10.1.2012

I remembered when my neighbour's Min Pin gave birth to four healthy puppies, with our dog as the father (honestly, it was a rape). Every day I tiptoed to take a peek at those puppies, awaiting the day my neighbour would pass us one of those adorable furballs. After a few months, my neighbour passed us a black little mass of fur over the wall. I decided to name him Oreo.

We kept you in Happy's cage in the house, out of fear that that Blackie might attack you and you were yet too little to stay in the compound. You kept whining and you couldn't sleep, because you've wet your own sheet of newspaper and dad has to keep changing the sheets. You finally slept after we left you for a while by yourself, but it took many days for you to not whine whenever someone walks into the kitchen and leaves you all alone again. Sometimes, I'd take you out of your cage so that you can run around in the house a little but you'd often repay me by pooping on the floor. For a cute little thing like you, I didn't mind.

Soon, your nose became pointy and you grew to look more like your mother. I vaguely remember bringing you to the vet when you starting 'balding', and you had your first vaccination. Dr. Sarah said you had the temperament of a Min Pin because you became cranky when she gave you your jab. You were then 'upgraded' to live in the compound and promoted to be one of our watchdogs. Dad spoke of you often, of how you eat faster than Happy, and you eat almost everything (including your own poop). Sometimes in the afternoon, I'd catch you eating dried leaves. Beats me.

I felt bad because you had no friends nor toys to play with, so I gave you an old slipper of mine. When I pushed the clothes hanger stand and your slipper got in the way, you'd pull your slipper away and that really impressed mom and I. In the evenings when I played floorball in the compound, you got really excited and you couldn't stop barking at me so I gave you my Cr8er ball. It's still in the corner where I left it.

Then one day, I saw you vomiting but I didn't think much about it. Dad told me you even had diarrhoea. He should have brought you to the vet that very evening, but he didn't. You went to the vet's the next morning, and apparently the doctor gave you a jab and some medication. I saw you standing at your usual spot in the afternoon, with your head down as though you were emo-ing. But I thought you were going to be alright. Looking back now, I wonder if you knew your time was up then. I then saw you lying down, "Sleeping." I thought to myself. It was not until the evening that I went out of the house, and I saw you lying there like you did previously, but with your eyes and mouth open. There was a certain emptiness in your eyes, and you were lying there motionless, with your chest still. Stone cold. It came as a shock, but I knew you were gone. You were barely one.

I'd never thought that you'd be gone so soon. I envisioned you with us, for a lot of years to come. Now when I sit on the couch in the hall and I look out the door, I'll never see your black figure lying there anymore. I no longer get to hear you playing with your bowl and call you a 'silly boy' when you eat the dried leaves again.

You deserve a better fate in your next life, Oreo.