Home Alone and Scared to Death!
Written by Philip E. Shirley
One night I stayed at home while Dad and Mom were gone to a meeting. My sister was on a date and so I was alone for the first time in my life. On that evening, I turned the radio on very quietly and started doing my school homework. The news had lately been telling about someone in the neighborhood who had been seen looking into windows to see if anyone was at home. If not, they would break in and steal things! Even though I was alone that evening, I was not scared because I had my best friend and best guard dog in the world with me. He was a purebred German Shepard and he wasn’t going to let anyone get me! Everything was going well until, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that King had gotten up and was walking toward my sister’s bedroom.
That was very unusual for King to move or to wander about the house. He usually had his spot in which he liked to lay and he would sleep there most of the time he was in the house. The entrance to my sister’s bedroom was through the kitchen. My sister’s bedroom also had a door on the other side of the room that led to the outside. Now, King had my full attention! As I watched him, King continued his slow, rigid walk to the entrance to my sister’s dark bedroom. What really concerned me was that he was completely focused on something in the darkness of the bedroom!
All of a sudden, a low growl came from his throat and the hair on his back began to stand up. I knew that dogs don’t play jokes and especially my King. I was scared, really scared because I realized that what I thought was to be a comfortable evening at home had suddenly turned into a nightmare of not knowing what or who was in my house and what might happen next. My imagination ran wild. My imagination told me that it might be the window peeper I had heard about on the news and he may have already broken into my sister’s room through the door leading to the outside.
From the protection of the lighted kitchen, I tried to see through the blackness into my sister’s room but could see nothing. I ordered King to “get him” and Immediately King lunged forward into the dark room and disappeared. I instantly regretted asking King to go into the room for fear he might get hurt. But it was too late. I was paralyzed with fear and didn’t know what I should do. My first thought was to call the police but I knew they could not get to the house in time to help us if there was actually someone already in the house. King and I had to face this alone! I quickly said a prayer that God would protect us from harm. I knew God was watching over us and that God had allowed me to have King for just this kind of moment. King was my best protection and I was his!
I looked around for something to use to protect King and me but there was nothing! Then, I remembered my baseball bat in my closet. I didn’t want to leave King alone but I had no choice. While King continued growling in the dark room, I told him to stay and ran to get my bat. I could still hear King growling in my sister’s bedroom. With my heart pounding so hard I thought it was going to explode, I approached the room with the bat pointed toward the blackness. I knew I had to get to the light switch but the light switch was on the wall on the other side of the room next to the outside door!
I entered the dark room not knowing what King and I might be facing. I looked on both sides of me but the blackness hung like curtains and I couldn’t make out anything. I could hear King growling but I could not see him. I heard something move but I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t King. I continued moving very slowly through the room toward the light switch, ready to swing the bat with all my strength should a face suddenly appear in front of me! The fear only grew because the farther I went into the room to reach the light switch, the greater the risk that someone could get behind me and block any escape back to the kitchen!
Finally, I reached the switch and turned on the overhead light. I looked wildly all around the bedroom. There was nothing there! At first, I felt instant relief. Then I realized the intruder wouldn’t just be standing there; he was probably under the bed hiding. My scary night was not over yet! The numbing dread returned and I approached the bed without knowing how to best protect myself should anyone be hiding beneath it. Without looking at King, I dropped to my knees and at the same time, thrusting the bat back and forth under the bed. I dared to raise the bed spread and look underneath the bed. There was nothing there! I froze for a second to think. I quietly got to my feet and turned toward the closed door. The tension increased because if anyone was in my house, the closet was the last place they could be hiding!
I approached the closet with my heart beating even more wildly than before. I knew this was it. He had to be there. There was simply nowhere else to hide. He couldn’t have slipped out the door to the outside because King was still softly growling. My fingers tightened on the bat. As I jerked the door open, the sight of nicely hung clothes greeted my wary eyes. There was nothing in the closet, at least, not at first glance. Slowly, I pushed back the remaining clothes aside with the end of the bat and made a cautious search of the closet space where someone might hide. I relaxed then for the first time in a long, long time.
Suddenly, I heard King growl and I quickly turned to focus on him. Was this night of terror not over? King was at my sister’s bed and was smelling of her huge stuffed dog that was lying on the pillows. His tail began to wag. King had been fooled by the sight of my sister’s giant gray and white stuffed animal! He had thought all along that it was another dog that did not belong in our house and was a threat to us! In the darkness of the room, the great stuffed dog looked real to King and he wanted to protect me! I was too relieved to be upset with King. He was just doing for what God had made him. He was my protector.
I knelt down and hugged him and told him how proud I was of him that he would risk his life for me. I looked into his big, brown liquid eyes that seemed to say, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.” I hugged him again. This time I kissed him on the neck to let him know he did exactly what he was supposed to do. He protected us to the best of his ability. As I held him, the tension from the ordeal slowly began to ease and I even laughed at the crazy things King and I had just done when we thought we were in grave danger. I didn’t know it then, but I was to be with King for many years and we were to have many more adventures together. He was the greatest dog I ever had, even if he had nearly scared me to death on the scariest night of my life!