Thud.
A sound the boy remembers from that day.
It was soon learnt that his father passed away in the hospital. It happened so fast that nobody had an opportunity to reconcile with the tragedy. Our eight-year-old hero was filled with a weird sensation, struggling to frame questions in his head, let alone look for immediate answers. On top of this, all he felt was an absence of a person who he thought would always be there for him.
Sad news: He was gone.
Good news: The boy got a dog.
For some reason, his grandma felt he’d do better in the company of a furry companion. The ex-abandoned gentleman-on-four-legs was visibly old but agreeably sweet. Before anybody could realize it, the two became the closest of close friends. Except that our boy found a fatherly figure in the sniffy creature; not sure whether the mongrel had a clue though. However, the latter’s genuine warmth and protective nature only added to the allure of their filial relationship. Small wonder why he’d feel more comfortable sitting next to the dog than in a room full of grief-laden adults.
Some years passed by as the boy grew a few inches taller while his dog shed a few pounds. Many things changed. His mother married again and brought home a man who didn’t appear to be very fond of our little hero. Or his littler hero. Somehow, they all pretended to get along fine under one roof without intruding each other’s boundaries. Until one night.
The boy was fast asleep when his dreams were interrupted by a strange noise. It felt like somebody has thrown a rock at their house. He got up from his bed and his dog was nowhere to be seen. Breathing heavily, the boy ran out of the room, climbed down the stairs and bolted out of the main door. And there he was lying motionless on the dewy grass as if it was a normal routine. Kneeling in front of his dearest person, our hero didn’t even have to be a vet to know what had happened.
Again.
It was soon learnt that the dog didn’t suffer harm of external nature. Heart condition, they concluded. Life and death has come full circle for our young boy. To him, it didn’t matter how he passed away just like it didn’t 4 years earlier. In his uncomplicated mind, he lost his father. Twice.