Shadows of Shelly

Shelly - The Destiny of Dog 3

THREE

Shelly – The Destiny of Dog

I don't make excuses for the way anyone lives, but Brit received the pits. The boy was raising himself. Starvation set off his stealing. When Momma and Daddy heard that his Father had died, they invited him to stay with us. It surprised me they would do that for a stranger.

Brit and Dog have become an odd couple. They took to each other like the greatest pals first time they met. Dog has a habit of putting his front paws on the shoulders of a person he likes and slopping his tongue across their face. He did it several times to Brit which indicated that they were to be the closest of friends.

Dog followed Brit everywhere. When the old Ford's engine started, Dog was in the front seat. Maybe he sensed that my brother needed special care.

It is a shame that Dog was killed by a gangster's bullet six months ago. A member of the Pink Handkerchief gang was attempting to break into our house. Dog put his paws on the man's shoulders and was about to lick his face when the criminal took out a gun and shot my brother's buddy. The burglar was very clear on the security film. The man shouted something in Chinese before he shot Dog.

Brit was holding Dog's head in his lap as his tamed friend took his last breath. Brit's body stiffened, and tears of rage spilled from his eyes. The security guards who watched our home caught the perpetrator and brought him back to our house.

In three seconds my distraught brother was on top of the killer punching him in the face. Daddy and two security guards pulled him off the crook. Daddy sternly said, "Son, this man deserves to go to prison. Let the courts take care of it. I know you want revenge. But you don't want anyone's blood on your hands. Let the law do their job. Dog was a hero!" He relaxed as the police carted off the criminal.

Brit ask our preacher to conduct the funeral at the church. The pastor told him he had never conducted a service for a pet. Brit said, "He was not a pet. He was my pal."

Reverend Kon Dee (คนดี - Good man) asked for a show of hands of those who knew Dog as their treasured friend. Several hundred hands appeared in the jam-packed church. "It is my understanding that Dog possessed skills in the martial arts of the Fraternal Fear and was a favorite in Southeast Asia. Shrines to Dog are appearing all over the world. Children's comic books have made him an international hero. When Dog laughed everyone around him grinned with excitement.

No one owned Dog. He was a free spirit, mainly residing at the Matthews, Lockharts and Olanders homes, but all in the Tingkee Village claim him as their favorite relative. I would like to call on Brit Hatton Matthews to say a few words."

Speaking in Thai and then English, Brit began, "Everyone in the community knows Dog adopted me previously to the Matthews becoming my family. They trusted me because this shaggy mixed-breed licked me on the face again and again. He knew there was good in me sooner than I realized it myself. I will miss him, but..." Then Brit took up a small box sitting on one of choir pews, pulled out a tiny puppy with a smirk on his face that all us recognized, and said, "Let me present to you Son of Dog." We laughed, rendered a thunderous applause and stood to our feet. Several of the older women shouted, "AMEN!" The congregation sang, "How Great Thou Art!"

I waited in line as most attendees shook Brit's hand, and petted Son of Dog. When my turn came, I put my hands around his neck, pulled him and planted a fiery kiss on his lips. He returned the embrace and my knees almost buckled. If he was not holding me, I would have collapsed to the floor. Daddy yelled, "Atta girl!" Aunt Nang Chom howled, "When's the wedding?" Brit bellowed, "Not till I graduate from the Academy." The whole audience applauded.

I wondered, could Brit love me. We have been friends for a little over three years. He had been a sophomore when I was freshman. That year I turned thirteen during the school year making me the youngest in my class. My senior year will not begin for two months, and Brit will be leaving for the Air Force Academy in four weeks. My stomach growled.

Brit never told me he loved me. Maybe he thinks this is a joke. Dog's death and funeral was on his mind and he responded without thinking. However, my passion for him is true. I have loved him since then he revealed about his dad and that hunger provoked him to become a bad boy.

It took courage to disclose his inner hurts. We have been able to talk about anything and everything since then. It is difficult. The fear that shrouds me produces trembling he will say he was fooling. Am I imagining what he said, or am I putting more into it than needed? Our relationship is strong. That humor is not his pattern.

I am full of joyful anticipation. What we have built is firm and sure to stand the test of time.

Everyone in Chiang Mai believe he is Thai, because no other American in Thailand can speak both the common and the Royal language