Friends
Twenty-one years ago, my husband gave me Sam, an eight-
week-old schnauzer, to help ease the loss of our daughter,
who was stillborn. Sam and I developed a very special bond
over the next fourteen years. It seemed that nothing that
happened could ever change that.
At one point, my husband and I decided to relocate from
our New York apartment to a new home in New Jersey. After
we were there awhile, our neighbor, whose cat had recently
had kittens, asked us if we would like one. We were a
little apprehensive about Sam's jealousy and how he would
handle his turf being invaded, but we decided to risk it and
agreed to take a kitten.
We picked a little gray, playful ball of fur. It was
like having a road runner in the house. She raced around
chasing imaginary mice and squirrels and vaulted from table
to chair in the blink of an eye, so we named her Lightning.
At first, Sam and Lightning were very cautious with
each other and kept their distance. But slowly, as the days
went on, Lightning started following Sam - up the stairs,
down the stairs, into the kitchen to watch him eat, into the
living room to watch him sleep. As time passed, they became
inseparable. When they slept, it was always together; when
they ate, it was always next to each other. When I played
with one, the other joined in. If Sam barked at something,
Lightning ran to see what it was. When I took either one
out of the house, the other was always waiting by the door
when we returned. That was the way it was for years.
Then, without any warning, Sam began suffering from
convulsions and was diagnosed as having a weak heart. I had
no other choice but to have him put down. The pain of
making that decision, however, was nothing compared with
what I experienced when I had to leave Sam at the vet and
walk into our house alone. This time, there was no Sam for
Lightning to greet and no way to explain why she would never
see her friend again.
In the days that followed, Lightning seemed heart-
broken. She could not tell me in words that she was
suffering, but I could see the pain and disappointment in
her eyes whenever anyone opened the front door, or the hope
whenever she heard a dog bark.
The weeks wore on and the cat's sorrow seemed to be
lifting. One day as I walked into our living room, I
happened to glance down on the floor next to our sofa where
we had a sculptured replica of Sam that we had bought a few
years before. Lying next to the statue, one arm wrapped
around the statue's neck, was Lightning, contentedly
sleeping with her best friend. By Karen Del Tufo
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＊＊＊
＊＊╭＊＊ 我喜歡生活裡有適度的寂寞，
＊╰╣＊＊ 因為在寂寞的時候，會給自己一個思想的空間。
║ 一個很隱密、很自我、很放任的思想空間。
║ 我就是我 ----- 獨一無二的我
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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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