Unlikely Help:

Near the village gate, there was a small running creek. She could hear the soft, running water across the pebbles below the ice that had formed. Surrounding the creek, there was a thin layer of snow across the brown grass. And at the end of the creek, there was a small but deep pond. She was walking home that day. Having just been to the market only a couple of miles away. In order to enter the village, she had to pass through the gate. Alongside the road, she would glance over every so often to glance at the moving water beneath the thin ice. When she came across a small dog, fighting through the current of the water, she dropped her bags and ran to the side of the creek. The dog was being led through the water, though slowly – as the ice layer would break only every so often – towards the pond. She called out. No one was there. The village was too far beyond the gate – out of hearing distance. And seeing that time was valuable for the little dog, she looked about anxiously searching for something to draw the little puppy to shore. The dog’s paws grasped at the air and his little nose breached up and down through the surface of the water, drawing careful but panicked breaths. And she, then seeing a long stick that had fallen under some oak trees, ran to pick it up. She drew her breath back, confident that the stick could bear through the distance between the dog and the shore. But as she ran back to the creek, the stick fell apart from decay. She dropped the remaining pieces in her hands and wouldn’t be discouraged. Again, nearby, she saw the rust of a removed bumper of a car, peeking through the snow. She ran to pick it up but couldn’t manage to move it. It was frozen into the soil beneath her. She looked over to the dog. The times between when it would rise above the water were lengthening. She could tell it was getting tired. And so, running back to the creek, she removed her outer shirt and her long skirt, laid on the creek shore a blanket, which she pulled from the bags she had brought back from the market. She also removed her shoes and socks. And deliberating, jumped into the water. It was about hip depth for her and as she wade through the freezing water, she thought a second time about what she was doing. Really? She thought, Am I really risking my life and health for a little dog? Setting her forehead, she waded further into the current until she was in front of the current’s path with the dog. She stood, barefoot in the freezing water with her arms outstretched as the dog neared her. Her knees began to clap, tremoring against the rush of the water. She thought nothing of it and as the dog came into her reach, the current swept it aside and set it on a new course. She jumped for the dog and grasped the scruff of its neck. The moment she did, the dog’s eyes shut and the tremor she could feel through its little body ceased. She rushed as fast as she could, wading and her arms above the water with the little puppy in her hands and when she got to the shore, she nearly collapsed. The cold air felt like knives against her skin. She ignored the pain and ran toward the blanket, upon which she placed the dog. And wrapping it snugly she held it to herself with her one hand as she put on her socks and shoes with the other. Finally she was dry and her clothes back on but she was shaking violently. But she was warmer now and she knew she was recovering. The puppy in the blanket appeared not to be moving. She ignored this and continued stroking its head and rubbing gently but vigorously his chest with the fabric of the blanket. A minute passed, which felt to her as though an hour had passed and the dog began to breathe again. The skin on its eyelids, she had noticed had grown bluish but as the dog started to breathe again, the flesh slowly regained color. She sat with the dog under cover of a maple tree. There was no snow here. As the dog began to breathe heavier and faster, it started to look up into her eyes. She collected the dog in the blanket into her arms and started to walk toward the village. She had left her bags by the shore of the creek. And when she returned to her home, the people with whom she lived looked at her and saw the dog. No questions were asked as she simply sat in front of the fire and held the dog to her shoulder. The dog kissed her ear and she smiled. - From my Book Fables of Good Will.