Here We Go

I promised Ash that I would do my part to keep BarkingProse running. I’d rather be out messing with the alpacas, but a promise is a promise.

The hardest thing for me is to pick a topic. Maybe it’s my age but I’m kinda all over the place. One day I want to post a bunch of blue dog baby pictures. Next I want to bark about what I did in class and how much I hate riding in elevators.

Ash said I should take a deep breath, stop running around in circles, and look inside my head for a picture of what I want to bark about.

That seemed like a silly way to start the process, but when I did that I got the clearest picture of Tess. That was strange because I never met Tess in this life, though we crossed paths in the spirit world before I was born.

I started going through old family pictures and suddenly I felt like Tess was with me, inside my head and heart. I got the strange feeling that Tess wasn’t gone, we just can’t see her.

Tess was a beautiful girl. She had gorgeous red fur and a great big smile. Ash loved her with all his heart. They used to lie around in the back yard shooting the breeze and barking at shadows.

Ash taught Tess how to play bump and run, but mostly they just had fun being together. Life is good when you have a best friend, but it hurts something awful to lose that friend.

 

Tess was beautiful on the outside, but inside she wasn’t built so good. She had the worst case of hip dysplasia the vet had ever seen and surgery couldn’t fix it. Then Tess got sick. Tests showed she had a huge tumor in her belly and her life in this world would soon be over.

Ash can’t talk about the last day he had with Tess. His blue eyes fill with tears and his lip quivers, but no words come out.

After Tess died Ash used to run away from home almost every day. Mom could hear him crashing through the brush, but he wouldn’t come back until he was worn out and hungry.

Mom knew how lonely Ash was without Tess. She knew Ash needed a friend, one of his own kind, another blue Aussie dog. That’s why I’m here. Ash won’t ever stop missing Tess, but now he has me and we’re hoping he won’t be so lonely anymore.