For the love of

March 2021

The dog loves you, clearly. You are the one whose door she sleeps in front of. You stare into her eyes and rub her ears against her skull.

She ended up on the love seat next to you tonight laying pointedly on your thigh. Her gleaming fangs shone at attention. Her eye looked at you, wide to the whites.

You stuck your finger behind her fangs to tease her. She sighed and sneezed.

I did not tell you that I buried a mostly whole cat today. Shook to death with a rip down the neck below the chin to the tear-away collar with bell. Name tag said “Patches” and had a phone number. I didn’t call. Pulled aside the bark dust and the landscape screen. Dug wide and deep. Filled the hole in, smoothed it over, and re-landscaped over the surface. I stirred the couple shovelfuls of extra dirt into the compost.