This is Peanut Butter Brickle. When someone you know has a story to tell and is too humble to tell it, it’s up to you. Today, it’s up to me.

 

My brother. My stinky brother is a hero. Not only to me. Not only to the persons. Not only to the Big Blue Treat Wagon RV. But to dogs everywhere.

Digby Pancake has more than pancakes inside. He has a brave, big heart.

So sit back, and let me tell you a story. As we were sleeping last week, at about 3 in the morning Digby decided to wake us all up.

He started barking. Growling. The persons told him to be quiet because our windows were open and we didn’t want to wake up anyone else. But little did we know that Girl Person has also accidentally left the screen door open too. But the persons didn’t know that yet. And that was an invite to anyone who wanted to come in. Even a bear. Digby knew it. We didn’t.

As Digby sat in the front seat of the RV and kept barking, Boy Person finally realized that the door was open, and he also realized that someone was out there. And it was a big someone with fur. It wasn’t Bigfoot.  No, it was bigger than big.

A really big someone was at the door.  The door that was open with Digby siting right by it. Boy Person told Girl Person that she left the door open.  In a nice manner.

And as soon as he said that in a very nice manner, he asked her if she remembered to bring her backpack inside. And well, seems like she had forgot a lot of stuff! And it wasn’t gonna work out for anyone.

As Digby kept growling, the bear decided to simply pick up her backpack and the chair it was sitting in and yep. She was gone with it all.

At first, Girl Person could not believe her eyes. Her chair? Her whole chair was gone? Her backpack? Gone? She started to go outside and made it halfway down the steps when Boy Person yelled for her to get in! Had she lost her mind? She really had. She couldn’t believe what was happening.  But Digby could. He had warned us all.  But we kept telling him to be quiet.  We kept telling him to stop.  We didn’t listen when he cried bear!

The persons were scared. I was tired. So I decided that as long as Digby was being the hero and saving our lives and all, I would let him keep doing so.  I needed my beauty sleep. We thought maybe that the bear was happy with a chair and a backpack.  We thought that would be enough.  We thought maybe she just wanted to relax out there in the woods with her chair.

 

Nope. The bear rested in her new chair. But she came back. And woke us all up again when Digby started growling. But we all listened this time. We turned on the lights.  On and off.  On and off. The bear wasn’t scared. She liked the disco.

We told her to leave in a nice manner.  She didn’t listen to that.  She started to make her way to the Jeep.  And we knew something had to be done. We kind of needed our car.

All Girl Person could think of to do was to grab a bell and make noise and ring it.  She had watched hikers in the woods with bells on.  Maybe they knew something.  So Boy Person started ringing it and ringing it and ringing it.  Too much cowbell? Not possible.

Finally.  That did the trick.  The bear didn’t like cowbells.  Who does actually? And finally, finally, we went to sleep. The persons kept thanking Digby for warning us that the door was open.  They kept thanking Digby for warning us about the bear. I sometimes have to admit that Digby is a good brother. And he was very good that night.

And as the morning came, and we were all tired, Girl Person had one thing on her mind.  She wanted to find her chair. She wanted to find her backpack. So she started to walk in the woods, and she was excited.  At first.  You see, she found her chair.  Well, some of it.

The chair had some bites out of it.  It was a little broken.  But not as much as her spirit was when she never found her backpack. We looked in the trees.  We looked on many trails. But no backpack was ever to be found.  And I can only hope that the bear is taking a nice hike with her walking stick.  If she passes you on the trail with our backpack, make sure and say hello.  She will probably be the only bear on the trail with a backpack.

You know, Digby was a hero.

And we will never forget about his selfless act of heroism to save our lives, our Big Blue Treat Wagon RV and our Jeep. We all have it inside of us to be a hero to someone in need.

Sometimes, we don’t know just how much we can do until we are put to a test.  Don’t ever doubt how brave you are.

Don’t ever doubt you are needed.  And don’t ever doubt that a bear will take your chair and backpack if the situation arises. Because the truth is, bears like camping too.  Bears like the woods too.  And we all have a right to be there.  Yes. The bear does too.

It is easy to be scared of a bear. And we have to be careful.  But we also have to realize we are in their house.  And they may not realize that they can’t come into ours too.

Things going on in our world are much scarier than a bear. Persons are much scarier than bears. So appreciate when you get a chance to see them.  Appreciate their beauty and their purpose.  And listen to Digby…the hero. I am not jealous for once about the adoration for Digby.

I am not jealous because he IS a hero.  He may have been scared, but being scared wasn’t as strong as his love.  Whatever you are scared of, let love be stronger.

–Peanut Butter Brickle

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