Dodie and Me (standard:non fiction, 1834 words)
Author: Dianne	Added: Jul 18 2004	Views/Reads: 3058/2179	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The storm was getting worse by the minute, and Eugene had been gone all day ! The search was on in the community, to find my brother, Eugene. I knew that he was safe, because my friend Dodie told me he was. And Dodie was always right about everyth

Dodie and Me  ( True Story ) 

By Dianne Herring 

  When I was born, my mama and daddy were very proud. We lived on a farm
in the country.  I had a brother, five years old, who had a special 
kind of problem ---he couldn’t talk. His name was Eugene. By the time 
that I could talk and walk, I didn’t understand, but I got mad if any 
of the other children did anything that might cause him harm. 

I had a friend and his name was Dodie. Everywhere I went, he went. I
took him to church and taught him manners. I taught him to be quiet and 
to say, "Please, thank you, yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir, and no sir." 
He was always with me, and we did a lot of things together. 

My parents bought me a lot of coloring books and crayons. My mama and
daddy were so proud of me when I colored in my books. I colored every 
page before moving on to the next. I remember that my mama and daddy 
would always get out my coloring books when we had company. They 
bragged on me too. I told them, “ Dodie helped me color—my friend, 
Dodie. “ I didn’t understand why they gave me a strang look. I talked 
to Dodie about it because I could talk to Dodie about anything. He 
always made me feel better.   I remember the day my brother got lost. 
My Daddy came in from picking cotton. My mama was with the neighbors 
canning vegetables from the garden. My Daddy came in because a big 
storm was coming, but Eugene wasn’t with him. Mama screamed, “ Where is 
Eugene?”  Daddy said, “I thought he was with you! “ 

Everyone panicked because the storm was getting worse by the minute and
Eugene had been gone all day. I talked to Dodie about it, and he told 
me not to be afraid, so I wasn’t. I knew that everything would be okay 
because Dodie said it would be.   Soon our yard was full of cars, 
people got together; some went one way, and some went the other way. We 
didn’t have a car, but some of our neighbors did.   Mama and daddy 
started to cry. We got into one of the neighbor’s car and headed down 
the muddy, slippery road. The weather was so bad. .; we slipped off 
into the ditch, and someone had to come and pull us out ! The search 
was on for hours as dusk began to turn to darkness. 

it We didn’t have telephones then; we didn’t even have a radio. There
was only one family in the whole community that had a radio! I remember 
going over to their house and listening to the “ Grand ol’ Opry “ on 
Saturday nights. That was so much fun; Dodie and me just loved! 

We didn’t have a sheriff or policemen close by to come and help. So it
was up to the neighbors and the people at the church to come and help 
us find Eugene. It started to get very dark, and the rain was coming 
down in sheets!  We went back to our house. A lot of people were there. 
 Everyone was crying. The preacher was there, and he was crying too! I 
tried to tell them, “ Eugene is okay; he was probably walking along the 
road, and some nice lady saw him, and asked him to come in and have 
some cookies and milk because Dodie told me that!  Dodie said that 
Eugene is okay.” But all of the grown ups wouldn’t listen to me because 
they were too upset. 

Dodie and me went over and sat down in the corner of the room. We just
talked and talked; I wasn’t going to cry because I knew that Eugene 
would be home soon. I knew that Dodie was always right! Dodie and me 
played games; I knew that he was trying to keep me from getting upset.  
Dodie always made me laugh. I knew that he was trying to calm me down. 
He could say the funniest things; I knew that it was his way of making 
me feel better. Dodie could always make me feel better about any 
problem I had. 

All of a sudden, we heard a car coming down the road. We all went out to
see what was happening.  The car was slipping and sliding in the mud as 
we watched, and everyone was afraid that the car would slide off into 
the ditch. The yard was filled with people. The car stopped, and a man 
got out leading Eugene by the hand. Mama and daddy grabbed Eugene, and 
hugged him tightly, as they cried and cried. They couldn’t see Dodie 
and me, because we were down on the ground hugging Eugene tightly 
around his legs. Eugene knew that we were there, but nobody else was 
paying any attention to Dodie and me. All of the grown ups were just so 
excited to see Eugene; they just didn’t seem to care about us! 



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