A few years ago, when Pluto, the stray I’d adopted was alive, I walked into his room: He lay on his back, all four legs in the air. I looked at his face, his eyes were shut and as I peered closely, I could have sworn there was a smile; that’s if dogs smile, which I’m sure they do.
I’d adopted him, when I’d seen him injured on the road. His injured leg hadn’t healed well and he walked with a limp, but that had never deterred him from pottering around proudly next to me, and telling the world he belonged to me; lifting his head in a half bark, half howl quite often when I returned from my morning walk. That day, I looked at him as he lay on his back and knew he was smiling because he was happy and content.
My younger daughter who’d got a beanbag as a birthday present a few years ago found Pluto loved lying in it and decided to give it up for him, and that had become Pluto’s bed: Imagine a stray owning a beanbag; but not a day went by without Pluto telling us in little ways he was grateful for his own special place.
There was a heat wave in the city and my other dog, a German-Shepherd, insisted on sleeping in my air-conditioned room. Every night there would be a scratching at my door, and on opening it, I’d find my huge fellow outside, “You sleeping in an AC room?” he seemed to be saying.
“Yes,” I’d say silently looking guiltily at him as he’d brush past me into my room. I would let him in and always wonder how Pluto was and going to his room, find him curled up in his beanbag. He’d open an eye and look at me and wag his tail, “Thank you for the beanbag,” he seemed to be saying. “Thank you for a home!”
He wasn’t complaining about the heat. Nor was he asking whether there was room for him also in my cool bedroom. He hadn’t followed my German-Shepherd in; oh no, he was happy and content with what he’d been given.
I wonder whether I also can lie on my back, look up into the air, and say, “Thank you for all you’ve given me Master, I’m happy and content! I don’t need no Mercedes, I’m happy with what you’ve given me, I don’t need no swimming pool outside, I’m happy with water in my tap!” Today, the bean bag lies empty of Pluto, but filled with the gratitude and thanks he gave me every single day of his life..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
