Everywhere I go, people come up and ask me how Baby Girl is doing. I am sorry to report that she has died. After 14 years of faithful devotion from motorcyclist Jerry Hall, she had a heart attack.
Jerry said, "Baby Girl loved for me to pour the juice from a can of Vienna sausage over her dry dog food." He was doing that and talking to her when he heard her moan. She died quickly in his arms.
This is my third and final column about Baby Girl. In the first one, I told how Jerry wanted a pet and went to look at two puppies a woman had rescued from extreme abuse. Baby Girl had been left without food while her owners were gone for days. Trying to climb a fence to forage for food, she hung herself and was dangling from a wall when Jerry's friend rescued her.
Jerry went to look at her and couldn't make up his mind between her and another puppy, so he went back a second time. This time when he got ready to go, Baby Girl ran to his motorcycle, jumped up on it, ready to ride. Jerry immediately said, "I'll take that one!"
He built her a riding box out of a milk crate, lined with soft and warm material, and she rode with him everywhere he went. To keep the wind and sun from damaging her eyes, he fitted her with riding goggles.
When I met him and Baby Girl, he was dining in the Waffle House on Highway 58, and several customers went out to kiss and pet Baby Girl. I felt I had to meet a man who was so loving and creative. We talked, and I did a column.
Another morning at the Waffle House, he told me Baby Girl was almost killed by a pit bull when he stopped at a country store in Meigs County. He was inside the store when the pit bull grabbed Baby Girl, a tiny little Boston terrier who was no match for him. Jerry rushed her to a vet and managed to save her life, but Jerry says she suffered from the attack the rest of her life. He is certain it cut her life short.
As a final salute to Baby Girl, Jerry and his biker friends did a memorial ride. He now says he wants to do a bigger one and give the profits to the McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center.
After Baby girl died, Jerry put out the word to veterinarians and friends that he wanted another female Boston terrier. Shortly after, the Highway 58 Animal Hospital told him a customer was coming for them to do checkups on a litter of Boston terrier pups.
Jerry went to the hospital and saw that one of the pups was tiny. They said, "She's just the runt of the litter." He picked her up and said, "She fit perfectly in the palm of my hand. I decided I wanted her and put her in a duffle bag and took her for her first bike ride. I could tell she loved it." He rode home with her and named her Lil Diva.
Wrapping up one of his Baby Girl stories, Jerry said, "I'll tell you one thing: She was a precious little soul."
Who am I to argue with a biker?
Email Dalton Roberts at DownhomeP@aol.com.