I thought I had seen rural Iowa, but I hadn’t until Lauren, Jack, and I drove to Millersburg, Iowa — on the back roads. I am not exaggerating when I say we made twenty turns.

Jack sat in the back, a very good boy in the car. No jumping up and down, no barking, no screeching as we were used to with dear little bouncing Sunshine and Ginger.

It was only when we got to Millersburg that we got lost. The truth is we went right past the sign that said the name of the farm. Lauren called Mike, and he met us at the square in front of the Hometown Grill, and we followed him to what might become Jack’s new home.

Of course, at this point, we didn’t know for sure that this would be Jack’s new home, but we had packed as if it would be. We had two shopping bags full of Jack’s toys, had broken-heartedly forgotten his treats, and, in the rush out the door, also forgotten my camera.

Mike is a tall very kind man, nice smile, liked him right away. We followed him in his truck.

On the winding road up to the farm, we saw a hand-painted sign that told us Nancy does catering. Then we saw hens and a couple of cows.  Jack backed away and gave one of his rare barks.

Nancy, Mike’s wife, greeted us. We met Chance, their Australian shepherd. He and Jack got along from the first moment. Neither had any food aggression. Jack let Chance take a toy away from him, didn’t mind. Chance ran all over the place, almost didn’t stop in his excitement at having Jack visit him.

You know I had the idea that Jack needed the firmness of a man in his life. I had pictured Mike taking a firm hand with Jack, firm and kind. We certainly saw the kind part of Mike with his dog Chance, of course.  But Chance was their baby, and was just loved. Who cares about firm? Love is better. Next to Chance who was all over the place, Jack was like the disciplined polite visitor — from England, let’s say.

Jack is very very friendly to everyone, and he went up to Mike and Nancy in a friendly way.

We learned that Mike and Nancy also have a house dog called Molly.  I’ll tell you a nice thing about Molly and Jack a little later. Actually, Mike will tell us.

You remember that Mike had said he was wanting Jack to be his working partner with the sheep? When Jack saw the sheep, he ran the other way, and just came close to us.  When Mike tried to take Jack on the leash, Jack balked. He wasn’t going to go near the herd of sheep.

Jack was totally overwhelmed. It was all too much for him. We remembered how it was when we first got him, how afraid he was of everything — the leash, the car, didn’t know what a toy was etc.

We were reassured about the goodness and kindness of Mike and Nancy. We knew they would be very good to Jack. However, except for Jack’s joy in Chance and having a brother to play with, Jack was not adjusting, and the prospects for his having found his new home looked dim.

After about half an hour, Lauren and I suggested that we go somewhere for a while, and that maybe it would be easier for Jack without us there.

We went to the Hometown Grill which was like entering a time warp. We had walked into a 1930’s movie set. The Hometown Grill  was definitely a throwback.

We ordered some gizzards to take back as a treat for Jack and Chance.  Honest to God, their menu had fried gizzards as an appetizer.  Lauren had tea. I had a cold sandwich.

When we got back to the farm, Jack and Chance were playing in a fenced area. Mike opened the gate. Chance ran around nonstop a mile a minute while Jack watched Chance with interest, even amazement, and we could see that Jack was a little more settled. I gave Jack and Chance the gizzards which they gobbled up.

Then the conversation between the adults went something like this:

Mike: What do you feed Jack?

Lauren: Raw meat and vegetables.

Nancy: How is he in the house?

Lauren: We don’t know if he had ever been in a house before.  He was afraid to come in at first. Either he had somehow been housebroken, or he just naturally understood. The only thing is, if something’s on the floor, he doesn’t know the difference between a shoe and a toy.

Mike: Is there an adoption fee?

Gloria: No. (Never had occurred to us.)

Mike: I suppose Jack wouldn’t have to work with the sheep.

That was it! That was the clincher.  It seemed that Jack had found a home for himself.

I asked if we could come back in a week or so to see Jack and to take pictures. We were welcome to come back anytime. They understood how it was. Not only for ourselves, but for Jack, I thought it would be a good thing for us to visit him — so he’d know we still existed and loved him.

With handshakes all around, we turned around and left Jack.

On the way home, Lauren told me she thought she couldn’t come back to see Jack, and she didn’t know that it would be a good thing for Jack. It was a sad drive back.

We didn’t go back the same way. We drove into Iowa City, whiled away the time. Lauren bought some boots. Then we went home to an empty house.

But Lauren found an email from Mike:

Original Message —–
From: MIKE
To: Lauren
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: Info on Jack

Lauren,

Thank you so much for bringing Jack to Millersburg. He is already settling in.

He went with Nance and me to the store, bank etc shortly after you all left.

When we came home he jumped out of the truck and came right into the house with us, (no prompting).  He has a new girlfriend in Molly (our American Eskimo ) and made himself right at home.

He currently is lying in the backyard with Chance soaking up the sun, it’s been a busy and exciting day.

We also were wondering how to get to your Mom’s blog.

Anyway, thanks again, and Jack will stay in touch.

Mike and Nance