Pal and the Accident

“Mom, mom!” Kami sobbed as she ran into the tiny kitchen of our cabin, “Pal's been hit by a truck! Pal's been hit!”

I dropped the dish I was washing and rushed outside with Kami to see what had happened.

A brown truck was stopped on the road in front of the cabin, it's driver, a middle-aged man, was standing on the other side of our fence, talking to Krissi, Jessica, and Jodi. He looked up as I came outside and began apologizing profusely.

“I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,” he repeated over and over again. “Just as I came around your corner there the dog ran out into the road and I couldn't stop in time. I hit him hard! I'm so sorry!”

Kami was running all around the cabin, sobbing, the other girls running after her, calling at the top of their voices for Pal, but above the din I tried to assure the fellow that we knew it wasn't his fault.

Chamberlain Trail was a narrow dirt road that climbed a hill and turned a sharp corner right before our cabin. No one could tell what was ahead, and even though Pal loved to roam and explore the woods, he had a habit of running home every time he heard a car approaching, following his instinct to protect Kami, I suppose.

“But where is Pal now?” I asked in confusion. If he'd been hit by the truck, why wasn't he lying on the road?

“I don't know,” the man told me in wonder. “I hit him hard, but he took off like a bolt of lightening instead of falling down.”

“I think I saw him run down the hill,” Jessica told me, coming back to listen as I talked to the man. She and her sister Jodi, Kami and Krissi's best friends, were spending the week with us up at the cabin.

Kami came back around the cabin just then, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I don't know where Pal is,” she cried in anguish. “I can't find him anywhere.”

Putting my arms around her, I hugged my eight year old daughter tightly. What could we do? I had no idea where Pal would be either, but I could imagine him lying on the ground, bleeding to death before we found him.

I did the only thing I could think to do. “Kami,” I spoke quietly in her ear so she would listen to what I was saying. “Let's say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us find Pal. And let's ask Him to help Pal be OK, if it is His will.”

Kami stopped pulling away and immediately bowed her head. “Do you want to say the prayer?” I asked.

She nodded, and began: “Heavenly Father, please help me find my dog, and help him to not be hurt bad.”.

As soon as she finished I said, “Let's go down and look by the creek. Maybe Pal is down there.” I don't know why I said it, except Kami hadn't found him up by the cabin, and that's the first place I thought to look. The girls raced off ahead of me, I thought I ought to talk to the man with the truck. A few seconds later I heard them calling up the hill, “We found him! We found him!”

Sure enough, moments later they came trooping up the hill, Kami holding onto her beloved golden retriever. Both the man and I went to meet them and see how Pal was doing. He was shaking all over, but besides that he didn't seem to be hurt at all.

“I can't believe it,” the man said after checking Pal out. “I was sure he was killed or at least hurt bad.”

I thanked him for being so concerned and he got in his truck and drove away. Then I went back to Kami and asked her where she'd found Pal.

“He was hiding in the bushes down by the creek,” she told me. “He was afraid to come when I called, but I found him when I went down there like you told me.”

I gave her a big hug and patted Pal's head affectionately. “I think Heavenly Father loves you an awful lot, and Pal, too,” I told her happily. “He sure did answer your prayer quickly. Do you think you ought to tell Him thank you?”

So Kami said another prayer that day, kneeling on the back porch with her arms around her dog. She thanked Heavenly Father with all her heart, and I felt sure that she would never forget how He had answered her prayer.