交作業了
I went to my friend's place last weekend. Something felt different after I entered the house. Then, I realized the difference: their dog, Looney, who used to jump on me as soon as I stepped inside, was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is Looney?” I asked, trying not to show too much curiosity.
“She is gone.”
“Gone? Do you mean she ran away again?”
“No. We had to put her down as her kidney failed.”
I felt my throat choked and struggled to find words to continue the conversation.
“Oh, that is sad.” I mumbled.
After recovering from the shock, I could not help but wondering why I was so emotional about a friend's dog that I hardly see.
Well, to be precise, Looney was not even my friend's dog, she belonged to her mother in law, who went to the nursing home a few years ago and left the dog to her and her husband.
Looney, however, won everyone's heart in the house in no time. Even if I don't want to admit, she had also won my heart despite the fact I was just an occasional visitor. The magic power Looney has is her enthusiasm. Each time I knocked my friend's door, I could hear a happy barking from distance to near. She would dash towards me as soon as the door was open, and run around me excitedly as if I am her long-last friend. After I sat down, she would sit next to my foot and waited patiently for me to play with her. When I touched her, she would lie down and let me to scratch her neck, tummy, and lick my hand as her way to thank me for the massage service. I used to joke with my friend, every marriage can last forever if the partners can treat each other like Looney did.
I reckon she still missed her old owner. One day, she ran away from the house without any warning. My friends looked for her everywhere in the neighbourhood to no avail. They thought they had lost her forever, and Looney has become a sensitive word we need to carefully skip so as to avoid triggering another emotional wave.
A few months later, I got a phone call from my exciting friend: “We found Looney! We found Looney!” It turned out that Looney was found and taken by a family living more than 20 kilometres away – how did she get there is a total mystery. Initially, my friends were furious, how could that family not contact them for so long even if they could find their details through the registration number on Looney's collar? Later, they understood: it is so easy to fall into love with Looney, and so hard to give her away.
I sat in my friend's kitchen sipping the same tea I had last time. Everything looked the same. Yet, it feels so quiet without Looney. I can't help missing the touch of her curly hair and moist lickings. She may have lived a dog's life, yet she can teach us a lot on how to make friends: be genuinely interested in others, not be afraid to express your needs and be thankful for what you received from others.
