| Goodbey Baby | |
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Baby, the same dog from my MOON LIGHT WALK story was such an adorable puppy. I fell in love with her very quickly. I saw her the second time I went to Koh Pha Ngan. That time, I brought eye and ear medicine from Japan, because I saw many dogs had problems when I was there the first time. I wanted to help the animals, but still I did not want to get to involved. Baby was already big, but it seems like something was wrong with her. I could see her rib cage. She was a little bit handicaped and she had distemper. I did know about this disease until then. Wip (Thai woman who used to help animals) told me she had the disease. She had medication and gave it to me to give to the dog twice a day. I fed her chicken meat and rice mixed with canned tomato sauce & fish. Baby seems like she does not like people even though I fed her. About a week pasted, but the medicine and food didn't seem to do any good. I was very worried about her. But, her mother was Mamasan and she always took care of her babies. Mamasan cleaned Baby's face, took the ticks out from between her toes. She always seemed as if she was very worried about Baby. One day when I was on the bangalow porch Baby came to visit me. Actually, I was very suprised that she showed up by herself. She laid down on the porch and let me clean her ears, put medicine in her eyes and take the ticks out from between her toes. When I finished eveything she just got up and left. I thought she understood what I was trying to do for her so I was very glad. One early morning when I came back from a party, the sun had just rose from the horizon and was shining a very strong orange glow. I saw Baby and Mamasan and her other puppies. Mamasan was cleannig Baby's face. I wanted go see the dogs, but I just left them alone. Late afternoon, I was looking for Baby and carrying her food and medicine. I could not find her. Usually, it is very easy to find her, but not today... I asked this Thai lady who knows Baby and Mamasan. She said she hadn't seen them but they probably would come back later. I believed they also would come back because one day I didn't see Mamasan and her one of her puppies, but the next day, they showed up and both were fine. The next day though, I could not find her again. I was looking for Baby around her usual territory calling her name out loud. I did not find her any where. The next morning I went to eat at the Old Lamp restaurant behind my bangalow, The woman who works there asked me to look at dog she thought was Baby. She took me behind a bangalow next to their bathroom. There was a Baby. She laid down and closed her eyes. She looked very lonely, small and weak. I could not help but wonder why she did not visit me when she was dying. At least I could stay with her and hold her paw. She tried to hide herself. I heard that wild animals always hide when they know the time is coming. Not like the animals that we have as pets. We dug a deep hole under a big tree to bury Baby. We put her in a cardboard box and put my flower shaped blacelet in with her. GOODBYE BABY The area where the tree is has changed a lot. Many Thais live in the bungalows around it now. The big tree we buried her under is now decorated by Thai people in honor of their god. The exact spot that we buried Baby now has a small Temple built above it. I found out that it isn't easy to survive here as a dog. Out of all six of Mamasan's puppies, only one survived. I was very sorry that I could not save Baby and the other puppies which disappeared within 2 weeks after Baby was gone. I learned that this is the wild life. |