FAITHFUL FURRY FRIEND

“It was a tough time,” she said, bending down to pet her fluffy West Highland Terrier, “but you helped me through it, didn’t you?”  The little white dog wriggled his back end, looking up at her adoringly as she scratched behind his ears.

“What’d he do?” I asked.

“Well, for one thing, he made me laugh.” She smiled at the memory. “He would hide and when the cat walked by, he would jump out and attack him and chase him around the house.” Seeing the look of horror on my face, she quickly added, “They were playing, silly! They’re buddies.”

She continued to pet him and he leaned against her leg, gazing up at her with trusting brown eyes. “And of course I had to take him for walks every day which got me outside, even when I didn’t want to go,” she said. “People would stop to admire his cuteness and we’d talk about our dogs…it was nice.”

She grew thoughtful. “Most of all, I loved taking him outside at night. It was so quiet. I would look up at the thousands of stars in the night sky, and I’d take a deep breath, and somehow I knew that everything was going to be okay.”

We sat in comfortable silence. “Maybe I should get a dog,” I said.

She laughed. “Cheaper than therapy, right?”