Spilling Song, Spilling Blood

This is a continuation of the narrative, Stealing Puppies, linked at the end.

This post is rated S for short. Bet you didn't think I had any short ones, huh?






Spilling Song

She Would Sing
by Eddy Burkett

I can still remember when I was just a child
My mom would sing
I would awaken from a dream
She sang rise and shine
Gave God the glory, glory
Just to get me out of bed each and every morning
And off to school I went
Her song I can’t forget

She sang hallelujah
I lift my hands up to you
She sang hallelujah
I give my praise up to you

She sang unending hymns
And praises to the Lord
Even on vacations
In our old Ford
Her life was a song
And forever will be
Away at college she would call
Happy birthday she would sing

Written in love for his mother. Shared with me much later.


Spilling Blood

Mandy censored all other dogs save her own, or as in the one case, stolen puppies. Lisa’s son, six then, asked her, “Mom, when is Mandy going to die so that I can have a puppy?”

Mandy lived twelve years. She was born with distemper, but my sister, by nursing her through the debilitating disease, setting an alarm clock for every two hours, nighttime same as day, changing and washing Mandy’s bed, feeding her chicken broth through a syringe, medicating and soothing the young pup—thwarting death—and snatching life—love and time handed Mandy’s life back to us.

Mandy survived labor and nursing over one hundred puppies. She survived a run-in with a pit bull that tore off a tit. Then finally, a veterinarian told Lisa that Mandy had to be spayed. Without the procedure Mandy would ultimately die in giving birth.
Her demise came in a different form. One day, someone—some jerk—popped-off a target shot at Mandy. She suffered all night. When Lisa’s husband found the wounded pet, he had to put her down. Mandy watched as Roy shot her. Then he buried her.

He hasn’t been able to put a dog down since, but he’s buried many.
Lisa’s son eventually got a puppy; they’ve raised puppies since, and each time they swear, never again. But they always do.