This is dedicated to my brother's dog, Candy. She died on July 26, 2005. She is missed very much.
When you came into my life, you were just a tiny pup. A skinny little fluff ball, with eyes the color of chocolate. Your soft fur was a delicate shade of white. You were a perfect specimen of the Lupe species. I admit, I was pretty jealous over the way our owner fawned over you. However, you won me over with your kind personality. We soon became the best of buddies.
Remember all the mischief we got into? I'm sure you do. I won't forget anytime soon. We would filch the desert that our owner made and eat it instead of dinner. When it was bath time, we would hide. My favorite hiding spot was the roof. But that got our owner so mad, she would turn the color of a beet! Then we would run around the house. She was pretty fast, wasn't she? She would always catch us after the second lap.
We had bunk beds, but we always shared the top one. We would read under the covers with a red flashlight. I still do that today, you know. One time we read the whole night away. That book was so good though. We had to know how it ended!
We would always play outside. During the summer, we would pretend we were pirates, adventurers, or something of that sort. During the winter, we would build snow forts. Remember the house we built? It even had furniture, made out of snow of course. Then we would have a massive snowball fight
The years went by, and our friendship never wavered. We barely argued, and the few times that we did, we made up in the same day. I never thought that anything would change. Foolish of me, I know.
One day, you grew ill. I thought you had the flu, so I would sit with you and read while you ate crackers and slurped orange juice. Several weeks went by, and you were still sick. Our owner was getting worried. So was I. Normally, you got over illnesses quickly. Soon, you wouldn't eat or drink anything. You were complaining of a stomachache. Our owner took you to the doctor. He did some tests and told us to come back tomorrow.
When we did, he gave us a medicine, thinking that your intestines was inflamed. You didn't like the taste of it. I don't blame you. It smelled terrible. The medicine didn't work however, and you were getting worse each day. Soon, you couldn't move at all. You were taken to the doctor again. He examined you and said that you were dying. Our owner burst into tears. I had to lead the two of you home. You fell asleep while we cried. We didn't sleep the whole night. You woke up a lot from the pain. I would sit by you and read to you when you were awake. It hurt so bad to see your body starting to fail before my eyes. You were my best friend, and now I was losing you. But you wouldn't let me say that.
"I'll just be a ghost, like that one story we read. I liked that one." you would whisper stubbornly. I realized then, that you were right. Your body was leaving, but your spirit wasn't. By the end of the week, you were almost gone. It was late in the afternoon. You were about to fall asleep when you asked me to get our owner. I obeyed and we sat close to you.
"Good-night. I love you guys." was all you said.
"I love you too." our owner whispered, tears coming to her eyes.
"I love you too. Are you going to dream about all the fun things we did?" I asked, trying my hardest not to start sobbing.
"Yeah. I'm going to dream of that one snowball fight we had where you hit the neighbor's son instead of me." you chuckled weakly.
"Oh yeah. He chased me all over the yard. You tripped him though." I laughed at the memories. You then fell asleep. Several hours passed by, when I realized something was wrong. You weren't breathing. I simply left to go get our owner.
You were buried the day after. I didn't cry, but I don't think I could. It felt so weird, going to bed that night. I didn't sleep very well. I don't think our owner did too. It was even weirder waking up the next morning. We slowly adjusted to not having you there. Did you know that our owner adopted a little Grarrl? He's pretty young. His name is Max. Max is okay, for a Grarrl. We get along, but not as well as you and I did.
I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long. I've been busy. I made a new friend yesterday! Her name is Alice and she's a Kacheek. She's bubbly and funny. I think you would have liked her. Alice has a big sister named Mara. Mara's a black Kougra. She fights at the Battledome, but she's really nice. She's been teaching me about weapons and stuff. I might want to enter one of these days. Our owner is doing great too. She's been making a lot of friends too. She works at the pound. I do too. I read to all the pets. I always think of you when I do. I hope you're as happy as I am. Well, it's dinnertime and our owner doesn't like me staying out too late. I'll try and visit you again sometime soon.
A red Gelert makes her way out of the graveyard. She pauses to look back at the tombstone she had been sitting at for the last hour. She then gives it a small smile, and leaves. The tombstone reads:
Rest in Peace Beloved Sister, Daughter, Friend.
1992–2005