Stray Secrets
Friends can be valuable teachers
I started collecting secrets a long time ago, probably when I was just six years old. Charlie Deller’s stash of batteries buried in his backyard. Old Man Parker’s visits out of town to try to cure his sick dog.
It started small. I never found out why Charlie buried those batteries. I guess it was just a silly game as kids. A stray dog dug them up and chewed on them. It got sick but survived. Charlie came to me, worrying the police would take him. I told him not to worry and that I would keep it quiet for him. He seemed to relax a little.
I became friends with the dog, and that is how I ended up talking to Old Man Parker. When he saw me out with the dog while he was walking his, he would always tip his hat and say hello.
“Say, Alec, you have a fine dog there. I hear you have been taking good care of it. I am travelling to find someone to take good care of mine.”
I found out most of Old Man Parker’s secrets. Most of them were dogs. He took in strays, nursed them back to health and had them sent off to new families. Sometimes they sent back photos, plenty of smiling kids. He showed me them and told me their names whenever I visited for tea.
I got sad sometimes thinking about Old Man Parker and all his lonely secrets. He cared so much, and nobody knew. He told me not to tell anyone. It was just his way of quietly spreading happiness into the world. It would ruin the magic of it if I told everyone about it. He said real life was not like fairy tales. He talked to me a little about when his wife died.
She had been a kind lady, and I guess that is where he got it. He told me that when he was in the hospital the night she passed away, that was the only time he ever cried.
“You have to fight it, kid. You have to fight the sadness with all your heart. I wish it were easy, but nothing is. That is the only secret you ever need, Alec.”
