angelic intervention trope …
I’ve written in the past about my fear (phobia) of dogs. What I haven’t told you is that I evolved into a full-fledged, card-carrying, supply-your-own-metaphor dog lover.
I wish I could share with you a tale of miraculous canine-human interaction; the “angelic intervention trope” of bible stories, wherein the very course of one’s life is fundamentally altered. Or perhaps a heartwarming story of mutual rescue; wary lost dog and embittered, broken-hearted human find one another, overcome mutual distrust and live happily ever after.
But no hero’s journey for me. I just fell in love with a puppy. A mangy, runt of a Golden Retriever, born in a chicken wire dog pen next to a swaybacked trailer home on a scrubby tract of land.
He had fleas and mange.
He had cuts on his thin puppy body from his bullying litter mates.
He had my heart.
…
Transaction completed, I drove straight to the Vet.
(The fact that you may be nibbling a snack (and my own sense of public decorum) prevent me from sharing with you everything else this little guy had. But he was so exhausted, so relieved to be out of that environment, that he just fell asleep on the Vet’s exam table.)
…
We learned together what it meant to be partners. He learned that I couldn’t stay mad at him if he went and stood with his nose in the corner, as though punishing himself for some misdeed. I learned that he was happiest if he knew where I was. He followed me everywhere, plopping down with a sigh as if to say “Are you going to just stay still for a little while?”. He was funny. He loved sleeping on the air conditioning vent. But mostly he loved food and sleeping on the couch, especially if I was on the couch too.
…
One day it dawned on me that I wasn’t afraid of dogs anymore, and I didn’t need to give in to irrational fear.
He did that for me.
And one day he couldn’t get up. And the decision had to be made to end his life and his pain.
I did that for him.
…
So, perhaps my initial thesis was incorrect. Maybe ours is a version of the angelic intervention trope or the coming together of an unlikely duo. I can’t claim anything as dramatic as that. But I do believe that, in our own ways, we saved each other.
…
It has been five years. And sometimes I still go to call for him.
