My OperaMy puppy
Saturday, April 17, 2010 6:46:14 PM
Today EC meeting was a real breakthrough, like a breath of fresh air for all attendants to inhale. For the first time, we truly succeeded in bringing everybody. And they were all in active participation. I was somehow satisfied, as I had never seen EC goers in such cheer. But to me, the experience left a special taste, bitter, sweet, sad, gleeful, nostalgic, appreciative…
If you had a chance to go back to a point in the past, which point would you go to?
That morning, the date of which has blurred from my memory, of about a year ago, would be my destination. I could have and should have locked her tight, but for devil sake, I let her loose, for which stupidity and negligence she was taken from me once and for all.
***
The day she arrived, I cannot recall. Her coming was much similar to her predecessors, who had all left after sometime, in some way or another, for one reason or another. When I first caught sight of her, she was a mere little ball of fur, white and glossy, making soft sounds from a cute small mouth. I expected her to be quite a naughty puppy, but she didn’t show any sign of such a trait. Inside the nutshell she remained for quite some time. The only persons she communicated with, by which I mean the ones she bit and licked and barked at (in a gentle and playful manner), were my mother and me. My father was much too worried of his products – speakers – which were so easily prone to puppy fur, that he didn’t quite take to my puppy right from the word go.
With time the puppy grew, and after 6 months, it didn’t look much different at all. It didn’t belong to any specific breed, but a hybrid of allegedly a Japanese and a Vietnamese. Anyway, her size gave away that she was a puppy, with the main function of being a puppy.
At that time, I was at grade 11, much consumed by all the school work that I hardly had time to take her out for walks. But after 4 hours at school, that wagging tail and damp tongue of profuse licking were an undeniably sight for sore eyes. Scientists have claimed that one of the reasons why puppies are of necessity to man is their status of the source of relief to all sorrow and toil. That seemed quite true to me. Whenever I was in a rage, spitting blood all over the ground or hitting the roof with sheer force, I knew what was needed to pull myself together.
My puppy was with my most of the time I was at home. If I was seated by the piano, training my touch or playing noisy songs, she was lying right at my foot. If I was on my folded chair, leaning backward to seek relaxation, she was lying in the middle of my legs, since I often crossed them together when I was on that chair. If she was lying on my bed, taking every bit of air produced by an electric fan which had made its way into her heart – she was hopelessly a ball of fur – then I was sleeping beside her, on my bed as well. I loved embracing her in my arms when I slept. That felt warm and great.
Once she was seriously ill. Some fiendish bacteria, or whatever it was, got into her body and began their illegal business there, making a mess of everything inside. My puppy could barely walk or eat or drink. All she wanted to do was to throw things up. My mom and I were in dire caution. The hope of her making a recovery stayed slim. I took her to the vets, but they could offer nothing more than some ditches. 4 days went by, she had not absorbed a single piece of food. Even the sugar drink my mom gave her kept coming out from her mouth. She felt weak and helpless. I felt weak and helpless. During those days, I dreaded the thought of coming home from school. What if she was not there anymore? But it all turned out well, fantastically, amazingly, hearteningly.
On the 5th day, she began to pick at her meal. What a huge relief! I took her to the vets a few more times. And she finally made it. She stepped up on her feet and began to run after me. I was pleased as punch, not to say that I was over the moon. So was my mother.
***
There was one thing about my puppy that really wore my mother out at times: she was a really fussy eater. Her favorite was chewed rice and chà bông. That was that: chewed rice and chà bông. My mom had to put some boiled rice into her mouth, chewed it, and spit it out, and offered it to her. That was the only way to feed her. I wonder what things would have been if she had not found us. And unlike all other puppies, she preferred a relaxed posture when she enjoyed her food. She lay down and ate, with my mother serving her like a loyal royal nanny.
