For more than a year, over two brutal Northeast winters, the whole of Vermont was captivated by the hunt for a runaway golden retriever named Murphy. He was more than a missing dog-he was a target for capture and journalistic obsession. This is that story.
Murphy's disappearance would unite the dog's increasingly anxious owners with an impassioned reporter-Wilson Ring, the state's correspondent for the Associated Press-and an online community of animal lovers. As Murphy kept running, the quest to bring him home, safe and sound, seemed more and more impossible. The search itself takes on an aspect of devotion, as the searchers display genuine resilience and ingenuity-human qualities of an increasingly rare breed.
Wilson Ring's Catching Murphy is part of Missing, a collection of six true stories about finding, restoring, or accepting the losses that define our lives-from the mysterious to the inspiring. Each story can be read-or listened to-in a single sitting.
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[The town of Waterbury is often described as the crossroads of Vermont]***
(Amazon Original Stories, 31 July 2018, ebook, 55 pages, Prime Reading)
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Catching Murphy was excellent, a real tear-jerker. I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the poor, loving dog, skittish and scared off after a car accident, wandering the wilderness for more than a year. One of the most touching things about the story is how the whole community and further afield, come together through social media to support, to help, to pray for Murphy's safe reunion with his family. Aren't people great at times? There are some very sad moments when it seemed like all the hoping and support was all for nothing. Catching Murphy is a heart-wrenching tale.
