Rest in Peace, Our Un-named Stray.

               He had many names over the week an a half that he was at the Property. One stuck the most Buddy, he responded better with names that started with a "S".  We called him Fredrick, Fred, Happy, Ralph, Rollo, Skippy, Snoopy, and many others I wish I would have remembered. He was a stray, he had a red ,hairless strip of skin on his neck, where you could tell he was wearing a collar and he got to big for it, he also had a spot where his tail and his body met that was also hairless, he also had hearts on his fur, 4 if I can remember correctly. One was on his leg just two spots that was together. He stayed with us even when we didn't have food, he choose us, like my cat did. He was happy there, even when we left he'd go chase rabbits, and when I would sit in a chair he'd put his two front legs on my legs I'd pet him. His tail almost never stopped. But Tuesday, we went to the Property, and he was no where to be seen. We were going to build him a dog house, and we had bought him dog food, because we were just feeding him hamburger buns, and cat food. Well it didn't take long, but I knew something wasn't right. My Mom and My Step-Dad were working on the tractor, and so I got up from my seat, and from then on, my mind was empty, I felt like I was in a days, I look back now and my memory's black and white, no color. And so I kept walking, I knew I'd find him up this road. But don't ask me how I knew, but he was up that road, not very far either, I saw the white of his fur. And when I saw him, it was like a movie, I said "Buddy" hoping he would jolt up and run towards me. But he didn't. His body already covered in flies. I walked back and told my parents. Then we buried him. He couldn't have been 2 years old. Later that day, it rained, lightly, and after that the red, blue, and purple sky had an image left in the clouds of the rain. It displayed a dog, call me a liar, but I know what I saw, and next to Buddy and a Heart. Mom had told me we gave him best week and a half of his life. But that's not good enough for me. It should have been longer, we should have been there when we were living up there. I don't know what cut his life short, but I do think the cloud I saw was a sigh, that he was better now, and I shouldn't cry but even now writing this I am. I had already loved that hound.



                                          -Grace