Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Fala: in Memoriam: February 3, 1997









Fala came home to live with his sister Kate. She picked him as her "brother," standing over him and seeing what he would do. He did not flinch, he did not cower. He was willing to put up with his big sister and she with him. When he was tiny, he slipped through the fencing and immediately she alerted us, barking to tell us that her baby brother had wandered into the next yard. Seh monitored him w hen he was young and then when he had grown to adult size she played with him. They wrestled with a stick, the "mouthed" each other, they tumbled about and then they came to rest. When in a large field they separated, each exploring what attracted them, but always they watched what the other was doing and when the right moment occurred they ran back to each other and walked and ran together. When Fala suffered diseases in the summer, Kate would lick him and try to soothe him. Together they lived with much happiness and companionship and when Fala died on night, Kate howled, a howl that expressed the sorrow of her heart and the recognition that something terrible had happened. The next days she searched for him, trying to find him in the big field where they had played so often. But though she marked the field as a rectangle and then subdivided it she could not find him. She left signs for him but he never returned. Today they are in th eden where only dogs can enter; it is like the field in Evora where wild flowers and grass grow are lush and trees give them shade and a sweet brook glides through a glade. It is a land of everlasting peace and joy where Fala was joined by Kate and then Aesop and Emma arrived. And now they are a foursome forever.

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