The Life And Death Of Delilah

I know I’m often called the Anti-Christ but I do have some semblance of compassion.

This is the story of Delilah, one of the sweetest chiwawas that ever lived.

One of my best friends, Kat, lives across the street from me. We live almost communally as we are both single Mom’s to young Children. We sit in my living room messin’ on our computers often not even saying a word to one another, we are that comfortable together. Our Children walk in and out of our houses freely. We eat dinners and celebrate Holidays together.

On Thursday nights our other Neighbor M, will come over and we will hang out and chat, or her husband A will…it’s an open door policy.

Note…A few doors down a new Mom, single, just moved in and to our delight she’s just like us…we are pretty stoked about this.

Our ‘Hood’...

…it consists of 16 houses on a street that ends in a culdesac. There are 23 Children all under the age of 13. The Children that are old enough run around like a gang. It’s an amazing thing and to some ‘old school’, as they play out front and often in a street. Sometimes I hear them Call…

…”GAME OFF!”
That means a car is coming and they proceed to get on the sidewalk.
They play Red Rover and kickball, and sometimes just throw rocks…and then get yelled at.
They ride scooters, bikes and wagons as fast as they can down our hill.
They get yelled at often for a variety of thing to include letting Kat’s uber-sweet Chiwawa out, Delilah.
Delilah is often over at my house playing with all the children and the “Mom’s”.
It’s a great ‘hood’…where we look after each other.

Our Hoods Mascot was Delilah.

The Children would run and play with her freestyle. They would carry her around in a box or deliver her door to door.
Some of the neighbors that we don’t really chat with didn’t even know what house Delilah lived in…Kat’s or mine.
Delilah didn’t run, she hopped to and fro the bell around her neck rattling with every bounce. Like the Children she didn’t go past the stop sign when running free and she would come when called.

This was Kat’s dog. Delilah would sleep with her and loved her. Delilah would lick her face with glee…jump in her lap, curl up in a tiny ball and nap.

Sometimes when we would be hanging at my house Delilah would jump in my lap and attempt to get up all in my face. I would tell her…

…”I’m not your human, Rat, go see your Mama.”

I would call her Rat, she was tiny. It WAS a term of endearment.

The whole hood loved that little creature.

There is another neighbor we don’t hang out with that lives on the corner. She different than us and keeps to herself. She has garage sales all the time which increases the traffic on our quiet domain.

Yesterday some Asshole hit Delilah with their car.
Then…
...they just left.

Kat…”I can’t look at her.”
Me…”I got this.”

I’m not sure when Delilah took her last breath as I carried her limp body wraped in a towel to my MiniVan…
Leaving Kat in charge of my Children…
I laid Delilah gently on my lap and started driving not exactly sure where I was going, calling friends with pets looking for an emergency Vet.
I cradled and protected Delilah not for me but my friend.

I had avoided looking down and then I finally did.
Droplets of blood had steamed from her once perky ears. Her toothsome mouth agape and her eyes peering into an abyss that I could not see. Inside my MiniVan the stench of death permeated the air.
I opened my window and let her little soul out so she could ride the Rainbow with the rest of the Gods Creatures.

If I could have given her the breath of life I would have.

I got to the Vet, tears streaming down my face…of all things in public…not embarrassed at all because I loved that Dog too…and I took care of business.

When I got home the Children gathered around and I had to break the news to them.
The whaling began…
Kat’s 3 year old daughter cried over and over…
…”Delilah’s dead!”
My own daughter was in shock and distraught and I held them both but there was no calming them down. So I left them together on my sofa so I could chat with Kat.

Delilah was a little pup, not just a small one but a young one. She was generous with her love and had a way with Children and Adults alike. She had smelly little dog breath and liked to share it with anyone that would let her up near their face.
I’ll miss her but I’m glad I knew her.