This is the story of how I met Dayton and Spooky. And it’s all because I wanted chicken and dumplings.
When I have the funds, I usually eat at Sweet Tooth’s. But one recent Wednesday I wanted dumplings from The Magnolia Cafe, located on the square in Magnolia.
A few miles from there, Dayton Shaver, 35, of Fernwood decided to go for a walk with his yellow lab Spooky to collect aluminum cans.
He was collecting cans to help his mom financially.
“He told me it was going to be a short walk,” his mom Mary Shaver said.
Mary, who works at Sunflower in McComb, said she kept telling her co-workers something wasn’t right.
“I came home to check on him,” she said. But, when she got there, Dayton and Spooky were gone.
Shaver said she drove around for about 20 minutes but couldn’t find Dayton. So she went back to work still feeling like something wasn’t right. Never knowing she passed right by Dayton.
About the same time, I made my way to Magnolia belting out Adele’s “Turning Tables.”
As I’m driving, I hear out of nowhere, “There’s a man up ahead of you.” I brushed it off.
I got a little past McComb Diesel, and I could see someone lying on the sidewalk. I think I’m going crazy. Still belting out Adele, I keep going.
As I pass the soul food restaurant, I do a double take. There’s a man on the sidewalk. He’s stretched out, arm above his head and he’s still. I immediately turn around.
Spooky is the real reason I stopped. He was sad. I parked on the shoulder of the northbound lane. A car almost hit me because I was in the road, but I didn’t care.
I have this weird innate ability to tell when some-thing’s wrong. At one point, I wanted to be a psychologist. It never leaves. Something about the way he’s lying is off.
As I walk up to him, I think “Is he dead?” A bit extreme, but I’m the police reporter. You never rule out anything.
As I get closer, Dayton turned over and got up. It was as if Spooky nudged him. My first question is “Are you OK?”
He said, “No, I think I may have passed out.”
He was pale, almost stark white. I asked if he wanted me to take him to Beacham hospital. He asked for a ride home.
We made it to his house. That’s when he said his mom, Mary, had come home from work, and she may have locked the doors.
I spoke with Mary and let her know what happened. She told me later she was shocked.
He told her, “Nobody stopped for me. They all passed me, but her.” He could’ve been out there for hours before anyone stopped.
If so, this would be a different story.
He told me, “I could have been crazy, but you didn’t care. You picked up a stranger. Not a lot of people would do that. God bless you.”
Last week, at a staff meeting, I learned my new friend has a past. He had been arrested and charged for burglary a few years back.
Dayton’s now getting his life together.
“Because of his conviction, he can’t get a job. He was trying to help. It was sweet of him,” Mary said. “It’s been very hard for him to change.”
She said Dayton rescued Spooky in October 2012 from PALS. Spooky has never left his side. And he never left his side that Wednesday either.
Dayton’s now apprehensive about walking in the heat. “I’m not doing that again,” he said, “I knew it was hot, but I didn’t know it was that hot.”
Mary said with the racial tension today, what I did was big.
“No offense, but with the racial divide, for you as a black woman to help a white man and an ex-convict is big,” Mary said. “There are not too many good stories out there. For an unknown person to care for another unknown person is a big deal,” she said.
I’ve never saw color and I never will. I saw a man who desperately needed help. That’s what I did.
I’m thankful for meeting Dayton, and I hope he turns it around. Little does he know, he helped me more than I helped him. And it’s all because I wanted dumplings.
