(In which his hardships reached an end.)
***
I rode off the jeepney and approached my waiting father I masked him the question I’ve been asking him since our dog has been sick: “How’s Doggie?” And his usual answer was “He’s at home.” But last night, he said “I buried him.”
I stopped walking.
“What? Buried? You mean he…”
“Yes.”
Our dog has been suffering from Canine Distemper for a month now. Many dogs have already died in our neighborhood because of that disease and most of them didn’t last for weeks. Doggie has been battling with the disease for a long time.
My sister told me that she noticed that Doggie wasn’t moving after she watched a movie.
“That was three or four. I turned off the lights while I was watching and when I turned it back on, I approached Doggie to see if he needs anything. You see, he can barely move now. Before, he was just having problems with his hind legs but I noticed that he’s been lying on the floor all day long since Tuesday. His mouth and eyes were half open when I saw him. And I was just enjoying the movie while he’s suffering.”
I feel my sister’s pain. We helped each other cleaning and feeding our pet. She used to stay in the dormitory and she knew that Doggie has been sick for a while so she really took care of him when she returned home. I still remember him trying to stand when he saw any member of the family coming in to the house and it breaks our heart whenever he does that. We knew that his disease is very fatal. It’s sad now that he’s gone but it’s harder to see him suffer.
