book is in its second printing. Folks fight over the limited first editions on eBay, bidding more than $100 a copy!
Celebrating our area's four-legged, feathered and finned friends
Maxwell Paxton
If you are a young adult, or if you have children who are between 18 and 40, you know all about grandpets!
It goes something like this:
“Mom, Dad, (I, we) have to go to the (service, college, Europe, a job interview) in (East Jibippy, you name it) for the (weekend, a month, indefinitely). Could our pet stay with you?”
And there you have the heroes of the century: dogs, cats, birds, even fish and their grandfolks. Worlds change, schedules adapt, sleep suffers — but everyone gets along just fine.
And that’s where 3-year-old Maxwell comes in. Maxwell is a delightful little dachshund mix that had been dropped off at a kill shelter, as hateful as that is to imagine while looking at Maxwell’s trusting brown eyes.
He found his safe forever home when Hank Paxton adopted him a year ago. Hank needed to do some traveling after his college graduation, so Maxwell came to stay a month with Paducah’s First Meemaw and Pawpaw, Lucy and Mayor Bill Paxton.
“Maxwell is very adaptable,” says Lucy. “He knew when Hank left that he – Maxwell – would be staying here with us. I fixed up a nice little bed in our room for him. But Bill felt it wouldn’t be fair for Maxwell to sleep in a dog bed while he was here, because he’s used to sleeping with Hank. So Maxwell slept right between the Bill and me, like he had been doing it all his life.”
“He’s really a great little dog,” explains the Mayor.
The couple’s two rescued cats beg to differ. “Maxwell is so nice to the cats. But Mr. Kitty and Miss Kitty hate him,” Lucy admits. “He wants to play, but they just hide.”
Most grandpets are treated royally, and Maxwell is no exception. “Bill takes him for walks on the Greenway, and sometimes he takes him to work. He loves this dog so much, I can’t imagine how he’s going to be when a real grandbaby comes along!”
When Hank returned from his travels, Maxwell celebrated by jumping in Hank’s bed. “Oh I spread out and slept!” laughs Lucy. “How can a little dog take up so much room?”
And now, as with grandpets and their good grandfolks all over, life will return to normal. Everyone will get a little more sleep. Daily routines will resume. Mr. and Miss Kitty will rule their roost once more.
The Mayor and Mrs. Paxton will know they did something wonderful for their son. And Maxwell will know he did something wonderful for his Hank.
They all took care of each other.
