The next day, the boy worried all day at school, trying to
make the situation a little easier to accept. He decided to make a cross for
each grave. During playtime, he went along the fence where the rich kids threw
their Popsicle sticks and collected ten of them. By splitting them in half, he
was able to make five little crosses. When he finished the crosses, it dawned
on him that they needed names; they couldn’t die until they had a name, he
thought to himself. Since he knew the names of the twelve disciples by heart,
he named them Simon, Andrew, James, and John. He would name his favorite, the
female, Phyllis, because it sounded like Philip.
After school, on his way home, his heart was beating hard; it
felt like it would explode out of his chest. Leroy was torn by his feelings,
knowing what he had to do was a bad thing, but at least he would give these
little creatures a decent burial. At home, it was no surprise to see Father
waiting on the porch. He had already put the pups in a feedbag. Nothing was
said as Father passed the bag to him along with a shovel. Taking the bag of
pups, Leroy walked toward the creek; his heart was about to explode.
Singing always helped and since the only songs Leroy knew were
the songs he had learned in church, he began the song called “The Twelve
Disciples.” Halfway to the creek all of the pups were crying and squirming in
the sack. Feeling sorry for them, Leroy decided to let them out for a while.
This only made it worse, they were so happy playing with each other. Barking
and licking his face, they ran and jumped all over Leroy as he lay on the
ground. Now it was even more difficult for him to put them back into the bag.
He didn’t really know how to be mean, but he did know what would happen if he
didn’t get the job done.
Standing at the creek with tears running down his face, he
sang the song again.
There
were twelve disciples
Jesus called to help him,
Simon Peter, Andrew, James, his brother John,
Philip, Thomas, Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas and Bartholomew.
Leroy’s pup’s crying was now uncontrollable. Hearing the
pup’s whine, Leroy was consumed by the feeling of being evil. But I will be
beat if I don’t kill them, he thought.
He took the first pup and put him in the bag with a big rock
and tied the bag tightly with twine. Without thinking, he dropped it in the
creek. Waiting to make sure that the pup was dead and no longer suffering (bringing it out too early would only make
it worse), the ten-year-old retrieved
the bag from the creek and removed the pup. He took the pup out of the sack and
laid it down. Five minutes earlier he had been jumping and running around and
now he was as limp as a wet noodle.
Leroy dug a hole and laid the pup in it. He covered the hole
with grass, then dirt, and then placed a big rock on the grave to prevent an
animal from digging it up. Finally the cross was placed on the grave. With
tears in his eyes, he knew this was just the first of five. How will he ever do
this four more times? Before he continued, he must sing a song for number one,
the one he named Simon. Choked up, he sang, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for
the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but I am
strong.”
The boy hugged and cried over the four pups that were left;
it was so much harder to do than he had imagined. Thinking that he would not be
able to bear doing this four more times, he decided to put three of the pups in
the bag at the same time. Giving them one last hug while singing “Jesus Loves
Me,” he dropped the bag in the water. Crying and hugging each one as he took
the dead pups out of the bag and put them in the ground, he began to sing for
the three he named Andrew, James and John. He prepared the graves as he had done
for the first pup and placed the Popsicle crosses on them.
Because he feared his father, who loved him, young Leroy had
killed four living creatures he loved. Sitting at the four graves hugging the
last pup, he sobbed over what he had just done. To kill the fifth pup, his
favorite, was just impossible at this point. He continued to sing “Jesus Loves
Me” and made a decision he will later regret. He will keep the pup named
Phyllis and hide her in the barn.