Prodigal Peanut

By Guy K. Henry

www.guyhenry.com

Who said that a family is made up of only people? My family includes two dogs, Peanut and Roscoe and myself. We spend our days together. We talk to each other. We take care of each other. As families go, we are a very close family.

One day I could tell that something was bothering Peanut. She just walked around the house and barely spoke to me. We took our morning walk around the house. It seemed to me that while Roscoe was busy pushing his nose into the dirt, Peanut’s eyes drifted down the hill in my back yard.

When we went back into the house, I sat on the couch and was promptly joined by Roscoe. “Lick, Lick, Lick,” his happy tongue snapped like a whip. I held my little puppy close to me and actually considered licking him, just so that he’d know how much I loved him.

“Peanut,” I called. “Miss Peanut…” It was odd that she wasn’t on the couch with Roscoe and I. I got up to look for her.

She had been lying by the door, looking outside longingly. I reached down to bring her to the couch for her adoration time. As I touched her she looked at me with eyes that clearly said, “Not now, I want to be left alone.”

Oh how I wanted to scoop her up anyway, but her little face looked very determined. She turned her head and continued staring out the door.

The day continued. Peanut didn’t eat her food. She didn’t drink her water. When I reached down to comfort her, she slid away to avoid my hand.

That night it was just Roscoe and I in bed. Peanut spent her night with her nose pressed against the door. I missed her and so longed to sweep her up and rub her behind her floppy smooth ears. Roscoe tried to make up for the empty spot in the bed, but I still missed her.

Then, first thing the next morning, Peanut dropped the bomb. She had been thinking all night long how to phrase what was on her little mind. Suddenly she blurted our, “I don’t want to stay here anymore!”

Roscoe dropped his face towel.

I dropped my toothbrush. “What’s the matter?! What do you want me to change? You can't be serious.”

Peanut just looked at me with her frustrated eyes. “You don’t understand,” Peanut continued. “I don’t want to stay here with you and Roscoe anymore. All we ever do around here is go on walks, eat our food, sing songs, sit on the couch and sleep.”

“But Peanut…” I broke in.

“Let me finish!” Peanut barked. “All day long I can hear the dogs down at the bottom of the hill having parties and having a great time.”

“But…” I said.

“No, stick with me,” Peanut demanded. “I want to go and live with the party dogs down at the bottom of the hill.”

I tried to hold back my tears as I realized that Peanut was two years old, which puts her in the middle of her teens in dog years. My sweet Peanut was certainly growing up. “But I love you! Roscoe loves you! We are a family!” I said.

“I’m just not happy here,” she said.

Sadly I went around the house and gathered her things. I gathered some of her favorite biscuits and threw them into a bag. I found her chewy bones and put them into the bag. I put a picture of Roscoe, Peanut and I into the bag. Then we went to the back door.

I held out the bag, which she grabbed with her teeth. “Won’t you stay, please!” I said.

She couldn’t answer with her mouth full. I opened the door and she trotted out. “Bye Peanut!” I sniffed. “I love you!”

I watched her until I saw her little tail disappear down the hill. Then I went and sadly sat down on our couch. Roscoe tried to make me feel better, but nothing worked.

Peanut reached the bottom of the hill after a while. She rounded the corner of a house when she met Lucky and Duke for the first time.

“Hi!” Peanut shouted.

“What’s in the bag?” Lucky asked.

“Just some of my favorite treats,” Peanut answered.

“Well, aren’t you going to share?” Duke said.

“Sure,” Peanut said as she opened the bag.

The three dogs sang, danced, and barked until three in the morning. When they woke up Lucky said, “Hey Peanut, pass me one of those wonderful crunchy biscuits from your bag.”

Peanut looked into the bag. It was empty! “I don’t have anymore,” Peanut said.

“What!!!” Lucky and Duke shouted. “Get out of here, you’re not our friend!”

Peanut was surprised at their reaction. She picked up her empty bag and walked away. That night she slept by herself by the side of the creek. There were all sorts of scary noises. Things were splashing in the creek, and she couldn’t figure out what they were. The bushes were shaking, but she didn’t see anything. “I miss my daddy,” Peanut cried. “I wish I had never left home.”

The next day it started to rain. It was cold, and Peanut sat shivering by the side of the creek. She was miserable. She had no food, so all she could eat were nasty tasting bugs that walked past her spot. They tasted disgusting. She imagined Roscoe eating his lovely can of Alpo and him stretched out napping on the couch. She missed her home. She missed her Roscoe. Most of all, she missed her Daddy!

“My daddy must be so mad at me, “ Peanut said, “I can’t go back home. “ She said that to herself a few times as the rain beat down on her. She became very sad. Finally she blurted out, “I’ll go home and ask if I can live in my daddy’s basement. That would be better than this place!”

Peanut stood up and shook off the cold rain. She looked up the hill, and slowly started to walk up it to her daddy’s house. “What will Daddy say? Will he be mad? Will he send me away?”

I was sitting on my back porch with Roscoe looking at the hill sadly. I missed my little Peanut. Things hadn’t seemed the same since she went trotting down that hill. I hoped that she was ok. Then I saw something black coming up the hill. Was it….. Yes it was. “P E A N U T !!!” I screamed. I ran down the steps and across the yard. “Peanut!” I fell to the ground and hugged my little puppy.

“I was wondering if I could live in the basement” Peanut said softly.

I stood up and held Peanut close. I looked into her black eyes and said, “No, you can’t live in the basement.”

Peanut was worried.

“You can’t live in the basement because you’re going to live in the house with us!” I said.

“The house! Really?” Peanut said. “Oh thank you, thank you!”

“Roscoe, “ I shouted. “Open up a special can of Alpo and warm it up in the microwave, for today our puppy has come home! We’re going to have a feast!”

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You can find a similar story to this in Luke 15:11-32. Isn’t it amazing how ready God is to take us back, even when we’ve ‘run away’ from Him? No  Matter what we've done, He's waiting with outstretched arms. Instead of His toe tapping with anger, God's heart is beating with love.

And, haven’t we all run away from God in one way or another? I have. God demonstrates greater forgiveness than I know, and eagerly awaits my return to Him. You?

 

 

 

Disclaimer from Peanut: "Any resemblance to any dogs named Peanut in this story is purely coincidental. Besides, Daddy said that Lucky and Duke could come up here and play"