I’ll Be Your Foxtrot
It was a dark and stormy night… (I always wanted to start out a story like that) and Charlie was the instigator. There is always a troublemaker and a follower. Foxtrot can be curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully and Charlie will stand over him swatting him with his paw until he wakes up to play. If Foxtrot doesn’t wake up right away and pay attention, Charlie will commence barking and swatting with the paw. I have watched this go on for 15-20 minutes until Foxtrot finally gives into to the provocation of his brother. As I watch this morning ritual I am reminded of their escape a few weeks back and more recently the incident with the possum.
They had barked most of the night and as soon as dawn came, the barking ceased. I checked on them to be sure they had not escaped again and Charlie had something in his mouth. He was running all around and playfully trying to get Foxtrot to play tug of war. I thought they had torn part of the blanket that covers one of the dog houses. I went out to get a closer look and to my morbid surprise it was a possum. Charlie was carrying it in his mouth just as proud as could be. It was dead. The first thing that came to mind was Lennie Small petting the rabbit in Of Mice and Men. “I’m sorry, George.”
We always thought Foxtrot was the dumb one, but as time goes on and I watch these two meatheads, I begin to see Foxtrot as Charlie’s Nathan. I am reminded of the story in the Bible about King David and Nathan. David didn’t want to go out to battle. He wanted to stay home, lie around, eat bonbons and hang out with friends. One night after having a big supper he was relaxing on his bed, chilling out, when he decided he needed a breath of fresh air. He went out on the roof and was looking around at the candle lights flickering all over the kingdom when he noticed this sweet looking chick taking a bath. Wow, he thought, I’m going to know her; which he did. In those days, “knowing someone” was doing some mattress dancing. Turns out Ms. Bathsheba was Uriah the Hittite’s wife, not someone King Davie should have been getting it on with.
Charlie is like David; always after what he’s not entitled to and not supposed to have. I picture the conversation before they left the yard. Charlie says, “Come on Fox, baby. Let’s go check out those two hot babes down the dirt road. You know they want us!” Foxtrot replies, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Chuckie. I think we’ll get in trouble if we get out. We are tied up for a reason, for our own good.”
As the story goes, Bathsheba ended up knocked up and King David hired a hit man to take out her husband. She mourns the death of him and then ends up moving in and becoming David’s wife. All of this really ticked off the Lord so he sent Nathan. Nathan was a pretty cool guy and a good friend of David. Nathan realizes that David can’t just go around killing women’s husbands because he thinks they are sweet looking and he wants to know them. So he has to come up with a way to tell David this without David getting mad and killing him.
Foxtrot is Nathan. He reminds Charlie all the time if it were not for the security of where they live, they would be out in the wilderness fending for their lives, sleeping in the rain, eating possum. Charlie thinks about it and recallss the taste of possum in his mouth. “They are only good to play with, wouldn’t want to make a steady diet of it” he says.
Nathan explains to David about a rich man that stole a lamb from the poor man. This rich man had everything he could dream of having, but the poor man only had the lamb and cherished it with his life; fed it food from his plate even. This made David very angry and he said the rich man had to be punished; he should die. Nathan risked everything, his friendship with David, even his life, and said, “Yo, Bubba, that rich dude is you, man.” Silence and Nathan held his breath waiting to see how David would respond. Thank God, he came to realize that he had sinned against the Lord and spared his friend his life.
Foxtrot loves his brother and doesn’t want him taking off by himself getting into trouble so he goes with him. But while they are out romping in the wilderness, he talks him into coming home. Of course he had to lose a bet about catching fish and he had to go for a cool swim. But he stands up to his brother and tells him right from wrong. Foxtrot is Charlie’s Nathan.
We all need a Nathan or a Foxtrot in our lives. We need that one friend that will stand up and take a chance to point out something sinful in our life that we have hardened our hearts to and cannot see. If you have a Foxtrot, thank the Good Lord for him/her. If you don’t have one, pray for God to put one in your life. If you have never read the story of David and Nathan you can find it in 2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12.
© Crackerberries 2011
