Bootsie by Stella Fairchild-Parks / Stella R. Fairchild-Parks

On the very first day I got you we thought we were getting two girls.
Of course I didn’t check and scooped you up from
the moment I saw you.
On the way home we put you in laundry baskets.
About 2 years later you and your sister Trixie, were fed some some raw
meat with some chemicals in them from a passerby.
You both got sick, but Trixie wasn’t as sick.
She healed faster then you.

My dad got some meds from the doctor and fed carefully.
Soon we thougth you were better.
But some leftover sickness always followed you around.
One night Trixie got pregnat.
She gave birth to a litter of 10 puppies.
You became daddy. Unfortuneatly one of the puppies died.
You got along with the puppies very well, but when we had to
give them away my dad decided to give Trixie away too.
For the next year it was just you and us.
We took you every where including on the way to school.
It started out as a normal 4th of July when I went to my
friend Emily’s house.
When My sister and dad got back from droping me off they
thought they had let you out and that you had gotten away.
They had been using my aunt’s car.
Really you had been locked up in teh car for about 3 hours.
We didn’t know it at the time but your sickness was kicking in when
you were in the car.
Not only that but you got heat stroke and maybe a heart attack.
When my dad came to pick me up he waited to tell me until we
got into the car. He was using his joking voice,
so I didn’t believe him at first. He then showed me your body at home.
Our cousins were over for 4th of July.
I didn’t feel like even showing my face because it was covered in
red splotches from the tears.
Daddy wanted to throw your body into teh desert.
But I wouldn’t hear of it. In stead we burried in the garden out back.
That night the fire works didn’t seem the same.
All I could think about was you.
Daddy had bought me a stuffed golden lab.
I cried into it throughout the fireworks.
After they were finished I went inside and all I could do was cry
and listen to Sandy Braun.
She sort of comforted me. I keep thinking it’s my fault you died,
because we were the ones who locked you in. I didn’t think this so
much before because I was with you all the time,
but now I relize how much I miss you.
You were brave for going through what you did.

I’m crying right now, as I write this.
I hope you lived a good life and the best wishes
to you in heaven.

Remember, I will always love you.
Always

 

With the most love ever,
Bootsie
Stella Fairchild-Parks