Rooter

 My mom was an animal lover. We had all kinds of pets over the years and there were always cats roaming about. The cats would have kittens. Sometimes they would have those kittens in the trash wagon. Heather and I got to keep one kitten each. But sometimes tragedy struck. When tragedy struck, my mom would need to find another creature in need to fill the space they left. So when my kitten crossed the rainbow bridge, God rest her soul, she went to the pound. The pound was a mythical place to me as a kid. In my mind it was like Valley of the Ashes in The Great Gatsby. A dirty dusty place of no return. But my mom wasn’t afraid. The story goes she went to the pound to find me a new kitten. As she was walking up one of the employees was taking a little pup out. My mom saw this and intervened.

“Where is this little dog headed?” She asked.

“It’s her time. Too bad really. Sweet little dog.”

My mom wasn’t gonna have that, “How much for me to take him right now?”

“Ten bucks.”

“Sold.”

My mama snatched that terrified little dog up and headed home. We were having a pool party when she brought her to me.

“Megan, I am so sorry about the kitten. I went to the pound.”

She was perfect. A little black and white speckled pup. Part Brittany spaniel, part God knows what. She followed me everywhere. One time, Rooter walked with me to my friend's house around the corner. After a few hours I left out the back door. That night, my mom received a call from my friend's mother. 

“Rooter is curled up by our front door! She thinks Megan is still inside!”

I ran outside and hollered her name at the top of my lungs. Three minutes later,

she came tearing up the drive and jumped into my arms.

Anna Kate always said it was the best ten bucks my mom ever spent. 

When Rooter passed away. My whole family cried. I don’t think I had ever seen my father cry until that day. We all wrote her note on the little box we laid her in and my dad took her carefully to the woods. He buried her under an oak near a little creek.