Kit

One look at him and I wished he was mine,

With a drooping ear and a wobbly paw,

a somber look in his imploring eyes, as if he begged at the passer-by,

“Oh, Sir! Please may I come with you?”

He was ‘Kit’, a Terrier pup who would go on to become my pal.

Rosy auntie held ‘Kit’ and his bro ‘Buk’ in each hand.

There were kids and elders who stood hand in hand negotiating deals with auntie to own ‘Buk’.

And I stood there transfixed by those innocent tiny eyes as Kit looked at me licking that cute wet nose of his. His tail wagging, he wanted to jump into my arms.

Auntie looked at us and instantly settled for Kit to exchange hands.

That gesture changed my world forever, for here he was in my arms so fondly rested as if he had belonged there in perpetuity. I could not thank auntie enough and rushed home with my pack of joy! My family welcomed him with all the love and tenderness at their disposal and that moment was captured forever in my heart.

My bro and I fought for a place for Kit. I wanted him on my bed and my sibling fought to share his.

It turned out that Kit took turns to sleep on our beds to keep us away from a brawl!

Kit would parade around me when I returned from school,

as if he thought I was gone a long time!

When asleep, his chin would rest on my foot and while awake, he would look in my eyes as if to say ‘No one could love you as much as I do’.

If things went wrong, as they sometimes do,

and the world was steely and I felt the gloom,                                                                                

he eased my sorrow with a happy tail wag and a nice warm lick.

He was full of tricks when we let him out,

he jumped and leaped joyfully and chased me down like a fire-bolt.

He was my little chum ‘Kit’ with his tail in the air!

Laid on our backs, we would look up high,

fantasizing gliding together in the sky,

he turned towards me thrusting his paw in my hand, and looking into my eyes,

it was as though the pleasure would never suffice.

Until one day he lay very still in my arms and I closed his eyes with my teary palm.

I knew it was time for us to bid him goodbye and pray “Rest in peace, Kitty”.

I felt for a long time that there was something amiss in my home,

I felt it day and night, his absence from me.

I knew it would take time and strength before things would begin to feel right and

I would begin to believe and whisper to my little Kit in his deep sleep,

“You were an angel sent by God”.