Maybe. Just maybe.

[Jadie Jones]

We found what was left of the golden retriever shrouded in tall weeds along a vacant stretch of road. He had a length of chain and a padlock where a collar and tags should've been, and the skin beneath it had worn away the fastest. That we didn't know his name stuck with me that night worse than the sight of the larvae sustaining themselves on his stench. We pulled up fistfulls of clover and dandilions and said a prayer as we covered his matted fur. But we left a clear place around his nose. Just in case.

[Jadie Jones]

@bill - thank you :) i wish i could reclaim some of that faith. and @Gita - with every fiber in my body.

[Bill Floyd]

We persist in hoping, and I love that you included that here.

[Gita]

Perfectly written because it's sparse, nothing wasted.

Don't you want to find the person who chained up this dog until the skin wore away and take a baseball bat to his knees? I do. 

[Jadie Jones]

:) thanks stephen. your comment makes me think of my freshman year in college. for some reason i signed for existentialism at 8am - and the first day of class, our professor handed out blank paper and said: prove to me anything outside of your mind exists. Oiy.

[Stephen Torelli]

Your memories may be as important as life. Just maybe. Excellent post and classy too.

[Jadie Jones]

Thank you Teresa! I miss it too. And try as I might, I can only, at best, borrow it for a little while.

[Teresa]

That kind of belief breaks my heart now.  I guess I miss it.  Beautiful post, and well-written.

[Jadie Jones]

@Toby - thank you so much. that means a lot :)

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

This is very well written.  We probably all remember seeing our first death, but you've described it better than most.

[Jadie Jones]

It happened over 20 years ago and if I close my eyes I can still see every detail.