DAY FIVE: August 22, 2016

On Monday we went back to work.  It was a time when I was starting to question my decision to let Flash go.  His appetite had suddenly picked up, he had a little more bounce in his step and, ultimately, I was starting to see how much I was going to miss him.  As if he knew that I was having second thoughts, one minute after he had come inside from his morning duties, he squatted and shat at my feet in the kitchen as I prepared sack lunches for Kathy and myself.  We no longer chastise him for his shortcomings.

When my wife and children brought T-Rex home for the first time, I wasn’t ready for another dog.  Dean’s passing (although I hadn’t been as close to Dean) had been a tough time that reminded me of Brooklyn’s death.  The ending was the same, and the nerve endings were still raw.  Yet, Flash ran to my feet (I was cooking at the time) and stayed there…for the next fourteen years.  He’d been adopted from a shelter as a pup and returned at nine months.  “We didn’t know he would be so rambunctious with a toddler!” was their explanation.   It made him needy with us, from day one.  It wasn’t what I wanted.  The cold nose constantly under your hand, begging for a pat.  The endless scratch at the back door, wanting to play.  Kath and the kids did most of it.  As I said, I didn’t want another dog, not yet, so when I did begin to spend time with Flash, it came in its own time. I talk to that dog more than I speak to anybody now.  It’s funny how things change.

After dinner tonight, Kath sat down in a chair right beside the back door, coming in after doing some weeding.  Flash wagged his tail and came over to greet her.  Kath rubbed his ears and neck, causing the pooch to burrow in, his head down, moving closer to her.  I watched her as she dropped her head down and rubbed his neck and shoulders.  When she raised her face again, it was covered in tears.  “Y’know, Petey (a family pet when she lived at home) was my brother’s dog.  I was already in college, I never realized until we had Brookie…” 

She only knew Brooklyn for the second half of his life, so she’s steeling herself for what is to come.  Petey was an outside dog that she saw little of when she lived at home and less when she came back to visit.  Brooklyn had played with her children, Dean was an unfortunate accident, but Flash was the only dog her babies remembered clearly.  She knew it was going to hurt, and the sting had already begun.