Trouble With Penny
Randy looked over at me, concerned. “Where’s Penny?” he asked. We had left her in the dust. Turning around, we slowly headed back to find her.
It was the winter of 1971. I was 14 and my brother Randy was 10. I had recently purchased a small motorcycle and Randy had a minibike. We rode around the wilderness together on trails, careful to stay off public roads. There were many places to explore.
One Sunday, during our post-church drive, we made a discovery. The AT&T Line was an underground cable that went across Rock Hill and came very close to our house. We thought we could use it to get to a new highway that was under construction without going on public roads. This road was near what would become Lake Nockamixon. The Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters was working on this lake. It would become the largest lake in Bucks County.
Back home, we changed out of our church clothes. “Dress warmly and be careful. It’s cold out there,” Mom said.
“Okay, Mom!” we said together as we ran out the door.
We got on our bikes and Penny ran over to us. “Do you want to come, girl?” Randy asked.
Penny was Randy’s German Shepherd and he loved her very much. She often followed along with us. Our rides on rough trails meant we went very slowly and she had no trouble keeping up.
She barked her approval and we rode down our driveway and up to the AT&T Line. We had never followed it down the other side of the mountain and were eager to see if it ended up where we thought it would. At the top of the mountain, we stopped to enjoy the view.
“Do you really think this goes to the new road?” Randy asked.
“Yes, I do. Then we can ride for miles. Let’s get moving.”
We carefully rode down the mountain and ended up just where we thought. We pushed our bikes across a busy highway and up to a large construction sign that said, “Road Closed.” The road was paved and stretched out into the distance.
“Let’s go!” I said.
We’d never had the opportunity to go fast since we were generally on trails. We got up to 50 miles per hour and rode for about ten minutes then stopped at the edge of an incomplete bridge.
“That was amazing!” Randy said.
One bike after another zoomed past us. “I know. I can’t believe all these bikes are here. I guess we weren’t the only ones who had this idea.” We overlooked a valley that would soon be flooded. They had cleared away much of the forest for the new lake.
This is when we noticed Penny was missing. We turned around and slowly headed back the way we’d come.
“There she is!” Randy said. She was on the side of the road, panting heavily and looking unsteady. Every time a motorcycle zoomed past, she started running after it, only to give up and stop.
Randy got off his minibike and slowly walked over to her. She didn’t recognize him at first. He got down on his knees. “Here, Penny, it’s me.” She was panting heavily and stumbling around. Randy gave his dog a hug and she licked his face.
“Holy shit. We completely forgot about her,” I said.
Randy had tears in his eyes. “I know. I hope she’s okay.”
I knelt down to look at Penny. She had started to return to normal. “I think she’ll be okay. Let’s head home.” We rode home very slowly, taking extra care to ensure Penny kept up with us.
We had steak for dinner and Randy gave Penny the bone from his meal. We didn’t take her along on our rides as often as before.