed Molly from her room.
“I am so sorry Molly!” Santa said as he waved his hand to open Molly’s door. The old setter was unsteady on her feet as she shuffled up to Santa for a pet. Santa held Molly’s chin in his hand as he gently stroked her head. He gazed into her brown eyes and saw they had dimmed in the past year.
“How are you feeling Molly?” He asked in a concerned voice.
“Oh, you know. The stairs are getting hard to climb and the tile upstairs is slippery. Santa?” Molly leaned in to confess in his ear. “I can’t hunt anymore. I can’t keep up. I would rather take naps and watch the birds in the yard.”
“Well, that’s good. You have worked hard. You deserve retirement.”
Bella and Maggie heard every word, of course, and looked at the ground embarrassed. They noticed Molly didn’t go hunting with them anymore, but no one wanted to talk about it.
Then Maggie piped up.
“Molly you can still hunt a little. You had that cat pointed and held it until John showed up and let it get away.”
“What cat Molly?” Santa inquired in a severe tone. Molly backed up a little and sat.
“The neighbor’s cat jumps over our fence to hunt our robins. Bella saw it and tried to chase it away but got slashed by the cats’ claws.”
“Right on my nose,” said Bella mournfully. “It really hurt.”
“She was bleeding bad and ran away all scared,” said Maggie.
“Shut up pipsqueak. I was not scared.”
“I was trying to help Bella,” Molly explained over the noise of the arguing GSPs.
“You yelped and yelped,” Maggie assured. “I heard it. I know your scared yelp.”
Poor Santa was looking from dog to dog trying to keep pace with the story. He was tired and cold. Flying around the world in an open sled will do that to a fella.
“What happened to the cat?” He asked the pack trying to get them to focus.
“Well, John showed up and told me to ‘Leave It’, so I did, and the cat jumped back over the fence.” Molly said.
Santa looked at the GSPs.
“Is that what happened?”
Bella nodded yes and Maggie shook her head no.
“John grabbed you by the collar, Molly, and dragged you away because you were going to get that cat as soon as she tried to jump the fence!” Maggie exclaimed.
“Yes, he grabbed me, but I was just going to freeze the cat in place by pointing so Bella could get away from those claws. John didn’t understand.”
“But what about the plan you told me?” Maggie asked.
“Yeah, what about the plan?” Bella chimed in.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Molly protested. “I think a porcupine quill is in your brain.”
“All right. Enough!” Santa glared at the dogs. “Is the cat OK? And what porcupine quill?
“The cat is fine except for a little tuft of tail hair Bella pulled out of her,” Maggie assured Santa. “I found the porcupine though I didn’t know what it was when I found it.”
“OK, tell me about the porcupine.” Santa had his head in his hands. I know exactly what he was feeling. I am like this after having these talks with the pack.
Bella spoke up. “Do we have to talk about it?”
“Yes!” Maggie proudly said. She stood with her front feet on Santa’s legs and got nose to nose with him so he wouldn’t miss a word.
“Bella and I were out for a fast hunt with Kerry,” Maggie said. “That’s my favorite kind of hunt because I run very fast. Now, I know birds like to hide in those spikey bushes that poke my ears.”
“Hawthorns, Santa,” Molly explained.
“Yup, Hawthorns. That’s what I said, Molly.” Santa gave Molly a quick glance and waved his hand at her to be quiet. He would never finish his rounds if they started arguing again.
“I was checking out the bushes,” Maggie continued, “when I smelled something new. It wasn’t a bird; it was something different. I snuck into the bush to discover what smelled like that. Then I saw it! It was smaller than me and funny looking. I told it to run away but it wouldn’t, then it laughed at me and told ME to run away. I started barking to scare it, but it wasn’t scared at all. That’s when I knew…”
Maggie paused for dramatic effect.
“Knew what?” Cried an exasperated Santa.
“It could be dangerous! I let out my Danger Close Bark to warn Kerry and Bella.”
“Danger Close Bark?” Santa asked instantly regretting it.
“They do it when the delivery guys come, or the kids run by the house,” Molly sighed. “They are both idiots.”
