left-right: revisitation, hernia dog's sons sit alone in the clearance; hernia dog, much loved.
a place where the caregiver feeds, lalangs grow in beautiful abandonment, their colours fading to a summery-yellow in the bath of the late afternoon sun. above our heads, crows perch on the branches, waiting to swoop down on the feast as soon as the dogs aren't looking.
a rare creek meanders in gentle gushes over uneven rocks. it's always been a quiet, quiet time; precious peacefulness between the caregiver and her dogs. a much-deserved meditation between the dogs of the wilderness and the caregiver who longs for some quality time, just with her dogs and nothing else.
but the semi-pastoral picture is destroyed. when we revisit the place with the caregiver, we don't see dogs galloping in gayness, in eager anticipation of their tasty treats. but a litter of brothers who'd been left to their own devices, disoriented, having depended on their mother since the day they barked into this world.
their mother, "hernia dog" (her distinguishable lump on her belly, hence the name), for the strangest of reasons, is gone, removed from the beautiful landscape like a speck of dust. a trivialized life, an undignified soul.
we feel, because we KNOW her. we feel bitterly disappointed because we KNOW her, we've come to connect with the roaming dogs who display an exuberance of life and living, belittled by many. but those who took her, don't know her.
her quirkiness to bury a piece of meat in the earth tickled us. her thoughtfulness to save food for her sons touched us. her friendliness made her an easy target.
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