Of Dogs & Wives | Luke Foyle | Grade 9
either end of that one fragment of a quote he kept
thinking of. He realized then that he had forgotten
to remember the other piece and certainly forgot to
live it. It was that one catch, “Husbands love your
wives as Christ loves the Church.” The sole reason
that he had got nothing out of his marriage was just
like the coffee; he didn’t put enough into it for it to
actually do anything for him. He paid his wife little
to no attention; consequently, she meant nothing
to him. Virtually everything he did was directed to
his dogs and not to Susan. Jerry confessed to himself
that he had walked through thirty years of marriage
with his head in a dog box and his mind plowing
through sparkleberry thickets, scrub, and switch-
cane on the river to where his dogs had treed a coon.
His pack had risen to supreme importance in his life
because it was the focus of all his attention. As with
the herd of deer that he had seen that morning, a
dog does not think like a man does and therefore a
dog is no fit companion for a man. There was no use
arguing with good sense.
His wife would be the perfect companion for him if
only he would realize it and act like she was such.
Jerry wasn’t going to review all the Bible quotes that
demonstrated that point. For his marriage to be truly
appreciated, Jerry realized that he had to extract
himself from whatever was distracting him and
return the favors that his wife gave to him.
A wife isn’t the only one who has to live the
marriage. Jerry now knew that the answer to the
question that the bearded hunter had asked in the
diner was that man’s best friend was his wife. She
and her husband live together and help each other,
not live with each other and one works for the
master, like a coon dog does.
It is true that Jerry kept hunting. There was no
reason to stop completely. He just had to realize that
a dead coon and a tired dog is not life’s fulfillment.
When she came back, Jerry Shields regarded Susan
with a due respect and genuine consideration.
Instead of pushing through bays and river swamps
all night and then returning in the early morning
with his only care being for his pack of dogs, Jerry
helped his wife with things around the house. He
also now judged it wiser to go coon hunting only
when he was free to do so.
Jerry Shields, after thirty years of marriage, had
learned that a dog is man’s best tracker of coons, but
it cannot be rated as anything more.
Luke Foyle
is a native South Carolinian and in ninth
grade. He has been enrolled in Seton Home Study School
since third grade and his favorite subjects are definitely
Latin and Religion. He has served the altar since he was
seven years old. In addition to his high school curriculum,
he supplements his education by learning to make and do
a variety of things. He works with metals, wood, fur and
textiles and is an avid hunter, trapper, and fisherman, and a
good cook. In the summer, he runs a lawn business with his
brother.
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BAYLEY BULLETIN, MAR-MAY 2016
