June 19th, 2015
I've always wanted a dog. When I was a kid, my grandparents had a small black poodle. Snoopy was his name. I adored that sixteen year old dog. He was so sweet and patient with me. He was my best friend. He was my first friend.
Snoopy got old and blind. He barely couldn't walk anymore without getting hurt. At a certain moment he couldn't even pee. My grandparents decided it was time to put him asleep. The next day they told me Snoopy was dead. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even allowed to help burry him! I may have been six back then, but I had already been on the funeral of my uncle. I knew the meaning of "dead".
After hearing the sad news, I struggled with separation anxiety. Every night, I dreamt I was a dog. And every night my owners tied my leash around a tree and left me behind. The moment I realised they weren't coming back, I started to scream "Don't go! Please, don't leave me!", waking up the whole neighbourhood.
Years passed by and I finally got rid of those terrible nightmares. I still shiver thinking about them. My parents never forgot it, though.
Whenever I talked about how great it would be to have a dog, they -and especially dad- remembered what happened the last time the dog I loved died. That's why I've never been allowed to have a dog.
Now dad died, I felt a dog could come in handy to protect my family when I'm not around. Knowing mom could be persuaded by that argument, I brought up the dog question once again.
The moment I pronounced the word "dog", mom's portable started to make weird noises. Looking at the screen, there wasn't a single thing that could explain those noises: no calls, messages, e-mails, upgrades, bluetooth requests...
I stopped saying "dog" and the noises stopped. My lips were about to form the word, the portable lost its mind. I'd never seen something like that... At least not with a portable.
This whole situation does ring a bell. Bad pun, I know, but it's true: the portable noises behave like grandpa's door bell.
Is this dad's version of grandpa's door bell? Is this the way dad tries to communicate with those who can't understand his whispering?
One thing is sure: the portable doesn't let me have a dog.
(image found at: listverse.com)
