Bo

Follow the Sun (Fiction) (Based on a Prompt)

Here’s my submission for this week’s Stories from the Jukebox prompt, Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles. Thanks to MJ for the series and Rick for the prompt. Beatles song titles in bold. Here Comes the Sun lyrics in bold italics.

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Lance kept sawing.

The pile of wood was dwindling, his pace was not.

He never even heard the truck pull up. Or, the gate open. Or, the beer top pop. He just kept at it.

“Damn, looks like you’re on a mission.”

“Hey Trey, sorry… didn’t see you. You made it back?”

“Yep, we got in last night. Want a beer?”

“Sure, what’s happening?”

“Nothing really, Beth’s over at her sister’s, thought I’d see what you were up to. She told me Dave hasn’t seen you all week.”

“Yeah, I just thought I’d take a few days off and get some more firewood ready. I think we’ll have another cold spell after this little heat wave moves on.”

“You’ve got your own firewood factory here.”

“Yep, all the wood I’ll ever need right outside my back door.”

“So, what’s going on, Lance?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You’ve been working with Dave for over twenty years, he says you won’t even answer your phone.”

“I’m just tending to some things.”

“I know, but what else is going on?”

Logs were crackling in the fire behind Lance as he kept sawing.

He finally stopped, laid the saw down, picked up a beer and stared off into the distance.

“I saw something strange in the woods the other day.”

“What was it?”

“A dead dog at the base of the mountain. Out past Miller’s pond. It was beat up… bloody. Something about it didn’t seem right.”

Lance stood looking, staring up at the mountain.

“What’d you do with it?”

“Nothing. Left it where it was.”

“Hey, where’s Bo?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? That… that dog wasn’t….”

“No, it wasn’t Bo. He was with me.”

“Okay, damn.”

“Yeah… something weird is going on out there, though. Bo loves that pond, but lately, he won’t go anywhere near it. Gives it a wide berth every time we get close. Same as that day, he just headed toward the house when I went to check on the dog. Then, when I got home, he wasn’t there. Haven’t seen him since.”

“When was that?”

“Tuesday”

“Wow, four days.”

“Yep.”

“Have you looked for him?”

“All day, every day. I’ve asked everyone in the area and I’ve looked everywhere I know to look.”

“You think he’ll come back?”

“I don’t know. He’s never done this before.”

“Hey, my sister is selling Labradoodle puppies, kind of pricey, but what if I get you one? I’ll pay.”

“Trey, you know you can’t buy me love. If I can’t have my lab, I don’t want it… sorry.”

Trey headed back home, where he told Beth about his conversation with Lance.

“Oh no! I hate to hear that. He loves that dog like nothing else.”

“Yeah, after Sally died, he turned all of his attention and affection to that pup.”

“You’re right, he spends eight days a week with that dog. I haven’t seen him without Bo since last Spring.”

“Lance just didn’t look right, Beth. Something seemed off. He’s all helter-skelter. I’m worried about him.”

“We need to come together for him. What’s that song? With a little help from my friends. I’ll get some posters printed up and you can put ‘em around town.”

Trey stopped by Lance’s house again on Saturday and found him working in the garden.

“Any sign of Bo?”

“Nothing. I got up early this morning and hiked around on the mountain. I’m gonna go farther out this afternoon.”

“Beth had posters made with Bo’s picture on ‘em. I put them everywhere.”

“Thanks Trey, tell Beth I appreciate it.”

“What do you think happened to the dog by the lake, Lance? Bear, maybe?”

“I don’t know, it’s gone now. Maybe a bear dragged him off. I went over to check it out this morning and it’s gone. Like it was never there. No signs. No blood. Nothing.”

“Damn!”

“Yeah man, creepy. All the more reason to move on.”

“Aw dude, don’t make any rash decisions. We like having you around here.”

“I don’t know… you think you could get Beth to stop by and see if she wants any of Sally’s things? Trying to downsize in case I head off somewhere.”

