Legends and Fairytales

I have a story to tell about a young girl.  She is strong, determined, and a brave warrior.  These qualities have not been lost to her despite a generation separating her from her ancestry.  This girl makes her mother very proud.  She is a descendent of the Cherokee Nation, as am I, but she is a better representation of those people.  I am weak and broken compared to her.

Last Friday, I picked Haven and her friend up from school.  I talked on the phone the entire way home about the inconsequential happenings in our lives.  I pulled into the driveway and stopped the car.  I got off the phone with my friend.  The girls sluggishly got out of the car and collected their belongings. That is when the nightmare began.  That's when I saw a dead baby rabbit in the mouth of the dog next door.

Let me back up.  You need to know about the situation next door, the neighbor next door.  Our neighbor is the type of man that has no regard for the lives of the animals he keeps, and he has a lot of animals.  At last count, he had twelve dogs.  He doesn't feed or shelter these animals.  He keeps them outside during winter months and does not provide elements of warmth for them.  In the heat of the summer, the dogs rarely have water.  They all drink from our pool.  They seek shade in our back yard.  When they get so skinny we can see their ribs and hearts pounding, my family feeds them.  It is not our responsibility to do so, but we have taken it upon ourselves not to contribute to their suffering, and these dogs are in fact suffering.  We've called the Sherriff's Office, we've taken some of the dogs to the humane society, only to be turned away because some of the dogs looked like they had mange.  We've talked to said neighbor about caring for his animals and keeping them out of our yard.  Nothing has worked.  He simply does not care.  A few months ago, one of his dogs got into one of my neighbor's pins and killed his baby goat and several chickens.  This man's lack of responsibility is destroying private property, and he doesn't give a thought to it.

This all came to a head last Friday.  Dead bunnies all over my yard will do that to a person.  Let's forget about the dead bunnies for a second and focus on the living bunnies that I saw snatched up by one ravenous dog.  My knees almost buckled.  I began to shake and scream.  I dropped to my knees and prayed for a quick death for the bunny.  I saw the mother rabbit take off after the dog, and felt a great respect for her.  I would have done the same thing, without regard to my own life.  I do not think the love or protection of a child makes a difference when it comes to animals or humans.  We all want to protect our children, and would die doing so.

At this point, Haven, who had been out of view behind the house, came out of no-where and began chasing the dog.  I watched her dart between the trees and cactus with little effort.  She ran faster than I've ever seen a human run before.  I am dead serious.  We go to track meets every weekend, and while those runners who participate in the meets are fast, they are not Haven fast.

We live on five and a half acres of land.  She stalked that dog until she caught up to him and knocked the rabbit out of it's mouth.  She did all of this without thought to her own personal safety. That dog could have turned on her in a heartbeat.  She picked up the bunny to find that it was still alive.  She ran back up the winding hill that leads to our home and brought me the bunny.  She did this just in time to see the next potential victim.  While her friend was running interference between the bunny and the dogs, Haven tried to catch the rabbit.  These bunnies were newly born, but knew they were in a dangerous situation.  They feared for their lives.  The bunny darted past Haven and ran head on into a large boulder that sits beside our pool.  The collision stunned the bunny, and in an effort to save itself, it jumped into the pool.  Haven jumped in after it and carried it to safety. 

We scanned the yard, but did not see any movement.  Once we got both survivors into a cardboard box, Haven said, "I'm going to kill those dogs."  The look on her face said that I should believe her.  There was much discussion about what needed to happen, and we all came to the conclusion that no matter how much we would like to kill the dogs, we couldn't.  However, the desire to severely wound my neighbor still resides within me. 

Look, I know the dogs were hungry and saw an opportunity to eat.  I can't fault them.  I know that this is the circle of life, but I do not want to be a part of it.  My neighbor has the opportunity to shield me from this and he has chosen not to.  Now it is affecting my children.  Haven is one thing because she can defend herself, but I cannot let my two youngest children go outside to play in good conscience with hungry dogs lurking in the shadows.  It's not going to happen.  However, I am not going to let some ignorant asshole neighbor keep those children from having a childhood.

We decided that we should tie the dogs to the neighbor's front door.  While Haven was doing this, the neighbor pulled up.  Here is how the conversation went:
Neighbor: (sounding concerned) What happened?
Haven: Your dogs killed a bunch of animals in our backyard.
Neighbor: Were they your animals?
Haven: Yes, they were in my backyard.
Neighbor:  But were they wild animals?
Haven:  What difference does that make?  There are dead animals all over my backyard and my mother is having an anxiety attack, so no, it does not make a difference. 
Neighbor: What do you want me to do?
Haven: Really?  I want you to lock your dogs up and not let them come in our backyard.  They are YOUR dogs.  YOU take care of them!
He told her that he would. But, he's told us that all too many times before.

Late that night, Haven took the bunnies back to their nest in hopes that the mother would come back for them.  If you know any differently, you best not tell me.  I couldn't take knowing that we sent them back out there to die.

The next afternoon, the dogs were back in our yard.  I snapped.  I called the neighbor and told him that he best get his dogs off of our property.  He assured me that the problem was being taken care of.  I asked him how so, and he told me that he was giving all of the dogs away to a humane society.  I thought, "Good, at least there they will be fed properly."  But I will also believe it when I see it, too.  That man is a liar in addition to not having any regard for the quality of life for his animals.  I gave him my thoughts on the situation and thanked him for getting rid of the dogs.  But still, in my heart, I hate this man and will never feel neighborly toward him.  Ever.

My daughter on the other hand, well, she is something special.  She is fast and kindhearted.  She jumped into action with primal intuition, all while I watched with awe.  She did things when I could not.  She was brave.

And here is where the story ends:
 
As I watched the young girl run through the wooded landscape, I had a vision.  The vision was of my Great-Grandmother, Little Red Deer, the daughter of a chief in the Cherokee Nation, a woman buried in a full head dress, a protector of spirits.   She looked like my daughter.  I believe she would have been proud to call her Granddaughter.