As I sit at my desk, pen and pad at the ready, I think of the hectic last few weeks I’ve had.  My lower back is acting up again and I have phone calls to answer which I’m not sure I have a solution for.  I pose the question to myself, “Why are you doing this, Lennie?”
He lay beneath a tree for a few days, visibly injured.  Caring people bring food and water as his tail thumps with excitement, savoring human contact.  I receive the call from the great folks at Buck’s Pizza in Tryon, dear friends and great supporters.  They are heartbroken and concerned as they relate the situation to me.  I am overwhelmed with cases and struggling with diminishing funds as past cases flash before my mind.  I tell them, “find a way to get him to Landrum vet and I’ll work something out.”
With the help of Marie King, the little dynamo nicknamed Mongoose and her husband Steve, Cobra, you figure it out, they bring him to the vets.  I immediately rush over to Landrum to meet this wonderful  pit mix but I feel certain there is Pointer or Setter in there somewhere.  He is 53 pounds and estimated to be 1 ½ years old.  In honor of my good friends we name him Buck.  Besides his awesome looks, his friendly and loving ways and he has already stolen every heart at the clinic.  It is obvious he’s been struck by a vehicle; he has some bruises but there is severe damage to his right leg which he cannot use.  He is most certainly in pain but you’d never know it by his actions. This fact never ceases to tear me up.  I tearfully wrap my arms around him as he licks my face and pokes at me with his injured leg for more attention.  I turn to Dr. Maiolo, “Do whatever it is you can for him Tommy, I will find a way to handle it.”
The next day after work I stop in to visit Buck along with Buddy and  leg and Tommy calls me over to view the x-rays.   “It’s not good, Lennie,”  he explains as I see the severe split of his bone on his lower foreleg.  “I could pin it,” Tommy goes on, “but it’s in a precarious area and I don’t think it would hold.”  “What’s the solution, Tommy?” I ask. He lists procedures needed then adds, “they probably could do it Upstate but it will be expensive.”  Snowy flashes through my mind and I smile, “please send the x-rays to Dr. Keith Allen and see if and when they could take him.”  I then go back to the cages and give Buck my customary kiss and promise.  Then I call Kathy Toomey, who manages my F.H.S. Lennie’s fund and explain what’s going on.  I ask if there’s enough money in the fund to handle the case and Kathy assures me I can cover it.  “Thanks Kathy, you’re the best.”  “So are you,” she replies.  I then contact Steve King, (Marie is currently out of town) and he agrees to register Buck as  a stray turned in at F.H.S., under their name.  He also agrees to foster Buck for any recuperative time he may need when the time comes.  I thank the big fella and ask him to send Marie my prayers for her ailing father.