Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Shovel

I ran through the backyard my hair flowing behind me my dog quickly on my heels. We stopped and I rubbed my hands through her fur ending at her brown silky ears. I loved petting her ears, so soft- especially the black tips on the end of her ears, soft like velvet.

I had been the one who picked Duchess from the humane society, though I was too young to remember; as far as I knew she was always part of my life. She would sit on the stairs waiting for the bus to bring my sister and I home from school whining and crying if we had to stay after school for an activity.

And she loved to run- she especially wanted to run free sneaking out the back gate whenever she got the chance, her black nose always right there trying to push through your legs and out the opening. We would wander up and down the street calling her name. We knew she couldn't be too far our street was mostly surrounded by cornfields except for the new subdivision they were building at one end.

As she aged she still loved to run but she was happy staying home and wouldn't run off. We could even take her in the unfenced front yard with us now, she would run around, but never out of the yard. So when my mom and older sister went out to shovel snow they let Duchess come outside with them.

I stayed in to enjoy the snow from the warmth inside. Suddenly my mom came running into the panic in her eyes. She grabbed the keys and headed towards the door.

"What happened?" I squealed?
"Duchess got hit by a UPS truck, it was going so fast and spooked her and she ran in the street." she said while hurrying out the door. My mom and older sister carefully and gently put Duchess in the back seat and rushed off to the animal hospital. I sat there starring out the window, hot tears rolling down my cheeks. And then I saw it. The blood. Lots of blood screaming it's ugly red color at the end of our driveway.

I put on my coat and gloves the tears yet not stopping. I knew what had to be done. I grabbed one of the shovels and began scooping, one scoop of clean snow after another trying to cover that spot- that spot mocking me, that spot that took my dog from me. I wanted it gone, I didn't want it to be real. I wanted to protect my little sister who was yet not home. I could not let her see it. Yes she would know what happened but no she could not see this. The tears now froze to my cheeks. I banged and hit the snow another spot of red always seeming to soak through.

Finally it was done.

It was gone and so was my Duchess.

Linking up today with


**Come back tomorrow for Proud Mommy Moments with Kmama and me. Your chance to write about the things that make you so proud (i.e. brag away) or so "proud" (totally embarrassing)

22 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. What a sad way to lose your dog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How sad! What an awesome big sister though to protect her younger sister.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is very sad. It is hard losing a pet. That reminded me of my cat Petey we had for a long time. He would follow us everywhere. Me and my dad was walking home on Christmas eve from seeing my Aunt who lived up the street and Petey was following us home. Some man driving down the street hit him and he did stop. That was the worst Christmas ever.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sad day!!! But beautiful writing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is just so sad.... sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is such a sad story. I have never lost a pet, but I've witnessed a friend lose a pet (he was run over by a school bus). She cried for days as he truly was a part of her family. And, I think watching her mourning process helped me "get" it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This was so will written, but what a hard experience to go through. Sorry about your dog. Ours just ran away one day and never came back.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh no. This was so painful to read. I didn't realize what was coming … I thought it was just a happy story.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sad, sad story. I have one similar to this, it breaks my heart reading yours.

    ReplyDelete
  10. that sucks! I sat on the bed of my dad's truck with my Aussie who was hit by the power company truck until he passed when I was about 16. It was Superbowl Sunday even.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, no! That is terrible. What a sad story. :( I remember the day one of my dogs got hit by a car and died. I was in 7th grade. I feel like it was yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh man. I was expecting that ending. That is rough stuff. I'm so sorry, Emmy. My heart's breaking for you even though this happened a long time ago. You never really forget your first pet, do you? :o(

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow. This is an awesomely well-written post. I want to go hug that little-girl-you and make it all better!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh no, this is so sad. The way you wrote this made me feel like I was right there beside you, experiencing the pain and heartache as you were feeling it.

    You were so sweet to shovel the snow over the blood so your sister wouldn't have to see it.

    What a horrible way to lose a beloved family pet.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That is so sad...but what brave girl you were. I hate when people lose pets...it makes me cry every time!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aw, so sad. What a sad story. Sorry you had to go through that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, that's so sad. Poor thing. But what a loving thing to think of your little sister and take that task upon yourself. Nice write, although I'm sure it was hard.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I had a dog growing up for years...then he did while I was away living in a foreign country as an exchange student. I refuse to get another dog for the fear of going through the pain of losing him/her again...thank you for sharing this story.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh my! What a sad story. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

    ReplyDelete
  20. That was a sad day. I'm crying as I read this remembering taking her to the vet & being heartbroken when they said they couldnt do anything. You are a great writer sis! I am up way past bedtime reading your blog.

    ReplyDelete

ShareThis