AppalachianFolkA Collection of Appalachian Stories

When I was really little, maybe 3 or 4, I got my first pet, a puppy named Pancake.  I’m not sure why I named him Pancake, but I did.  I was a sensitive child and I remember that one morning my mom asked me if I wanted a pancake for breakfast.  I remember crying hysterically and running to find my dog and protect him.  We lived on a farm where we raised cattle which I knew went to the slaughter house so I figured anything was fair game.   I though that the woman was going to serve my dog to me on a plate.  I was horrified.  My mom finally calmed me down and explained to me that she had to intention of making my dog into a syrup and butter loaded delicacy. 

One day the creek water was high due to flooding.  Pancake, still a little puppy, fell into the water.  I was again distraught.  I remember my dad jumping into this raging creek to save my puppy.  I was so happy.  Pancake lived for sometime, until she got bitten by a snake (I think that’s what happened, or someone poisoned him).  My parents didn’t know how to handle telling me that my dog had gone to the big pound in the sky.  We lived on a fairly big farm and I asked my dad where my dog was.  I can remember the pained look on his face.  He said “he is up the holler”.  I said “well, go get him then”.  He said that he could not. My mom told me that Pancake had gotten married and moved away with his new family.  She loved to use this excuse.  Most of my pet “abandoned” me for a new family.

I asked my mom one time if Pancake would be in Heaven.  She said “if that’s what it takes to make you happy, then God will do it”.

I finally uncovered my  mom’s falsehoods as I was listening to her one night talking with a friend from church when I was supposed to be in bed.  She told her that my cat, Tom, had been found drown in the same creek that Pancake almost met his fate in.  I was aghast.  He was supposed to have ran off and gotten married.  Was his marriage so bad that he committed suicide in the creek?   Perhaps his new furry wife offed him for the insurance money?  We many never know.