I Took A Break In My Naval Service After My First ...

I took a break in my Naval Service after my first enlistment. I came home and my Grand Mother on my Mothers side that I called Granny wanted me to stay with her. I loved my Granny so I moved in with her. It wasn’t long before I had a run in with Rusty. He lived there too. You see I sat down in his chair. He walked right over to the chair and sits down in the floor and stared at me. I could hear a low growl in his throat. I tried to ignore him but then he got up and cut a shine. He barked and growled and nipped at my trouser legs. So I got up and let Rusty, a small terrier dog, that belonged to my Granny have his seat.

About a week later I came home from work and Granny started cooking supper. She fixed a hamburger paddy and fried potatoes and set them on the table for me with a large glass of milk. It looked really good. Fried potatoes are a favorite of mine. I glanced over on the stove and saw this wonderful butterflied, inch thick, pork chop. I love pork chop and maybe my most favorite meat to eat. Granny reached out and got it and I couldn’t wait for her to put it on the table. I figured we could half it and have a great meal. As she passed Rusty’s food bowel the pork chop was lovingly torn up so he could eat it. I smiled and ask Granny: Why does Rusty get a pork chop and we get hamburger. She looks at Rusty and patted his head and like talking to a very small child she said: Rusty buddy has been sick. And since the little fellow was sick and my Granny loved him so much I treated him like Granny did. When he came over and sadly looked up at me I gave him some of my hamburger because he was saving his pork chop for later.

Rusty was Granny’s companion, friend, and they loved each. I still smile when I think about Rusty setting in Granny’s lap in that old brown chair with the crocheted orange, red, and brown covers on the arms as they watched a TV show together.