Chapter 13 · America the Beautiful

Little Baby’s Turn

Even the dog needed a doctor on this trip

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During our visit in Arkansas, Little Baby was bitten by a spider. Well, we guessed it was a spider. What happened was we were walking her in the grass as usual when, all of a sudden, she yelped in pain and jumped back from where she had been sniffing. We never saw a spider, but Little Baby was scooting around, trying to get to the spot where she had been bitten. It could even have been a bee sting, now that I think about it, because, man, I did the same thing when I was stung by a bee earlier that summer.

Poor Little Baby. She just wasn’t right for the rest of the day, just when Sampson was back to normal. This sad pup had been violated and was possibly even a bit allergic. Normally, she was prancing happily in front of the car window, balancing on my thigh. Now she seemed almost lethargic, sleeping in the back and taking shorter walks at the rest stops.

Grandma knew this was not normal and decided we’d better get her to a vet to have her looked at. The vet, after a thorough inspection, prescribed Little Baby medication for an allergic reaction, finding nothing serious other than the bug bite.

We spent a couple of days visiting with Uncle Charlie and his wife without further incident, relaxing at our campsite and visiting a few nearby parks before heading back out to start our long journey home. Grandma’s arm was still in pain, so she left most of the campsite cleanup to Uncle Charlie and me.