Then came the time when she had to give birth. It was such a maternity leave. Her delivery occurred at about 10pm, a most unexpected hour which took the whole household aback. I was sitting in the living room when suddenly my ears captured some unusual noise – high pitched and yelly. I went around to have a look, and my eyes stopped at 4 little puppies crawling all over the floor. Gee! How dirty they were! But they were such a delight to admire. New born puppies had not had eyes working yet, so they had to find their way around by other means (by hearing or smelling perhaps), but they still managed to locate the right nipples to which they stuck their tongues and began to suck. Fascinating it was! My mom and I remained silent for a bit longer, and then we left the birth place, turning off the lights, for fear that the new family might feel prohibited with the presence of outsiders.
And the youngsters grew, just like their mother did, and they naughty and noisy. They were running around and chewing on shoes. They were fussing with each other and scrambling for the best nipple. They were sleeping. They were lovely. But they could not stay, for the current family economic status did not permit. They had to travel a long journey to my aunt’s place, where they all died because of the new owners’ negligence. Poor them!
Only the mother remained. Her behavior saw a stark shift. In fact, during her maternity leave, she ate a huge lot and drank a great deal of milk. And she didn’t move around so often. But after the kids were gone, she was back to her previous self, a choosy eater and a noisy puppy. That was something I could never make out. Just the evening after her kids were taken away, she, after one month’s rest, proceeded to bite by shoes again.
***
And some time after that, she ran outside the house, and was captured.
It was me who wanted her to see the world, but I only allowed her to stay at the front yard and do the game of people watching. However, she was a curious pup, and she didn’t obey. She went out on her own to smell the world and was captured. She got back home one day later, shivering in fear, coiling guardedly inside my legs. I thought I had lost here forever, but it was such a miracle. I asked her where she went and why she didn’t stay in her place, but she didn’t answer. She was too scared.
But, curiosity really killed the pup. One day after that, she ran out again. And this time, she never came back.
***
If only I had locked her tight that day. If only I had been stricter with my puppy. If only I hadn’t been so stupid. I could have saved her. I should have saved her.
That day, I went back home to find no wagging tail or licking tongue, but to find my mom with a darkened face: we’ve lost her forever…
The animal cannot talk or laugh or tell jokes. The animal cannot curse or snigger or hurt. The puppy was a wonder from heaven which I woefully lost. Some day, I will find myself a new Cún. I name all of them Cún. It sounds a silly name to some people, but not to me.
If you had a chance to go back to a point in the past, which point would you go to?
That morning, the date of which has blurred from my memory, of about a year ago, would be my destination. I could have and should have locked her tight, but for devil sake, I let her loose, for which stupidity and negligence she was taken from me once and for all.
***
The day she arrived, I cannot recall. Her coming was much similar to her predecessors, who had all left after sometime, in some way or another, for one reason or another. When I first caught sight of her, she was a mere little ball of fur, white and glossy, making soft sounds from a cute small mouth. I expected her to be quite a naughty puppy, but she didn’t show any sign of such a trait. Inside the nutshell she remained for quite some time. The only persons she communicated with, by which I mean the ones she bit and licked and barked at (in a gentle and playful manner), were my mother and me. My father was much too worried of his products – speakers – which were so easily prone to puppy fur, that he didn’t quite take to my puppy right from the word go.
With time the puppy grew, and after 6 months, it didn’t look much different at all. It didn’t belong to any specific breed, but a hybrid of allegedly a Japanese and a Vietnamese. Anyway, her size gave away that she was a puppy, with the main function of being a puppy.
At that time, I was at grade 11, much consumed by all the school work that I hardly had time to take her out for walks. But after 4 hours at school, that wagging tail and damp tongue of profuse licking were an undeniably sight for sore eyes. Scientists have claimed that one of the reasons why puppies are of necessity to man is their status of the source of relief to all sorrow and toil. That seemed quite true to me. Whenever I was in a rage, spitting blood all over the ground or hitting the roof with sheer force, I knew what was needed to pull myself together.
