Page 13 - LIfesOuttakes6

in and help drive the llama from the yard. When I found out what had happened, I did two things. I put an ad in the paper for a free llama, and I bought Buster the biggest, juiciest dog bone I could find. From then on, he was as much my dog as anyone’s. I took him with me to do chores, to fix fence, to work in the garden, or one of a thousand other things. When he saw anyone come out of the house dressed in a swim suit, he was the first one to the gate waiting to go swimming in our pond. He also loved camping and enjoyed sitting by the campfire as someone lovingly stroked his big head. But then came the days I dreaded. We first noticed that he was walking as though he had arthritis. As the months went on, he became more and more miserable until he could hardly walk at all. Though we tenderly cared for him, it was what the cats did that interested me the most. They seemed to know he wasn’t well, and they hunted down mice and laid them at his feet trying to help him get better. The day he died, I knew before I even left the house. The cats were scratching furiously at our door. 7