Rose's Road

​Rose’s first memories were of snuggling up in his arms and sleeping. This she did frequently, as she was the runt, prematurely ejected from the family fold by her mother and immediately adopted by Bill. From the start, Bill took her everywhere with him. When he ate, she curled up on the napkin in his lap. When he slept, he tucked her into one of his big wooly socks and laid her next to his pillow.
 
It was just the two of them then. Bill was a widower with no children, and so he had nothing but time and affection for little Rose, his chocolate morsel as he called her. They played endless games together, including one where Bill would shoot rubber bands and Rose would gleefully chase the unpredictable projectiles until she was exhausted and would collapse in a happy heap at his feet.
 
They especially enjoyed walks along the beach. As a well-bred Labrador, she knew not to chase geese or seagulls, although she dearly wanted to. Instead, she found delight in surging through curling waves to retrieve pebbles that Bill would toss for her. She would triumphantly return with the small stones and deposit them at Bill’s feet - celebrating with a satisfying whole-body shake to rid herself of the scratchy sea water that clung to her rich coat. Before clambering back into their car, Bill would gently wash her feet with clean water, tenderly removing any salt or sand stuck between her toes.
 
On one of these joyous jaunts, Bill met a chatty young woman with chestnut hair as lustrous as Rose’s. The pair walked and talked intently leaving Rose to amuse herself. She nearly lunged at an unsuspecting seagull just to get Bill’s attention but thought better of it in the end. One walk led to another, and quickly the two two-leggeds were holding hands and knocking shoulders. Rose sniffed a saccharin sweetness.
 
Lizette moved in with Bill not long thereafter but quickly decided to leave Bill and Rose to their beach walks, preferring to chat on the phone or rearrange the household furniture. After some months, Rose realised that Bill’s breath rattled and his stride had shortened. Their beach visits became briefer and briefer, until they ceased entirely.
 
Rose committed her days to lying at Bill’s feet or attentively chaperoning him on his infrequent wobbles within the house. Eventually, her time was simply spent guarding the foot of his bed.
 
Then, suddenly, the bed was empty. Lizette began  bustling officiously about the house. The dry husk of sweetness that she had maintained until now fell away to reveal a thick and oily mean streak. She grabbed Rose by her soft red collar and shoved her into the car.
 
Rose knew the road to the vet’s office, where she had always been greeted with treats and hugs. This time, however, the mood was dark. No one greeted her. She was taken to a back room, where a young man in an ill-fitting white coat simply said, ‘I’m sorry, Rose.’
 
As she closed her eyes and relinquished her final breath, she could not have known that reincarnation, the great leveler, would return her to the earth on two legs. Lizette, in contrast, would return on six.
 
 
 
7 Aug 2018