Free Hidden Heritage by Charlotte Hinger Page B

lifetime.
    By the time Elizabeth arrived, the place was in utter turmoil. A carload of Tom’s friends drove up and began hauling food and coolers from the trunk of the car. Later in the year we would have similar doings and guns and dogs would be added to the mix, but this time it was just a musical menagerie.
    Toward sundown, I looked out my kitchen window and began checking the clock. Josie was late. I had expected her about five o’clock. Last fall, her big Mercedes had earned Elizabeth’s scorn as Keith’s oldest daughter hated any kind of ostentatious spending.
    A big black behemoth sailed up the lane and we all gasped. It was Josie in a brand new Mercedes SUV. Tosca perched in the passenger seat like Cleopatra sailing down the Nile in her barge.
    Josie parked and we all flocked around the new SUV.
    Keith pulled the cargo doors open and lifted out Tosca’s portable kennel while I opened the passenger seat door and unstrapped her doggie safety seat. Tosca dutifully submitted to my ecstatic hugs, then as soon as she was released, she bounded toward Keith.
    Josie smiled broadly and watched Tosca’s reception by various family members. Once Tosca had acknowledged everyone present, she went to the fringe of our cedar windbreak and barked haughtily at all the rabbits to announce that the Mistress of the Universe was back and they had better be on their toes.
    This time Tosca had red, white, and blue ribbons tied in a single top knot with a tiny American flag sticking up front. I glanced at Keith and my lips lifted in a helpless half-smile. He disapproved of the flag being used for decorative purposes under any circumstances. His attitude was a legacy from the Vietnam War when this revered symbol showed up on the butts of people’s jeans and was denigrated in every conceivable manner.
    I’d learned early in our marriage not to decorate cakes or buy T-shirts sporting the flag. Keith flew the Stars and Stripes every day of the world, holiday or not, and lowered it at sundown according to proper flag etiquette in the service manual. He donated time to the local Veterans organization and could be counted on to don his uniform and assist at military funerals. So I could hardly expect him to be thrilled when a frivolous Shih-Tzu showed up wearing the colors.
    He looked at me across the yard with a wry smile. With no comment, he carefully set Tosca down. By now, this dog had earned the status of hero. At a ridiculous ceremony in Gateway City just this spring, she’d been awarded a little chest medal for bravery and was designated the one and only member of the Carlton County Canine Corp.
    It had gone to Tosca’s head and naturally was Betty Central’s idea to begin with. One afternoon when Josie was out here, Betty had asked me, Sam, Keith, Josie, and Tosca to come to the sheriff’s office. I’d bought a surprise present for Sam’s birthday, the only occasion I could think of that we would keep such a huge secret. Instead, Betty had ordered a cake and the little medal struck for Tosca who took the whole ritual very, very seriously. True, she had been right in the middle of a life-threatening situation, but she was a tiny little dog. She had trotted forward like she was receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.
    Truth was, Keith and I did not want to think about the circumstances surrounding this medal ever again. Not ever.
    Today, she wore that medal in addition to the flag.
    Keith’s eyes had sparked at that ceremony and if Betty had even a lick of common sense she would have noticed his instant outrage over any hint of stolen valor. He did not want the service trivialized in any manner. But the medal was not a replica of any legitimate medal, so he had let it pass.
    But now his jaw tightened and he stroked Tosca, then carefully extracted the flag from her topknot. The medal and the ribbons stayed. My smile quivered and I carefully handed the flag to Josie whose own smile