My puppy was with my most of the time I was at home. If I was seated by the piano, training my touch or playing noisy songs, she was lying right at my foot. If I was on my folded chair, leaning backward to seek relaxation, she was lying in the middle of my legs, since I often crossed them together when I was on that chair. If she was lying on my bed, taking every bit of air produced by an electric fan which had made its way into her heart – she was hopelessly a ball of fur – then I was sleeping beside her, on my bed as well. I loved embracing her in my arms when I slept. That felt warm and great.
Once she was seriously ill. Some fiendish bacteria, or whatever it was, got into her body and began their illegal business there, making a mess of everything inside. My puppy could barely walk or eat or drink. All she wanted to do was to throw things up. My mom and I were in dire caution. The hope of her making a recovery stayed slim. I took her to the vets, but they could offer nothing more than some ditches. 4 days went by, she had not absorbed a single piece of food. Even the sugar drink my mom gave her kept coming out from her mouth. She felt weak and helpless. I felt weak and helpless. During those days, I dreaded the thought of coming home from school. What if she was not there anymore? But it all turned out well, fantastically, amazingly, hearteningly.
On the 5th day, she began to pick at her meal. What a huge relief! I took her to the vets a few more times. And she finally made it. She stepped up on her feet and began to run after me. I was pleased as punch, not to say that I was over the moon. So was my mother.
***
There was one thing about my puppy that really wore my mother out at times: she was a really fussy eater. Her favorite was chewed rice and chà bông. That was that: chewed rice and chà bông. My mom had to put some boiled rice into her mouth, chewed it, and spit it out, and offered it to her. That was the only way to feed her. I wonder what things would have been if she had not found us. And unlike all other puppies, she preferred a relaxed posture when she enjoyed her food. She lay down and ate, with my mother serving her like a loyal royal nanny.
Then came the time when she had to give birth. It was such a maternity leave. Her delivery occurred at about 10pm, a most unexpected hour which took the whole household aback. I was sitting in the living room when suddenly my ears captured some unusual noise – high pitched and yelly. I went around to have a look, and my eyes stopped at 4 little puppies crawling all over the floor. Gee! How dirty they were! But they were such a delight to admire. New born puppies had not had eyes working yet, so they had to find their way around by other means (by hearing or smelling perhaps), but they still managed to locate the right nipples to which they stuck their tongues and began to suck. Fascinating it was! My mom and I remained silent for a bit longer, and then we left the birth place, turning off the lights, for fear that the new family might feel prohibited with the presence of outsiders.
And the youngsters grew, just like their mother did, and they naughty and noisy. They were running around and chewing on shoes. They were fussing with each other and scrambling for the best nipple. They were sleeping. They were lovely. But they could not stay, for the current family economic status did not permit. They had to travel a long journey to my aunt’s place, where they all died because of the new owners’ negligence. Poor them!
Only the mother remained. Her behavior saw a stark shift. In fact, during her maternity leave, she ate a huge lot and drank a great deal of milk. And she didn’t move around so often. But after the kids were gone, she was back to her previous self, a choosy eater and a noisy puppy. That was something I could never make out. Just the evening after her kids were taken away, she, after one month’s rest, proceeded to bite by shoes again.
***
And some time after that, she ran outside the house, and was captured.
It was me who wanted her to see the world, but I only allowed her to stay at the front yard and do the game of people watching. However, she was a curious pup, and she didn’t obey. She went out on her own to smell the world and was captured. She got back home one day later, shivering in fear, coiling guardedly inside my legs. I thought I had lost here forever, but it was such a miracle. I asked her where she went and why she didn’t stay in her place, but she didn’t answer. She was too scared.
But, curiosity really killed the pup. One day after that, she ran out again. And this time, she never came back.
***
If only I had locked her tight that day. If only I had been stricter with my puppy. If only I hadn’t been so stupid. I could have saved her. I should have saved her.
That day, I went back home to find no wagging tail or licking tongue, but to find my mom with a darkened face: we’ve lost her forever…
The animal cannot talk or laugh or tell jokes. The animal cannot curse or snigger or hurt. The puppy was a wonder from heaven which I woefully lost. Some day, I will find myself a new Cún. I name all of them Cún. It sounds a silly name to some people, but not to me.
