My Life

As I got to the garage, to my surprise Mom wasn't there. I went into the back of the garage and found Dad. "Where's Mom?" I asked casually. "She's at home." he answered, averting my eyes as her continued to work. Alarm bells started going off in my head. When I entered the house minutes later my Mom jumped up from her chair where she was knitting. "Where's T.C?" I asked. With swollen eyes and tears running down her face she replied, "I killed him. He's in the garage." I found him lying on the work bench. Not knowing what else to do I tentatively reached out my hand, touching his head, smoothing down his ears and caressing his side. When reality set in that he wasn't going to wake up I was once again reminded of how cruel the world could be. I continued to pet him, telling him of what a good dog and good friend he has always been and that he will be greatly missed. We had never been apart for more than seven hours a day while I was at school. I knew what I had to do and grabbing a shovel from its nail on the wall and I went to the backyard. With red swollen eyes, choking back sobs, I dug his grave. Shawn had a visit from my Mom. This became somewhat disturbing to him because he wasn't one to dream. I found myself standing in the kitchen of the little blue house with Melva sitting at the table eating cabbage soup, looking very slim and trim. "I've been waiting for you." She says, her voice calm. "You can't quit working on this, you have to keep trying." "I don't think I can." he responded. "You have to, it's much to early for Tam to come see me. I expect to be seeing you first." "I see." was all he could think to say. "Your still in there you know, she just has to decide to look." she reassured. "You know she won't believe me if I tell her this." "I know but you'll tell her anyway." Then she was gone.