Cleo
She sat on the ground, leaning against the garage door. She knew it would be over soon. As tears traced tear trails down her cheeks, quiet sobs became uncontrollable. Laying on the garage floor, inside, was her best friend who had been by her side for the last ten years. Through her first real job, marrying her college sweetheart, buying her first home, settling in and beginning a family, and all the in between not so nice stuff, Cleo was there. Soon Cleo would take her last breath and as much as she wanted, she could not be right by her side holding her.
She and Cleo came to be, shortly after securing her job six months after graduating college. She finally had her own apartment, and now was ready for the dog she always wanted. So, one Thursday, she visited the local humane society — just to take a look. What she didn’t anticipate, was the look she would receive, from two dark eyes, piercing her very soul. A full grown German shepherd, picked up as a stray, stared up at her as she knelt down to pet her through the chain link openings. The canine never stopped staring at her, right into her own brown eyes, never changing her focus from the human before her. She swore she heard a faint “take me, I’m yours, the one you always wanted”. The fact that this older female canine was a German shepherd, her favorite breed (determined years ago by the likes of Rin Tin Tin and Bullet), only sealed the deal, and she went no further looking through the rest of the kennels — she had found her match — they both did.
She quickly went to speak with the powers that be at the humane society. She asked if they could hold the dog until Monday, as she had a wedding to go to on the weekend and was part of the wedding party. They would not honor her request, and could not guarantee the dog would still be there on Monday as she had already been there for a while now. Not sure what that really meant, and reading between the lines, she signed all the required paperwork right then and there and took the dog home, giving her the name Cleo as she drove to her tiny cottage-apartment.
Not knowing what she would do for the weekend, she made an appointment with a vet, who said he could board her until Monday, and check her out and give her the required shots. That Monday she went to reclaim Cleo. The vet stated she was healthy and estimated her to be about seven years old. On the way out of the office, the lead dropped, and the dog darted out. For a moment she thought Cleo was a goner, as the office sat along a busy section of Route 422. Calling her frantically as she quickly followed, thinking the worse was about to happen, she watched Cleo run through the parking area and then jump into the opened window of her own car. She knew then, this was no ordinary dog — it was her dog.
Cleo quickly became her partner in all that she did, always by her side or waiting for her patiently, outside the various stores, she would walk to. She was loved and adored by all who met her. Cleo even went to work with her. This was the result of Cleo not liking to be left alone in the two room cottage, where she would attempt to get out, by chewing the door and window jambs. Her owner became quite skillful with the wood putty. Meanwhile, on the job, Cleo became somewhat of a therapy dog for the 40 some teenage girls with various emotional and behavioral problems, who lived in the residential facility where her owner worked. She would quietly nudge the elbows of even the toughest, hardened girl, who inevitably would show a gentlenes they were unable to express for such a long time. It was always her eyes that seemed to have the power of healing.
Eventually, Cleo realized her owner would never leave her, and the chewing to escape, stopped. She was the perfectly obedient and loyal pet and much more. As always, time passed and changes made — moving to a new area, adjusting to living with a husband, then two small humans, various other pets, as well as a variety of rescued fur and feathered friends. Cleo accepted and befriended all with her gentleness and loving but she belonged to only one.

After ten years gone by, her owner struggled to make ends meet, money was scarce, she knew of every penny she had. The husband in the midst of progressing alcoholism, two young children under the age of three, and a third due soon, bills piling up, there was no end in sight. Cleo struggles to walk as aging and displasia has taken its toll. Her human, then, 8 months pregnant, carries her down the four steps from the home’s entrance. But on that particular day, Cleo could no longer stand and as she lays there on the grass, helpless, flys begin to land on her, she has no strength to scratch them away. They seem to know she has little time left in this world.
Not having the money to take her to a vet to put her down, not knowing where to turn for help, she lovingly places Cleo on old blankets and sleeping bags, pulls her into the garage, on the floor behind her old car, below the tailpipe. Tears begin to pool as her heart aches for what she is about to do. After making sure Cleo is as comfortable as possible, letting her know how much she has loved her, and that she is so very sorry that she cannot stay until the end, she is hoping that this will not be painful, and then, turns on the ignition, leaves the garage, sliding the door closed and waits outside.
Fast forward to now:
I’m not really sure how long it took, but it seemed like an eternity. It was such a long time ago, but her memories are so fresh. The hurt of that day still stings as I write. She is buried in the back of my yard. And so, when, in another story, when we as readers are asked if we think there is a Rainbow Bridge, yes I do believe — there’s got to be a way to reconnect with those other than those who are human, we have also loved.

