I dont want a paralysed girl in my house the daughter-in-law spat out, and then she left without another word. But she had no idea what would happen next.
Let me tell you about old Arthur, who lived in a quiet little village somewhere in the English countryside. He was a normal sort bit of a tippler come Saturdays, nothing too wild, just a bit of gin to warm him up. Arthur always had a dream of owning a real pedigree English Sheepdog. Hed find himself daydreaming about travelling the length and breadth of Britain just to bring one home.
People called him Arthur Smith, but whether that was his first name or a nickname, no one really knew. Theyd say things like Old Smith or Arthur Smith, and hed just laugh never corrected anyone. Hed sit on the garden bench after a long day messing about with his veg beds, reminiscing about the old days. Sometimes the younger folk would come and huddle round, listening to tales of what village life was like when he was a lad.
Hed lost his wife Mary years ago. Shed had heart trouble, bless her. The doctors had forbidden her to have children, but shed wanted a baby so badly, and so shed given birth to Arthurs son and her health just never recovered. Arthur adored Mary, did everything for her wouldnt even let her carry the milk home from the shop.
Hed handle all the chores and tend to the boy while she rested, and Mary would fret:
Youre embarrassing me, Arthur! All the women will laugh I do nothing in the house, everything falls on you!
But the women didnt laughthey envied her.
Oh Mary, let us borrow your Arthur Smith for a day! Just a taste of your good life!
Mary would just smile in reply, and that smile never left her face, even at the end. Arthur found her cold one morning and cried like a child for three days. But then he threw himself into raising their son.
The boy hit those tricky teenage yearsabout fourteen and all attitude. After his stint in the Army, he married young and settled where hed been stationed, never did return to the village. So Arthur found himself alone. But he never let it get him downhe loved having a chat with the local kids on that garden bench.
His son had a daughter, and Arthur was always hoping for a visit from the little familybut they never came. Work, not enough time, always some reason or another. Arthur never met his granddaughter except in photos.
Then folks in the village started to notice Arthur had turned proper miserable, like thunder on the horizonno jokes, no bench chats. Just keeping to himself. So naturally, everyone poked their noses in and soon the truth got out: Arthur had received a letter. His daughter-in-law said theyd been in a terrible car accident. His granddaughter was in hospital, gravely injured, and his son was killed.
Everyone in the village felt for Arthurwhat could you say to ease that kind of sorrow? He accepted their condolences, but nothing could make it right. He missed his son, of course, but even more so he worried for his granddaughter. Lying in intensive care, just fifteen. She ought to have a whole life ahead of her.
And as for his daughter-in-law? No word. No letters, wouldnt answer the phone. Arthur, having never met his granddaughter in person, loved her just as much, especially since, in the photos, she had Marys smile.
Arthur was just about to travel down to the city where his son had lived when, on the eve of his trip, a car pulls up outside his cottage. Without warning, in barges a womantook him a moment to realise it was his late sons wife. Following behind her, some men carrying a stretcher. On it, his granddaughterdropped almost carelessly onto the sofa.
Shes paralysed head to toe, and I dont want her. Im still youngIll remarry and have a healthy child. Shes no use to me, the woman said coldly.
Arthur protested, But Im not a nurse!
You dont need to be. Doctors say she cant be helpedshe needs someone to mind her. If you dont want her about, bury her alive for all I carebut Im not ruining my life over her.
With that, she stomped out. Arthur called after her, You dont even sound like her mother!
It suddenly made sense why his son had never come home to visit. With a wife like that, whod want to show up anywhere? How had his lad ended up with someone so heartless?
So there they wereold Arthur and his granddaughter, just the two of them now. She really was paralysed, but Arthur had never been afraid of hard work. At least now, he had a reason to get up every morninghis goal was simple: help her recover.
The doctors had all given up hope and discharged her, not understanding how shed survived the crash at all. Her injuries were said to be incompatible with life. So Arthur turned to old remedies and folk wisdom. The nearest healer was miles away, no way to get a paralysed child all the way there, and she was too old to travel, anyway.
Arthur drove all that way every week to get potions and herbal teas, anything that might help. More than a year passed. Still, the child couldnt movelike a wooden doll beneath the blanket. She barely spoke, just sometimes whimpered.
Now and then, Arthur would notice tears running down her cheek. Broke his heart, that did. He thought maybe she missed her dad and mum. Hed talk for hours, reading her books, but she couldnt answer. It was tough for both of them.
Then, one night, something unexpected happened. Arthur was sitting by her bedside when a bunch of drunk teenage lads burst through the door. Arthur had, in his distraction, left the door unlocked that evening. They were back from some disco, stumbled past and saw the light. They all knew the paralysed girl lived thereone of them suggested stopping by for a laugh, reckoning she wouldnt mind, or couldnt fight them off.
They barged in.
Come on, old man, whip that blanket off your granddaughter and spread her legs! Well draw straws for who goes first! one of the most wasted demanded.
Arthur begged, Please, shes only fifteen!
But Arthur, quite clever for an old soul, quickly excused himselfHold on, need to brush my teeth!and dashed to the kitchen, swung open the cellar door and shouted, FETCH!
Out from the cellar sprang a gigantic English Sheepdog. Started snapping at the boys, nipping their trousers, sending them screeching! Nearly tore off the ringleaders privatesripped the seat out of all their trousers. And there they went, legging it through the village with bare bums, the whole neighbourhood laughing, the dog chasing them right to the edge of the fields!
Arthur came back in to find his granddaughter sitting up on the bed, shouting out the window: Max! Max! Grandpa, hold onto him, so he doesnt get away!
Arthur shed more than a few tears that night. From that day, she just started getting better. Soon, she was walking, bit by bit. Maybe it was the healers potions, maybe the shock of the ordeal, but after that, the girl wouldnt stop talking. Shed been saving up all her words.
Youre probably wondering about the dog, right? Well, that English Sheepdog, Max, had belonged to Arthurs son. When the tragedy happened and his neglectful daughter-in-law dumped both her child and the dog, she forgot to mention the dog to Arthur. Shed dropped the girl off but not bothered saying shed brought the dog too.
When Arthur went to lock the gate after the woman left, he found Max sat there. Skinny, exhausted, eyes as sad as a sick cow, tears rolling down his face. Arthur hadnt even known his son had a dog. No way was he leaving his sons companion out on the street.
Max quickly became Arthurs loyal sidekick, and when those thugs came, it was only because the evening was so hot that Arthur had kept Max down in the cool cellar. Usually, he let the dog out as the sun set, but that night, he hadnt yet. If Max had been out, those lads couldnt have set foot inside.
Later, the girl told her grandpa that when she cried, it was because she missed the dog. Arthur had been keeping Max outside, never letting him into her room, not knowing how much she needed his company. She couldnt tell him herself.
And when Max chased off the drunkards, he ran back home, wagging, and showered the girl with affectionate licks. Hed missed her just as much. From then on, it was the three of them: Arthur, his granddaughter, and Max. And as for her mother, there wasnt a word or whisper about her from that day forward.
