The Pocket Mirror: Charlie, buried in my heart

I do not want to be the big looking glass of civilization but just the small pocket mirror of everyday life. Peter Altenberg

Charlie sort of came into my life sideways. I was living on Sanford Lake and some people I hadnt known very long came to visit and they had picked up a little dog they found in the streets of Saginaw. It was Saturday and the animal control shelter was closed for the weekend. Did I want another dog?

I have a photo of my holding Charlie the day he came to live with me. He was a beagle and part something else. He was mostly brown and he had this little lost look on his face that touched my heart. How could I let this little guy go to the animal control shelter?

I already had Loki, a beautiful part German Shepherd and part something else. Loki came into my life when we were celebrating I Love Animals Week and one of my second-graders brought this little puppy in for Show and Tell. I dont remember saying anything but on Friday of that week, my second-grader came up and said to me, Mrs. Florey, if you dont come and pick your dog up, were taking him to the dog pound.

After the school buses left and we could go home, I went to pick up the puppy, who I was told was named Bruno. I called Dr. Bill Tower, who had been our veterinarian from the time we got Fritz in 1961, and I took Bruno in for a checkup. After examining him, Bill said, You look too good to be put on the reject pile. And that night I drove down to Dick and Jeans to show my new puppy and when Kerry saw him she said, He doesnt look like a Bruno. He looks like Loki, the Norwegian god of mischief. So just like that Bruno became Loki.

We led a relatively peaceful life, the two of us. But now here was a new puppy.

Charlie loved Loki immediately. Loki did not reciprocate the feeling. He wanted nothing to do with another dog who was going to share his home and my attention. Charlie followed Loki all over. Whether in the yard or in the house, Loki couldnt get away from Charlie. The only place that Charlie didnt like was the water. Sanford Lake was an unknown quantity and Charlie wanted it to stay that way.

In the mornings when Charlie woke up, he would waddle to the patio doors until I opened them and he would go out on the patio, stand there looking at the lake and then back into the house as fast as he could move. Loki loved the water. Charlie didnt and no amount of coaxing or the promise of treats could lure him even down to the dock.

And then October came.

It was the sort of October that made you forget that winter was coming. The trees were all gold and red. The lake was rimmed with color. And one morning after breakfast, Charlie wanted outside because Loki was outside.

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The Pocket Mirror: Charlie, buried in my heart