“Where would you go?”

“Don’t know, maybe I’ll follow the sun.”

“Maybe we need a fishing trip down to Reidsville. Get a cabin, stay on the water for a couple of days.”

“Not sure I’m up for that. Can’t pull my head out of the dark, you know? It’s been a long, cold, lonely Winter. I miss what I used to have. It feels like years since it’s been here.”

On Sunday morning, Trey got up early to go back out and search. He was worried something bad could have happened to him, which would be devastating for Lance.

Mid-afternoon, he was driving on Railey’s Trail, an old logging road about five miles from Lance’s place when he pulled over to give him a call.

“Hey Lance, anything on Bo?”

“No. I’m headed back home, I checked over the mountain and down Trace Road… didn’t see anything. But, I found out what happened to that other dog.”

“What was it?”

“A damn alligator.”

“What?”

“The idiot that moved into Pat’s old place across the lake, brought a little gator with him when he moved up from Louisiana.”

“The kid that only stayed around for a couple of months?”

“Yep! When he moved on he must have left him behind. A wildlife tracker told me they had tried to catch him but haven’t had any luck yet. He said a few folks caught a glimpse of him over by the pond.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Yeah, doesn’t give me much hope for Bo.”

“Well, hang in there, bud, I was just checking in. Have a good evening. I’ll see you soon.”

Trey dropped his head into his hands, thinking the worst.

After a few minutes, he got back on the road and headed south to the very last place he could think to check.

A little later, as the sun was beginning to set, Trey called Lance.

“Hey, Lance, you home?”

“Yeah, just got here.”

“Good! I’m gonna stop by. See ya’ in a sec.”

Trey pulled into the driveway as Lance was walking outside. He parked, walked around the truck and stopped before opening the passenger door.

“Hey Lance… it’s all right, here comes the sun.”

He opened the door and Bo bounded down and made a beeline for Lance.

Lance couldn’t believe his eyes.

“BO! Oh my God! BO!”

Trey leaned back against the front of his truck just in time to watch one of the sweetest stretches of a day he could remember.

Bo ran so hard he knocked Lance backwards onto the ground and then got busy licking every single inch of his body. Lance was crying tears of joy the whole time.

Trey was wiping away a few tears of his own as he pulled his phone out to call Beth.

“Hey, Babe. Guess what? It’s a good day sunshine. I found Bo.”

“What? Are you kidding me? Is he okay?”

“Oh yeah! He looks like he’s had a hard days night. He’s a little skinny and dinged up a bit, but he’s fine. I’m sitting here watching him with Lance. It’s a pretty damn cool reunion. So good to see the smile’s returning to the faces, on both of them. I haven’t seen Lance this happy in a long time.”

“Well they say, all you need is love, and now he’s got it. Maybe he’ll get back to being his old self. Where on earth did you find Bo?”

“Do you remember last year when Sally died, Lance and Bo went out to Todd’s old hunting cabin? They stayed out there for weeks, until Mick and I talked him into going back home. It was the last place I could think of to check.

“When I got there, I eased up slowly and saw something moving on the porch. I was thinking, please, let it be him. He was just lying there in the sun. It took a little prodding to persuade him to get up and then to hop in my truck. It was like he was waiting on Lance.

“I guess he was traumatized seeing that dog by the lake. Lance always says he’s a really sensitive pup. Maybe that’s all he knows to do when sadness is around and the chips are down. I guess Lance never thought about checking that place.”

“Wow!”

“Yeah, I’ll be home in a minute. I’m gonna leave these two lovebirds alone. Give ‘em their moment in the sun. I’ll tell him where I found Bo later. See ya’ in a bit.”

Trey grinned mightily at Bo and Lance rolling around on the ground, then got back into his truck, dialed up his favorite Beatles song, and drove off singing

Here comes the sun

and I say

it’s all right.