CREEDS — Pickup truck headlights illuminated the work of burying LeRoy Deaver’s dog, Buckshot, on a recent night down in the county.
Deaver, of course, was there. It was not so far from Monk’s Place, and he was among friends.
Some had shovels. Stacy Miller put sticks together.
“I’m building him a cross,” she said.
Deaver said his dog was in heaven, reunited with Deaver’s late father, “Papa D,” Eddie Deaver of Knotts Island, N.C. Eddie Deaver cared for the dog for years.
“He’s already there,” LeRoy Deaver said. “He’s probably smoking a cigarette with him, pouring broth on his food.”
Buckshot was often a presence at Monk’s Place, sitting outside, a big dog who valued affection and hotdogs.
Deaver’s been a presence here, too. As a boy, he helped patch the roof with tar. He remembers how it made his hands raw.
If he or his father came to Monk’s, Buckshot came with them.
He got hotdogs. Whoever was cooking made sure of it.
“Buck’s been here since he was a puppy,” said Gerald Winfree, Deaver’s cousin, who came from Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
Herb Smith of Pungo used to babysit the dog.
“Used to sit on the floor and watch cartoons,” he said.
The big American bulldog had been sick a while, dropping weight.
“Now he’s here with Papa D,” Deaver said, speaking of his dog and Deaver’s father together again. “Everything I loved in the past 20 years.”
Buckshot had a last visit to Monk’s.
“We went to Monk’s,” Deaver said. “We had a six pack of hot dogs.”
Some Slim Jims, too.
The vet came when it was time. Deaver’s friends came to help with the work of saying goodbye to a faithful companion.
It was dark, but they shone lights upon the place. They dug Buckshot his spot. They marked it with a handmade cross.
© 2017 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC
