He walks stealthily over the snow and fallen leaves. The squirrel chatters away, not knowing that he is being watched. The stalking game continues even though Luke knows that it will end with the squirrel running up the tree and with him barking up at him as if to say "Get out and Stay out!"
Luke's work is done. The squirrel is vanquished to a neighbor's yard and Luke's back yard is once again a squirrel-free zone. Luke walks slowly back through the mixture of grass, snow and leaves and heads toward the door, where his friend, David stands with a fluffy blue towel, waiting to dry the snow from his coat.
David stands at the window looking out. Wondering if his friend of ten years knows that his days are numbered. He looks at his dog with a combination of amazement and sadness, thinking that they'd never get to this time and place together.
In April of 2007, Luke was diagnosed with cancer. During surgery that month, they removed five tumors from his front and back legs. The tumors were then sent off for diagnosis where it was discovered that the cancer was malignant and widespread. Luke was given six months to a year to live. In the weeks that followed, Luke endured a lot of pain and confusion, some of which was caused by his medication and some was caused by the cone he had to wear around his neck to keep him from biting at his stitches. It was a miserable time for both Luke and his family.
By summer's end of that year, Luke was stronger and more vibrant than he had been in some time. Gone were the days of endless running and playing, but Luke still held that puppy-like sense of wonder and playfulness, even if his body couldn't always keep up with him. He began to trip and fall on occasion and took to running into things more frequently. He still however, would perk up if someone mentioned the words "bread" or "popcorn."
As David looked out on the snow and at his dog, he remembered these things. He also remembered the puppy that Luke had been and the times that he'd hide in the laundry basket and fall asleep, or the time he fell asleep with his head in his dog dish. He recalled with a chuckle all of the times that Luke would somersault onto people's laps if he wanted to play. That was a sight to see, especially after Luke had reached his full weight of one hundred and sixteen pounds!
Luke comes to the door and barks. David, lost in thought, has forgotten that he's standing there with the towel, ready to dry off his old pal. Luke saunters in and sits awkwardly on the rug, waiting for his towel-down. The arthritis in his back legs is flaring up again and it makes him flop down on his stomach so that his legs don't have to bear his weight for so long.
David towels Luke off, carefully wiping the snow from the tip of the old dog's nose, and eyes. Luke bites at the towel and struggles a bit, a little of the pup in him coming out for just a moment. David stares his old friend in the face trying to remember how long ago it was that Luke's facial hairs began to go white.
"Hey old man," he says to his dog, "How come you're so old?" Luke wags his tail and plants a sloppy kiss on his Master's face. Then he barks a happy bark.
David gets Luke up slowly into a standing position and together they walk from the kitchen through the living room to the stairs that lead down to Luke's pen. As usual, Luke sits at the top of the stairs and won't budge until he gets both ears scratched. This process generally lasts several minutes as Luke leans into David's hands and moans and growls happily as his itchy ears find peace.
"C'mon boy!" David says as Luke wobbles upright again. They go through the office to the garage to Luke's waiting bed. Luke lays down on the multiple layers of carpet and rolls onto his side. As David turns to leave, Luke grabs his ankle with an outstretched paw and barks.
"Oh, so you want to play now?" David asks. He kneels as best as he can on his own wobbly knees so that he can sit next to his friend. Luke swipes at David's leg with his paw and then begins to bite on the edge of his shirt. David rubs Luke's tummy and feels the many cysts just beneath the skin. There must be eight or ten of them by now. Luke does a dog scratch with his hind leg as David hits an "Itchy Spot."
David stops for a minute and Luke moves to put his head in David's lap. He growls and then begins licking David's hand. "Luke old boy, I'm gonna miss you." David says.
Luke barks and licks David again. David suddenly realizes that times like these are quickly drawing to a close. He holds Luke's head in his hands and nuzzles his fur to give him a kiss on the top of his big, old head.
Luke, sensing his owner's impending kiss, makes a counter-strike and grabs David's nose with his teeth. "OW!" David yells. Luke quickly stops playing and begins licking David's face. "Okay, I'm not that hurt!" David protests. "Stupid Dog..." he says...and then he adds "Don't die, okay?"
How does it come to this that a grown man can end up sitting in a dog's pen on the floor, crying as he pets a big, dumb dog? As it turns out, Luke is more than a dog, he's family...and, he's actually pretty smart too... He can answer questions, or at least if you ask him a question, he'll bark. He knows the difference between bread, a stick, a ball, a treat, popcorn and pretzels. He recognizes the names of family members and will go to their rooms if you say "Hey Luke, Where's Jared?" or "Where's Dustin?"
The truth is, I will miss Luke as much as any other friend I've ever lost. Heck, I'm crying as I write this, so you can imagine what a sobbing fool I'll be the day he goes. I'm a sucker for animals and a lover of all of God's creatures, so I'm pretty sure a piece of me will die with Luke that day.
I guess I'll spend the rest of Luke's days trying to make sure he has just a little extra food, a little more water, some extra treats (especially bread) and a lot more love. We've been lucky to have him and we'll always have memories of all of our years with Luke and of that one last winter.
David
