by Ron Johnston
Mort – the wonder dog – set the pace as two sisters, ages 11 and 7, strolled the enchanted lane in Riga Center on a late afternoon summer day.
The passage was special, because this was where the girls’ father supposedly proposed to their mother some years back. At least, according to mom.
Straight ahead of the duo and canine in the distance, about two miles away, appeared to be a white dot, the Churchville water tower. It almost looked like an oversized golf ball, or “an alien aircraft from outer space,” joked the eldest girl.
Both giggled.
Mort, meanwhile, came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the wide grassy path, which stretched the length of a football field. The lovable hound then barked.
“What is it, Mort?” asked the youngest girl. She then realized that Mort had spotted a woodchuck, staring at them in the weeds adjacent to a corn field.
Mort gave chase, but the woodchuck escaped, ducking into a nearby hole in the ground.
The girls laughed.
“Maybe next time, Mort,” said the eldest.
Continuing their short journey to the end of the fenced-off lane, the twosome viewed a tractor in an open field not far from Sanford Road on the left. The driver waved at them.
“Dad, it’s almost supper time,” yelled the 11-year-old with her hands cupped.
“He can’t hear you,” the youngest said.
But maybe dad did as the tractor veered in their direction and came to a halt near the swing gate with the girls on the other side of it. Switching off the ignition, he climbed down from the farm vehicle.
“Who’s hungry?” he asked grinning.
“We are!” said the two girls in unison.
Opening the gate, the man petted Mort.
“I’ll bet you are, too, big dog,” he said.
The man then leaned over and hugged his two daughters.
“Let’s eat,” he said as each girl grabbed a hand.
Mort just trailed the trio and wagged his tail the entire return walk on enchanted lane to the farmhouse.
Note: Ron Johnston, a 1966 Churchville-Chili graduate, is the author of “One-Game Wonder.”
