Pearl and Bonnie had been missing for five days.
Ron Betzen was sick with worry as he ambled down the wooded hillside from his home overlooking Fall River in Kansas. Once he reached the shoreline, he eased his waiting boat into the water and fired up the motor. The nose of the boat rose in the water as he began going up the river in a desperate attempt to find the 9-year-old Golden Lab, Pearl, and the 1-year-old mini–Australian Shepherd, Bonnie.
It was not unusual for the dogs to be gone all day after Pearl picked up a scent of a whitetail deer or any other creature that wandered through their wooded property, but they were always back by evening.
But not this time. It was going on day five and Ron knew he was running out of time. He feared the reality of country-life that they might have encountered a pack of coyotes or a mountain lion. This was also Cross Timbers country, an unusually thick ecosystem of trees and brush that strung clear down to Dallas, Texas, and regarded as almost impenetrable by early settlers.
He and his wife, Karen, had driven mile after mile of graveled roads, stopping at neighbors, flagging down cars that went by and reaching out to anyone that might have seen Pearl and Bonnie. The entire countryside of neighbors was looking for Pearl and Bonnie, but no one had seen them.
As the boat leveled off, snaking its way slowly through the high-cut banks lined with gnarled roots of massive oak trees hanging on for dear life after floodwaters eroded the dirt around their roots, Ron whistled the sharp, shrill whistle that always brought Pearl racing to his side.
He’d turn the motor off occasionally, drift and whistle, longing to the hear the bark of his old friend.
Like anyone who aches to find a friend, Ron wanted more time with her. More time to hunt ducks in the wetlands and watch her race into frigid waters to retrieve fallen birds. More time to snuggle in the chair on the deck with all 90 pounds of her curled up on his lap. More time to watch her train young Bonnie how to hunt and retrieve. More time to listen to her snore peacefully on her bed near the fireplace on long winter nights. More time to feel the mysterious strength she gave him as he fought his battle with cancer.
More time.
He wanted just a bit more time.
Slowly, he motored up the river, hope diminishing with each mile traveled, each bend in the river turned. He knew if he reached Ladd Bridge, there would be no more hope. If he could just find her before he reached there… Part of him wanted to move forward, but another part was afraid to reach the bridge knowing it was the end of hope.
The boat motored even slower now as he rounded one more bend. His lips were worn from whistling, his throat parched, his body fatigued with the cancer, his spirits diminishing with each curve taken.
Suddenly, behind him he heard a whoosh then a splash. At first, he couldn’t tell what had leapt from the ten-foot-tall bank into the water. Was it a deer? Was it a person? Was it a big fish?
“Pearl!” he cried as her head bobbed up out of the water! “Oh, my gosh, girl, I found you!”
Leaning over, he pulled the scrambling, wet, Pearl into the boat, both excitedly greeting each other like long lost friends and lovers.
By now he was soaking wet with the water from Pearl’s embrace. He pulled away and asked, “Pearl, where’s Bonnie?”
Pearl whined and looked at the shore.
“Okay, girl, take me to her. Let’s go!”
Upon reaching the shore, Pearl bounded out and began to coax Ron to follow her. Ron was uncertain, thinking that Bonnie should be the other direction, but he trusted Pearl and began to follow her through the timber, brush and grass.
Pearl ran ahead, then paused to wait for Ron to catch up. First it was a few yards, then a half mile, then a mile. Each step made Ron question even more where Pearl was taking him in the right direction.
Suddenly, Ron heard Bonnie’s bark ahead in the tall prairie grass but couldn’t see her. All at once, there she was, bouncing up and down above the grass! She was too small to see over the grass, so she popped up to see around her.
After a joyful reunion of an old dog, a full-grown man and a pup rolling around on the prairie like a bunch of kids wrestling on a playground, they slowly found their way back to the boat tied up along the river.
They all three scrambled in the boat and celebrated the reunion once again as Pearl and Bonnie licked away the tears streaming down Ron’s face.
Ron’s heart finally found rest: now, they have more time.
****
Addendum: I first wrote this story in October of 2023 and, to me, is the kind of story that frequently stirs courage and inspiration in my soul. Ron’s still fighting a hero’s battle against cancer and his trusty dogs, Pearl and Bonnie, are still in there with him for it all. And, most importantly, his wife, Karen, who is an angel from heaven that fights along side, in front of and behind, Ron in his battles. These are the best people you could ever meet.
