Abandoned

When I hear the word abandoned I immediately think of all of the strays.

I have always been drawn to the underdog, no pun intended. When I was in elementary school, a nasty smelly scrawny dog who had clearly recently mothered a litter followed me home.  She was not far from dying. She sat in our yard, she needed me. For some reason, my parents let me keep her. I'm still to this day not sure why. After all, I'd probably stumbled on dozens of strays and certainly I must have begged for each one. So why this one?

Once cleaned up, she still stunk, she was gross. She needed a lot of vet care. But for some reason, my parents let me keep her.

I named her Sandy which was quite clever what with her sandy colored fur and all. I was so creative, don't you think?

Sandy was very special to me. I was special to Sandy. She would growl and lunge at anyone that came near my room, unless they were escorted by me. Once, my grandfather walked into my room ahead of me. She went after him! I don't think she actually bit him, but she let him know that he was not permitted to cross that threshold alone.

I would often walk to my grandparents house, it was just down the street. If she was in the backyard, she would climb the fence to be with me. It was a 5 foot fence, she couldn't jump it, so she climbed. She adored me. I adored her.

On October 30th 1988 a day I will never forget. My mom and I were walking to my grandmothers. I heard the sound of Sandy's nails on the street. She was racing to me as she had so many times before. I turned to call her over to the sidewalk just in time to see a huge Chevy Suburban run her over. I can still hear her crying. I screamed. My mother rushed me into the house. My dad ran out and scooped her up.

The dog that had become my best friend, my protector had been killed.

My heart was broken. Sometimes its hard to remember the good times when the bad times hurt so deeply.

I still have a soft spot for strays and animals in general. No

one should ever be abandoned.

Today's daily prompt = ABANDONED


Abandoned