justprompts: Do you have a pet?
I never had a pet as a kid. I don't know why. I guess what with raising two kids and enough bills to pay, mom never got one for us, and we never asked for one.
And then came along Greta. She's a borzoi. Russian wolfhound. I don't know how old she is or where she came from, and I've had her since October. She's a couch potato who just needs to run outside for a bit to be fine, which, y'know, is all right for living in the city. Pepper says the place she's got for me and Penny has this dog park across from it which would be just perfect.
The only reason I have her, actually, is because she was bequeathed to me by my friend Daniel. Which was not something that was planned. I'd thought of just, y'know, giving her to someone or sending her off to a shelter or something. I mean, small apartment in LA with two people already living in it? But it worked anyway. She's really cool with just about anything. Intelligent, to be certain, and astoundingly empathetic at times. I swear it's like she can freaking read minds at times. I mean, maybe it's just a dog thing, to know whatever or sense things. I don't know. She takes to people easily. Daniel said she's a good judge of character, and I think he was right.
I mean, I don't know why he left her to me anyway. There must've been someone else, but he said she liked me. And she does. And having a pet's supposed to be good for your health, too, so. I didn't even know him that long, you know? Like a week, week and a half, but we just clicked. Lived in the same apartment complex. Bumped into each other in a church of all places. I mean, normally the landlord's not happy with the idea of animals, but she's quiet. Seriously, not much bothers this dog. You can even sit on her and she'll just move aside. I guess she was his only friend in the world.
I mean, maybe that's why he wanted me over to talk. So that he'd have someone to leave her to. Though I like to think we got along just fine ourselves, of course. We'd mostly talk about religion. I was kind of going through a time those couple of months back in attempting to get back into Catholicism. Blame mom for that, strictly religious woman that she is. And me, well, you guys know me well enough by now that faith and science don't really mix when it comes to me. And he got that. I mean, he understood what I was trying to do and why I was having a hard time, so we'd just kick back for hours with me shooting off questions and him having a religion-based answer and a real-world answer. As in, the stuff the Bible says, and the psychology and sociology behind it. Like, people make gods. So they don't have to fear death so much, so they have a set of morals, so they can feel like someone else is in control of the whole universe. Stuff like that.
I mean, the kid (I mean, he was just a kid to me, barely in his twenties) was smart. I'm serious. He could've gone off to do whatever he wanted. Could've been a theologist or teacher or anything. He just didn't want to go to college. I don't understand that. He said he was the slacker, dropout kind of kid, that he wanted to try making it on his own. Why would anyone want to waste that kind of talent?
And I mean, when I knew him, Daniel seemed like a guy who was happy where he was. It's the kind of scenario where hindsight is...yeah, you know. But he did. He seemed like that kind of kid. He was always happy to have me drop by and do our little religious crossfire. And he helped. He really did.
So much good that did, though. That's a totally different rant, though. I won't touch it.
So, he died. And by died, I mean he shot himself in the head in church. I was there. Some planned out suicide. So he left me his dog.
And he was not just some crazy suicidal nutjob.
And then came along Greta. She's a borzoi. Russian wolfhound. I don't know how old she is or where she came from, and I've had her since October. She's a couch potato who just needs to run outside for a bit to be fine, which, y'know, is all right for living in the city. Pepper says the place she's got for me and Penny has this dog park across from it which would be just perfect.
The only reason I have her, actually, is because she was bequeathed to me by my friend Daniel. Which was not something that was planned. I'd thought of just, y'know, giving her to someone or sending her off to a shelter or something. I mean, small apartment in LA with two people already living in it? But it worked anyway. She's really cool with just about anything. Intelligent, to be certain, and astoundingly empathetic at times. I swear it's like she can freaking read minds at times. I mean, maybe it's just a dog thing, to know whatever or sense things. I don't know. She takes to people easily. Daniel said she's a good judge of character, and I think he was right.
I mean, I don't know why he left her to me anyway. There must've been someone else, but he said she liked me. And she does. And having a pet's supposed to be good for your health, too, so. I didn't even know him that long, you know? Like a week, week and a half, but we just clicked. Lived in the same apartment complex. Bumped into each other in a church of all places. I mean, normally the landlord's not happy with the idea of animals, but she's quiet. Seriously, not much bothers this dog. You can even sit on her and she'll just move aside. I guess she was his only friend in the world.
I mean, maybe that's why he wanted me over to talk. So that he'd have someone to leave her to. Though I like to think we got along just fine ourselves, of course. We'd mostly talk about religion. I was kind of going through a time those couple of months back in attempting to get back into Catholicism. Blame mom for that, strictly religious woman that she is. And me, well, you guys know me well enough by now that faith and science don't really mix when it comes to me. And he got that. I mean, he understood what I was trying to do and why I was having a hard time, so we'd just kick back for hours with me shooting off questions and him having a religion-based answer and a real-world answer. As in, the stuff the Bible says, and the psychology and sociology behind it. Like, people make gods. So they don't have to fear death so much, so they have a set of morals, so they can feel like someone else is in control of the whole universe. Stuff like that.
I mean, the kid (I mean, he was just a kid to me, barely in his twenties) was smart. I'm serious. He could've gone off to do whatever he wanted. Could've been a theologist or teacher or anything. He just didn't want to go to college. I don't understand that. He said he was the slacker, dropout kind of kid, that he wanted to try making it on his own. Why would anyone want to waste that kind of talent?
And I mean, when I knew him, Daniel seemed like a guy who was happy where he was. It's the kind of scenario where hindsight is...yeah, you know. But he did. He seemed like that kind of kid. He was always happy to have me drop by and do our little religious crossfire. And he helped. He really did.
So much good that did, though. That's a totally different rant, though. I won't touch it.
So, he died. And by died, I mean he shot himself in the head in church. I was there. Some planned out suicide. So he left me his dog.
And he was not just some crazy suicidal nutjob.