Daily Prompt – Slog

The rain had picked up and I pulled my hood tighter around my face, ducking my head from the wind. I slogged through the muddy trail looking for the right spot. I was close, I could feel it. I desperately wanted to call out, but I knew there would be no answer. Finally I saw it, an old wooden cross worn by a few years of exposure to the weather and animals. A simple name was etched onto the cross beam. BAXTER. Our dog, the only family we had.

Kneeling in front of the cross, I brushed off the moss and laid the wildflowers on the ground in front of it. I touched the wood gently, as if I was touching Baxter himself. “Hey boy, it’s been a while. God I miss you like crazy.” I paused as my eyes filled with tears, which mixed with the raindrops slipping down my face.

“Chris never got over you. Neither of us did. We tried to get another dog but we just couldn’t. We could never find another dog like you.” I bowed my head and closed my eyes, choking back the sobs. “He’s gone Bax. Chris is dead. Did you run into him yet? I know he’s up there looking for you. It would be the first thing he would do.”

Finally I let the sobs come and my whole body shook with grief and pain, with fear and shock. Until there was nothing left. I touched the cross again. “Take good care of him Baxter. My two boys are together again.”