When Cooper was about ten months old, he was confronted with a temptation above and beyond all his puppy ability to stand against. This was a time when Max was still giving Cooper daily lessons through strategic growling and well-placed nips that stated the world was most definitely not his oyster, and he most definitely did have to answer to Max for all misbehavior real or perceived.
It was an early spring day. The wind was warm. The sun was shining, and the air fresh. Josiah decided to break out the grill for the first of the season steak. This was not a regular store-bought steak. No, this was a deer steak from the previous fall’s hunt. There are few things Josiah enjoys more than a delicious deer steak harvested by the successful huntsman himself.
I heard him come in the back door and go to the stairs to call Sam down to share in the feast. Two mighty hunters sitting down at table with their fresh meat.
“Mom, where’s the deer steak? I just set it on the counter. Now it’s not there.” Josiah’s head filled the doorway of the family room.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“You didn’t take it?” a puzzled tone crept into his words.
“No, I haven’t seen it.”
“It was right here. I set it right here. You didn’t take it?” again that puzzled tone of a once certain person now questioning his memory.
During our brief conversation, Cooper had come into the family room and was lying at my feet. The only movement was his intense grooming. The kind of precise grooming necessary after an especially juicy meal. Josiah went back out to check the grill. Maybe he’d never taken the steak off, although he knew he had.
Like a silent sentinel, Max entered the room and was looking at Cooper with intense disapproval.
Josiah reappeared in the doorway, “Did you take it?” he asked again with a definite ‘this is not funny’ tone creeping into his voice.
It was still an early spring day. The wind was warm. The sun was shining, and the air fresh. Even better now that a delicious deer steak had indeed been enjoyed by a self-perceived mighty hunter.
I ask you...is this the face of a thief?
