Do you believe Officer Simpson (Rusty)  has been calling me at least once a day, telling me to be sure to let him know what’s happening. Has the woodchuck walked into the live trap yet, he wants to know. Rusty tells me he will come over as soon I tell him, and I am to call him any hour of the day or night.

Yesterday (Wednesday), he called my daughter because my line was busy. He didn’t know he was calling her in Chicago. He wanted her to be sure to tell me to call him.  He told her to tell me I’m not to wait to call him. Whatever hour of the day or night, I am to call him.

Lauren also told me that Rusty said he himself wouldn’t stay a minute in a house with a wild animal! And yet he is so brave in my house!

Yesterday when I spoke to Rusty,he said that he would come by the next day (Thursday) and move the live trap outside. If the animal has gotten out of the house as we hope, he would still be hanging out in my yard, so it might be a good idea to catch him outside so Rusty could take him into the woods and let him go, and so Chucky would never bother me again.

In a way, Rusty reminds me of a cowboy hero. He just quietly does what he does and wouldn’t know how to do anything else or any other way. When I try to thank Rusty, he says he’s just doing his job. He doesn’t see why I’m thanking him. He’s doing what he always does. It’s no big deal to him.

Just doing his job? !!! I never knew it was a policeman’s job to give out his cell number and tell a person to call him any hour of the day or night. I never knew it was a policeman’s job to take the initiative to call the person every day until the difficulty is resolved. I never knew it was a policeman’s job to tell the person when it’s his day off and that he will be out of town until 3:30. I never knew it was a policeman’s job to pick up a live trap from someone, bring it over, set it up on his own time, and come over and reset it because I knocked into it. Well, maybe it is a policeman’s job simply to be there and to serve.

Maybe there is nothing more that any of us can do whatever our title may be.

It’s a good thing I’m not giving out Rusty’s phone number, or all the people in Fairfield would be calling him. People would be calling him from all over the world just to hear the softness of his voice and sample his goodness.

Probably the greatest gift Rusty is giving me is that of creating a situation where I feel grateful. I have wondered: Is feeling grateful the same as feeling love? Is love simply the gift of wonder at what God has created?

From Rusty’s point of view, he’s not doing anything out of the way. He’s not doing anything but what he was hired for and pledged to do. This is how he is to everyone. He says he’s just doing his job. I can see he’s just being Rusty.

I have met a few Earth angels in my lifetime, and I have no doubt whatsoever that Rusty is one.