“I was being brave!” Maggie continued. “Bella came running to back me up. Kerry was way behind us, and she was yelling something, but she didn’t understand the danger we were all in. My collar was buzzing Recall but I was worried the whatever it was would follow me back to Kerry, so I ignored the buzzing.”
“Kerry was trying to keep you from getting into trouble,” Santa said.
Bella took over the story.
“When I got there, Maggie told me about the dangerous creature. I had smelled this smell before when I was a puppy, but I didn’t remember any danger.”
“That’s because it was high up in a tree dummy!” Molly practically shouted. “I was there that day. The humans were trying to get you to stay away from the porcupine you were tracking in the snow. Remember?”
“Oh yeah,” Bella said after thinking about it. “Why didn’t you remind me?”
“Because I wasn’t there!”
“Oh, that’s right!”
“Do you think we can move this story along?” Santa pleaded.
“Sure, thing Santa. Since Maggie was a scaredy cat, I went into the bush following my nose. There it was. I remembered John calling it a porcupine. I was trying to be friendly and give it a closer sniff when, WHAM. It hit me with its tail on the side of my face. It really hurt so I ran out of the bushes to warn every one of the danger.”
Maggie pitched in.
“Bella was yelling, “Danger, Danger” and yelping her scared yelp just like with the cat. I ran to Kerry to tell her to hurry up and help Bella. Kerry said I saved Bella’s life.”
“No, she didn’t,” Bella retorted. “She said, “What the hell is going on?”
“I’ll bet she did,” Santa chuckled.
“Anyway, “Maggie said, “We went back to the truck where Kerry pulled out a bunch of stickers from Bella’s face. It was terrible. Bella kept yelping “Ouch!” Kerry was so upset she lost John’s, what do they call them… ?”
“Forceps!” Molly said.
“That’s it! Forceps! Then we went home so John could pull more out. Lucky, he had more forceps.”
Santa examined Bella’s chin and nose.
“You have quite a few battle scars there Bella. You will be fine though. I’ve got some forceps in my bag for fisherman and doctors. I’ll leave a pair for John.”
There is no need, Santa. I’ll never go near one again!” promised Maggie.
“How about you Bella?”
“I don’t want forceps. I don’t have thumbs.”
“Oh, dear lord…” Molly moaned. “Do you see what I put up with?”
“OK you three. It is getting late and I have to go. I’ll leave treats for you in the usual cabinet and stick the forceps on John’s fly-tying desk.” He walked Molly to her room then bent over and whispered in her ear for a minute or so. As he talked, Molly stood taller and her tail wagged like a puppy’s. She seemed younger and less white around her face. Her eyes were clear and bright. Santa stroked her head and told her what a good girl she was.
“Don’t forget what I said. Merry Christmas.”
“I’ll remember Santa!” Molly said as he closed her door behind him.
“Santa!” Molly called after him. Santa stopped and looked back.
“Will Seamus be…”
Santa interrupted her. “Remember. It’s a secret Molly.”
“Oh that’s right. Sorry. Merry Christmas!”
Santa smiled and waved goodbye as he closed the door and faced Bella and Maggie.
“You two kennel up,” they dashed in and he closed their kennel doors behind them. Bella was asleep in an instant.
“Santa?” Maggie the ever curious bird dog whispered, “What did you tell Molly? She looked happy and who is Seamus?”
“Seamus was John and Kerry’s first gun dog and a pack mate of Molly’s. She misses him. She is also upset she can’t hunt anymore. I told her it happens to everyone eventually. I also told her something I tell all older gun dogs but it’s a secret. When you get older, I’ll tell you too.”
“Is it a nice secret?” Maggie asked with half closed eyes.
“All my secrets are nice Magda Von Magic City. You just concentrate on being the best bird dog you can be. Goodnight and Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas Santa.” Maggie yawned, settled in, and began to dream of grouse, porcupines, and bacon.
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Merry Christmas to all of you and yours. Thank you for reading my stories and I hope you have a healthy and prosperous New Year.
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Another wonderful story. Thanks for sharing photos of all the dogs, and Kerry.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Hope