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Occasionally, a very cool story comes our way. My definition of “very cool” is that story that has the appeal of a mini-movie. That kind of story came our way a couple of years ago when we discovered that Robert Ross, a local mail carrier, had a companion that walked his route with him everyday.
The story was the stuff of legends. There’s a little dog named Suzy who left her house punctually each morning and waited patiently for Ross to get ready to start his beat. She made the route with him and was well known around town for her daily deliveries. She was formally adopted as a member of the Gurdon Post Office and employees bought her a uniform to help protect her against the elements. (After all, mail delivery doesn’t stop for the rain.) She clocked out every afternoon, returning home where her owners no doubt waited with a good meal for their hard-working canine.
Gurdon residents mourned the loss of Mr. Ross when he died but Suzy hooked up with his replacement and continued to work.
Last week, Suzy was struck by a car near her home and died. No doubt there will be many people who mourn her passing and her absence will surely be felt.
While I’m saddened by the thought that the little dog’s life has ended, I can’t be sad for her life. Suzy was, as I said, the stuff of legends. She wasn’t taught to “run a route” with a mail carrier. She took that job on herself. As is the case with all legends, I expect the magnitude of her story will grow as time passes. Undoubtedly there will come a time when the old-timers are remembering the things they’d seen and one will spin a yarn about an important letter that was delivered by a little dog that worked for the post office, long after the normal hours of operation, in a raging blizzard with visibility down to zero.
In my mind, that’s already not that far from the truth.
Occasionally, a very cool story comes our way. My definition of “very cool” is that story that has the appeal of a mini-movie. That kind of story came our way a couple of years ago when we discovered that Robert Ross, a local mail carrier, had a companion that walked his route with him everyday.
The story was the stuff of legends. There’s a little dog named Suzy who left her house punctually each morning and waited patiently for Ross to get ready to start his beat. She made the route with him and was well known around town for her daily deliveries. She was formally adopted as a member of the Gurdon Post Office and employees bought her a uniform to help protect her against the elements. (After all, mail delivery doesn’t stop for the rain.) She clocked out every afternoon, returning home where her owners no doubt waited with a good meal for their hard-working canine.
Gurdon residents mourned the loss of Mr. Ross when he died but Suzy hooked up with his replacement and continued to work.
Last week, Suzy was struck by a car near her home and died. No doubt there will be many people who mourn her passing and her absence will surely be felt.
While I’m saddened by the thought that the little dog’s life has ended, I can’t be sad for her life. Suzy was, as I said, the stuff of legends. She wasn’t taught to “run a route” with a mail carrier. She took that job on herself. As is the case with all legends, I expect the magnitude of her story will grow as time passes. Undoubtedly there will come a time when the old-timers are remembering the things they’d seen and one will spin a yarn about an important letter that was delivered by a little dog that worked for the post office, long after the normal hours of operation, in a raging blizzard with visibility down to zero.
In my mind, that’s already not that far from the truth.
