December 21, 2023

The Dogs of December

She stood on the back steps watching the little dog make circles in the snow as the shortest day of the year approached its end.

It’s their ninth Christmas together, she and this black/white mix that survived weeks on the street then months in the shelter before she took him home and named him Ace.

Me and Ace, Ace and me, she said as the air took a bite out of each word.

Ace barked at a squirrel, sniffed at the fence, as happy as any living being can possibly be.

I’m 53, she thought as her little dog kept busy. This is the third dog, Ace is, I have had in my life. How many more dogs, how many more Christmases, how many more running squirrels, before I die?

Ace wagged his tail.

They went back inside the warm house, the best of friends, and ate some dinner and watched a movie. A movie about an angel who got lost in the snow and spun round and round and round.

Until it was born again. And barked like a dog. –TK