In a sweet story reminiscent of the Velveteen Rabbit, a young boy’s favorite stuffed animal is sleeping soundly again in the arms of his owner following a harrowing few days of separation.
The Kay family was returning home from a ski holiday when they parked at a rest stop in Wyoming. A wild rangebound wind was whipping across the interstate that day.
Inside the car were parents Bill and Christina, and their 8-year-old boy William who was sitting in the back of the car with his best friend, a dog plushie named, well, Dog. The little brown stuffie was given to Christina as a present at her baby shower—the guest not knowing if it were to be a boy or a girl.
Dog and William slept together ever since. It was Christina’s idea to have lunch at the rest stop, and raced out to get their sandwiches from the cooler in the trunk when William opened the door, unaware of the strong winds.
In a feature for Cowboy State Daily, Christina described the back of the car looking like a bomb had gone off—the wind blew things in every direction, including Dog, who unbeknownst to anyone, sailed out of the car and into some high weeds.
They carried on their journey until they arrived at a motel in Kansas and discovered Dog was missing. The next day, the three cleaned out the car but couldn’t find Dog: it appeared their 8 year friendship was finally, bitterly, ended.
It was a heart-wrenching homecoming in St. Louis for Bill and Christina as they watched William go through the first major loss in his young life. A silver lining was just that: loss. It is the characteristic feature of human life and existence, and something William would have to learn sooner or later.
But papa Bill wasn’t ready to bid Dog farewell just yet, and used Google Maps to find the pull-off area where they ate Lunch. Seeing it was within Carbon County, he went to the website of the local Sheriff’s Department and saw the smiling face of Sheriff Alex Bakken: exactly the kind of face that would belong to a man who’d lend an ear to the news that a boy had lost his immobile best friend.
“Dear Sheriff Bakken” Bill wrote in an email that explained what happened, with GPS coordinates of the rest stop and pictures of Dog uploaded as attachments. That was on the morning of March 23rd. On the 24th, a reply appeared in his inbox.
“I commend you for taking your child’s emotional well-being so seriously,” Bakken wrote. “Nothing would make me happier than seeing if we can help ensure Dog’s safe return to St. Louis. Our Patrol Division has been notified, and I will attempt to search the area later today. Please tell your son that we are on the case.”
They did just that, then waited. Meanwhile, Sheriff Bakken texted Carbon County Deputy Tyler Christen, asking him to go look for Dog at the rest stop if he had time. Christen thought it was a bit strange, but understood.
LOST PLUSHIES RETURNED:
“When my kids lose their stuffie, panic mode sets in until we find it,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I wanted to see if we could bring that dog back to its owner. He’s had it for a long time and can still enjoy it.”
Arriving at the rest stop, it took a few minutes of poking around before Christen and his partner saw something spud-brown sitting in the foliage. Arriving to find a stuffed animal, they figured it had to be Dog. It was.
On March 25th, Bill received an email, a text, and a voicemail—Sheriff Bakkan had good news. On March 31st, Dog arrived at the Kay family home packed snuggly in a little Carbon County Sheriff’s care package, with branded shirt patches, a badge, and a water bottle as souvenirs.
“He helps me fall asleep at night,” young William said. “I was sad when he was lost and almost cried when I got him back.”
POLICE AS GOOD MEN:
Bill wasn’t just happy his son was happy, but also because he had demonstrated another valuable lesson to his little boy.
“He learned that there are great people in this world that will do things to help you, even when they don’t know you,” Bill said. “I think that was a wonderful lesson for William.”
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