Bay's Wish

10 - She's Here

25 years, 4 months postmortem

It happened unexpectedly. Trippy was close behind me while Stormy herded willing participants through an open field. One minute, I was sniffing an interesting pile of dirt. The next, I had a feeling. That was it; just a feeling.

My head shot straight up and my tail stiffened. One look at Trippy told me he felt it, too, and Stormy quickly rejoined us.

"Did you feel that?" Stormy asked. "Like your heart knows something that you don't?"

At any other moment, I would have been shocked at Stormy's surprising level of self-awareness, but he was right. I knew something was happening, though I did not know what yet.

The tip of my tail twitched, sending a surge of energy through my body. My ears tuned into the phantom sound of a door opening and closing, keys jingling and clattering together.

"She's here."

Stormy, Trippy, and I all took off at once. We didn't consider as we raced as a pack towards the gate that that we would never again see the fields of Dog Heaven.

"Where is she?" Stormy panted and his tongue slipped out the front of his jaw.

"I don't know," Trippy said. "I've never done this before."

I have a few too many times.

"Look for the door." I slowed my pace, prompting the others to follow suit.

Our race to find Bay turned into an eager trot. Other dogs wandered around us, attempting to find their way to the front gate for the first time.

When I first walked through the gates, I had no idea what awaited my time there. Bay's heartache simultaneously became my partner in crime and my enemy. I obsessed then learned how to let go and let be. If those dogs were anything like me, they had a long afterlife ahead of them.

I scanned the white area in search of Bay or the door. The stark void made it easy to get turned around and filled my stomach with rocks. What if we were wrong? Or worse, what if she was sent to Human Heaven without us?

"There she is!" Stormy yelped, then took off towards a blurry figure in the distance. Trippy sniffed the air, then confirmed Stormy's claim by taking off after him, leaving me behind. I willed my paws forward into a gallop, but all I could do with creep forward.

What is wrong with me?

Stormy's excited barking traveled to my ears. The closer I got, the more clear Bay became. Her kind eyes, her gentle hands, her dark hair... no, her lighter gray hair.

My paws slowed even more. Even though I watched her life unfold, the Bay she turned into was always the television version of Bay, not the real one. I always thought that when she returned, she would be the Bay I knew.

She was different; better and healthier than she had been, but different. What if she couldn't love me like she used to? Or worse, what if she forgot me?

"Stormy!" Bay yelled excitedly. She dropped to her knees as Stormy ran into her, his tail wagging so fervently that it took his backside with it. His paws stamped against the floor and he held nothing back as he greeted Bay with all the energy of an untrained puppy.

"Trippy, you're here, too!" She called as the scruffy dog ran up behind Stormy. Usually a lazy creature, Trippy had never run so fast—or at all.

Bay laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't need me to lick them off. Stormy automatically filled that role, just as I taught him to do.

I could not make my paws go any farther. Sinking to the foggy floor, I rested my head against my paws. The fog drifted around me in a thick cloud, covering my body and the bottom half of my vision.

Through a cloudy haze, I watched Bay smother Stormy and Trippy with all her love. She cried like she did when she watched movies, loudly and openly, but her tears came from a place of joy.

"Who's a couple of good boys?" She asked, both her hands occupied with ear scratches and belly rubs.

A whimper escaped my throat. Not loud enough for her to hear, but enough to sink my heart further into the cloudy floor.

I wish I didn't feel like this.

Bay's hands continued to work over the two dogs unscrupulously sprawled in front of her. Her laughter faded but her smile remained. Her eyes flitted from Stormy and Trippy to the area around her, pulling her attention in every direction.

Soon, her smile fell.

Is she looking for me?

"Where is..." She trailed off. My tail thumped against the ground and cut through the wispy clouds around me.

Bay looked to her side and slowly scanned the area.

She is looking for me.

Her eyes fell on where I was hidden amongst the fog. My breath caught somewhere in my snout.

"Hugo?"

Bay stood from her crouched position, leaving the other two to follow her in admiration with tails moving at a rabbit's pace.

My ears flattened and I scootched forward, but I still could not will myself to my paws. The same anxious excitement that moved my tail also paralyzed me.

Bay slowly moved towards my crouched position, her two shadows hovering close behind.

"Hugo," she repeated, her voice cracking. "Come here, boy."

Apparently, all my paws needed was her command. Before I knew it, I rose. My legs moved at my will as soon as they were upright.

The gap between us quickly closed, but I could not get there fast enough.

I lept into Bay's open arms waiting to welcome me home. My barks filled the void louder than any other dog before me, I imagined.

"Hugo, you good boy."

Hearing her say my name again was like the smoothest, most delectable peanut butter to my ears.

Bay's arms wrapped around me and I rested my chin against her shaking shoulders.

She was crying, but not loudly like she had been a moment before.

For the first time in an eternity, I licked the salty water from her face.

Deciding they'd been left out long enough, Stormy and Trippy dog-piled on Bay's lap, climbing all over me as she showed love to all three of us.

She smiled and raised to her feet. "You guys know how to get out of here?"

I pointed my nose towards the door behind her. She smiled again.

"Come on, pups. Let's go find my mom."

Bay's hand turned the door knob. It clicked, and the door cracked open. A golden light warmed the stark void.

I never thought to look back. I didn't need to. Bay didn't just love us; she saved us.

At the time of my death, I thought I was the one who was meant to protect and comfort Bay. Perhaps I did at times, but after all was said and done, it was she who saved me. Bay was the one who rescued me from certain death and gave me a life I could have never dreamt of. Bay was the one who picked a puppy out of a bush in the middle of a thunderstorm. Bay was the one who gave a three-legged adult dog a home.

When I died, I feared Bay's life would be over and that she would never be able to function again. When she cried silent tears on her couch, I thought my life had ended twice.

"I wish I could see him again. Be with him forever."

Wish granted, Bay.