I’ve been around animals all my life, starting with my years growing up on a farm. Surrounded day in and out by four-legged creatures of various species, it’s easy to begin thinking that you know something about animals.
But the more I am around them, the less I think I know. One thing seems certain; they are capable of much more than we give them credit for.
Our old cat Mario (18) and our dog Toby (15) have never gotten along. Over the years, when Toby makes the mistake of getting too close to Mario, he pays for that with a series of sharp smacks to his body, although we noticed as time went on that Mario’s shots rarely found their mark.
But that never stopped Toby from carrying on like he’d just been mauled half to death by a ferocious tiger. He got lots of sympathy. That was the point.
On New Year’s Day, we almost lost Toby. He slipped into some sort of drowsy coma and we rushed him to a clinic for care. He was found to be diabetic and has been treated for that ever since.
But he was gone from our house for four days. Mario wandered the halls alone, having lost his own twin brother a few years ago. When Toby finally came home, he was sleeping on the recliner he loves so much. Mario was on the couch beside me, staring at the dog.
Finally, he jumped down and slowly stalked him.
“Oh, this isn’t going to be good,” I thought.
Up came Mario’s right paw and while it would often descend on the dog in several rapid-fire swats, something was different this night.
Mario put his paw on Toby’s head, patted him gently once, and walked away. The dog slept on.
We think Mario missed his brother from a different mother that has been a part of his life for so long. What must he have thought when, like his real brother Luigi, he suddenly disappeared?
©2022 Jim Hagarty
