Dear Max,
It has been a long time since I sent a letter your way. I apologize for that. I have so many things to tell you and I don't know where to begin!
Gramma is inside right now, but, that won't last long. It is Spring, you know. Gramma and Papa mow all the time now. When Gramma is not mowing, she is pulling weeds and planting seeds. Hey, that rhymes! I must be a poet dog.
Gramma mowed us dog's yard today. I like a yard with short grass. I have not forgotten about that snake Gramma killed by the wood pile. I wish she had not mentioned that part about snakes coming into our yard, though. She was grumbling about Toni digging holes in the back yard. She said she had to step lightly, whatever that means. I am just happy that she mowed my yard.
Toni Louise spends a lot of time outside. I like to go out and play for a bit, but I prefer to be indoors. While Gramma and Papa are outside it is cool and quiet in the sitting room. I like to curl up on the love seat where Gramma usually sits and take a nice nap. Oscar prefers his blanket on the floor. Gramma calls it his nest. That is so confusing to me. Birds have nests, we are dogs. We do not lay eggs. I do like to eat eggs, though. Papa let me have some of his one time and I was pleasantly surprised at just how good they tasted. These were chicken eggs.
Papa says we should have some chickens here at the kampground. I thought it was a fine idea, but Gramma said she was not taking care of livestock in addition to all her other duties. Livestock? What is livestock? Oscar says it is farm animals; like cows and pigs and chickens. He says we are a step above these animals. We are much more intelligent. Gramma told Papa that this is not a farm, but a kampground and there would be no livestock and that was the end of it.
I have something very sad to report. I bet you don't remember when you were a tiny pup and you lived here for a whole week, do you? Remember how Gramma wrapped you in a little blanket and held you when you whimpered? Well, she did. She wanted you to feel loved even before you got to meet your boy. If you will recall, there were four of us dogs here. Toni Louise was the one who wanted to roll you around like a ball. I was the one trying to impart all my wisdom to you. I actually saved you from the antics of Toni several times. Oscar was the old grouchy one that was opposed to sharing with you. Nothing personal, mind you, he is like that with all of us. Then there was Emmy. Emmy was not much bigger than you and she washed your face and ears. She had puppies long ago and was still very maternal.
Emmy had a hard winter and her back hurt quite a bit. She lost the feeling in one of her legs and found walking to be difficult. Gramma carried her most every where she went. Gramma was worried about her a lot. I heard Papa and Gramma talk about Emmy and how hard it would be when it was "time". I didn't know what they meant by "time" and Oscar refused to talk about it. If I asked he got very upset and would turn his back to me. Toni said it must me time to go outside or time to play or time to go to bed.
It has only been two weeks since I learned what this "time" was that they spoke of. Emmy woke one morning and would not stop whimpering. If Gramma tried to pick her up she would yelp really loud. She was hurting so bad. Gramma was crying and she made a phone call. She spoke about it being time for Emmy. She was crying when she hung up the phone. She called Papa and told him to come home. She wrapped Emmy in one of us dog's towels and sat holding her and crying while she waited for Papa. I sat next to them, as close to Gramma and Emmy as I could get.
When Papa came, Gramma told all of us to tell Emmy goodbye. Emmy was sleeping, but she opened her eyes to look at us. I licked her face, but she didn't lick me back. She was still in pain. Oscar did not want to tell her goodbye, but Gramma held Emmy down to him. They just looked at each other. Toni Louise tried to pull Emmy down and Gramma had to push her away .... but she didn't scold Toni. Then Papa brought the car to the door and Gramma got in with Emmy.
They did not have Emmy when they came back. Toni reminded me about the time she went to the vet and had surgery. She said that Emmy might just be in the animal hospital and would come home later. Oscar still refused to talk. All he wanted to do was eat and sleep. He did not even care that Toni and I were eating with him. He didn't care that Toni stole his pink ball. And the pink one is his very favorite. You can play with the blue ones and the green ones and we have a purple one, but the pink one is his favorite.
Gramma and Papa were very sad. Gramma would be doing something and all of a sudden she would pick up something that belonged to Emmy and sniff it and then cry. One day she went to her car while she was getting ready to go somewhere. She came in with the towel she had wrapped Emmy in the last time I saw her. She let us dogs sniff it. Oh, what joy we felt as we all smelled her smell. Toni's tail was wagging crazy fast as she kept telling me that Emmy was back.
But, Emmy was not back. Oscar picked the towel up and shook it and shook it. He let it drop to the floor and he crawled under it and back out again. He turned it this way and that way, but he could not find her. I felt sick. I crawled to a corner and lay down. I could not watch Oscar frantically searching for his wife-dog. After a time he picked the towel up and took it to his bed and lay on it. He did not sleep. He was so sad. That is when I knew what "time" was.
It was Emmy's time to travel over the rainbow to be with all the dogs that had lived good lives. Gramma held me and told me that Emmy was with Sarge and Louise and Crash. She told me that Emmy's back was healed and that she was running and playing with all her new friends. Oscar was not to be comforted that day. He is doing much better now, though. Gramma said he was trying to eat himself to death, so she has been limiting his food.
We all still miss Emmy and Gramma says we always will. Gramma is pushing me out of her lap now. She has to go move a sprinkler in her garden. I will write again soon. In the meantime, be good to your boy and try to be good for his mom.
Your mentor dog, Wall-E
