Saturday, May 24, 2008

NOEL, LOVE, LOST AND FOUND


I am graced with being able to say, "a long time ago."

A long time ago, a tiny, black and white spotted dog came up to me on a crowed street near my Silverlake home and adopted me on the spot. He was the kind of dog I could fall in love with.

"Well, hello there!” I said, “Where do you live?" As little dogs do he jumped up and down and then licked my hand. From that moment on that “happy” dog became part of my family. As hard as I tried that day, I could never find his owner.

But Happy loved to run and he knew that "out there," beyond my front door, he could run forever. So one morning when I went out to get the paper, Happy ran out past me into the street and was immediately hit by a truck that just kept on driving.

Horrified, I swore I would never "feel" for a pet again. Oh, they could live with me; call my place home but there would be no more "love business." So many lost animals found a home, lived contented lives, even guarded the house but not with my “Happy” feeling.

That was until Noel (or Church Cat as the pre-school kids called him) jumped into my opened car door, despite repeated questioning and traveled home with me like an old friend on the front seat. I fell in love again.

When I sat down he would jump on my lap; when I gardened he followed alongside of me; no matter what I did, he always purred. And if he went outdoors on his own he would come back in when I called -- until last night.

This morning when the front door bell rang, a neighbor brought him home in a basket with half his head missing; another motor vehicle victim. It was a little different this time ... several weeks ago as I typed and Noel purred, I remembered Happy and said "goodbye." I guess I’ve come to realize that life is fleeting. And Noel was a wanderer.

In his brief four months here, Noel caught 10 squirrels, 8 mice, 3 rats, 27 lizards, three pigeons and two house finches ... if there was a fly in the room he would chase after it.

And so I dug a hole ... a really, really deep hole ... and put a pure white, ironed, linen handkerchief and a sterling silver St. Christopher medal over him to comfort him on his way, and said the ancient words, "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes" ...

Damn it; damn it; damn it...

2 comments:

Doorman-Priest said...

We don't have pets. The official reason is that everyone is out of the house five days a week etc, but to be honest its really all about your post.

Yard[D]og said...

This was a while ago ... but I rewrote it ... and want to thank you for your honest comment.