We got Indy (short for Indiana Jones) when I was 8 years old and in the second grade. He was a mutt (not sure a mix of what breeds). From what I remember, I believe we got him from a pound near a police station in Tuscaloosa.

From that day forward, we were inseparable; the neighborhood was ours! He tagged along with many of our adventures-from playing in the Old School yard to riding bikes to the river and back. He also napped with me upstairs in my old playhouse.

As you can imagine, he was loyal, like most good dogs. He seemed to smile at you. Once, when my sister was in a Christmas on the River parade, he followed her the entire parade route (if you’ve been to this parade, you know this isn’t a short parade by any stretch). When he came home after the parade, he had a sucker in his mouth (appearing to suck on it as we do-stick end sticking out and all).

He was also a companion for when times got tough. Two summers in a row (from the end of 8th grade and the end of 9th grade),  I had two best friends move away (a water boy and a spikey haired skater boy). Indy was there to comfort me on both occasions as hot tears streamed down my face as I hugged him as he sat beside me on our carport. After graduating high school, he was there waiting for me when I would come home from UA.

One day as I was about to leave to go back to school, I accidentally bumped him as I was backing out of the drive. He was not hurt (I was not going very fast, thankfully) but I was devastated. I could not stand the thought of hurting my best friend. It was then I knew he was getting old and tired. I knew it would be a matter of time before he would pass.  He continued to hang on for a few more years surprisingly, but then one day, I got the phone call from my dad. He had passed away peacefully underneath my sister’s home.  I was 23 years old.  The pain was deep, and it was though the chapter titled “Childhood” had been closed.

I still dream about Indy. I miss him. I know that one day we will meet again when it’s time for me to leave this earth. I asked my grandmother before she passed to take care of him. I know they are waiting on me. There’s an episode of “The Twilight Zone”, one of my favorite old shows from the 60’s, where a man and his dog go coon hunting and they end up drowning. The next scene shows them walking down a path when the man realizes they have died. He stops at one gate and the man welcomes him in what appears to be heaven but says only the man is permitted. The man refuses to go in without his dog.  They continue along the path and he meets another gentleman who welcomes both the man and dog. It is soon discovered that the first gate was actually hell, and the gate the man enters with his dog is heaven.

One of my favorite quotes from that episode epitomizes how I fill about dogs and heaven-

“A man can walk into hell with eyes wide open but the devil can’t fool a dog.”