ROCHESTER AND THE ANONYMOUS ANGEL

By

Steve Losee

sandel@epix.net

1

Oh, hi there! My name’s Mugsy. I’m a pit bull, living in the woods just outside of…well; actually, that’s kind of classified.

I used to belong to a young family. They were kind of nice when it was just two of them, but then they had a baby. Things were still kind of okay until they saw something on their TV about how dangerous pit bulls were. Then they gave me to somebody who…well, to make a long story short, those folks drove me to these woods and just dropped me off.

It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

But enough about me. Let me tell you about the one who taught me how to survive out here.

He slipped out of the bushes only a few minutes after the car drove off, while I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself. I looked up and saw a raccoon wearing a fedora hat with the brim down over one eye. He sat down in front of me and said, "Tough break, kid."

I was still upset, so I just said, "I’m not a kid."

He smiled like he was my father and said, "Of course you’re not. I’m sorry. But it looks like you could use a place to stay for the night."

I nodded.

"My name’s Rochester. I know a place where you can stay until tomorrow. Come on, I’ll take you there."

I couldn’t help but be suspicious. "Why would you do all that for a stranger?"

He chuckled. "Well, let’s just say I believe in angels."

"Angels? I don’t get it."

"I think I can show you better than I can tell you. Let’s go."

So I followed him through the woods until I was totally lost. Finally he brought me to this thing that looked like a cross between an old shack and a flying saucer. He opened a door and ushered me in.

At first it was dark, but he flipped a switch and the place lit up. Then he went to a screen in the wall over a counter. If I sat about four feet from it and looked up, I could see it pretty clearly. "I was reading this earlier. Listen to this: ‘Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.’ There, get it?"

I had to scratch my head…you know, rear leg behind the ear. "You think I’m an angel?"

"Hey, you never know. As a matter of fact, I was reading something else just yesterday. Hmm, let’s see…"

He started fiddling around with some knobs. I looked around. The place was full of machinery and controls. "What is this thing?"

Without turning around, he said, "You know, I’m not sure. It just sort of showed up one day. Somebody just lost it, I guess."

I had an itch on my back, where none of my legs could reach. Then I saw this big lever sticking out of the wall, at just the angle I needed. I went over and had just one good scratch…

…and the lever moved!

Rochester must have heard it, because he turned around, saw what happened and said, "Oh, no!"

The lights started going off and on, and I felt funny. My fur stood on end. "Wh…what’s going on?"

"We’re…well, we’re kind of traveling."

"Traveling? Where are we going?"

"You’ll find out soon enough."

To be continued…

(He sure will...and so can you!  All you have to do is send us one solitary dollar, either to our PayPal account or through the mail, and we'll send the entire text to your email address.  Then, simply print it out and take it into the childrens' bedroom where they can hear the whole story in comfort!  And let us know what they/you think of it!)