Love, Your Little Dog

Oh boy!! My mom is taking me for a ride today!!
I wonder... will we go to the park or maybe to the store to get a toy?
I am so happy.
As I jump in the back seat my mom looks sad and I snuggle close to her
Because I love her and my job is to protect her and comfort her.
I love my mom.
My window is partially down and I smell so many exciting things.
People laugh as they see me with my tongue hanging out,
Slobbering  in the wind.
I love spring!
We are driving farther today than usual.
I think we might have passed the dog toy store.
What is this bumpy road that we are on and where are we?
My mom is tense and crying and I am not quite sure what is wrong with her.
I am on guard because my instincts tell me that she needs me.
She stops the car and lets me out to potty.
As I smell the flowers in the ditch I hear our car door shut.
I look up to see our car driving away.
She must have forgotten me! I run after her, but our car is going way too fast
And I cannot catch her!
I am alone.
I return to the ditch and wait...
Night is falling and I am hungry.
I am afraid to leave and look for something to eat because I might miss my mom when she returns for me.
I hear a car!
I run to the place where she left me and I look, but it is not her.
A stranger throws a can out of the window and yells at me.
I run farther back into the weeds!
I am scared.
Across the street there are dogs barking and I smell food.
I cross the road and sit by the fence, but the man at the house throws rocks at me
So,  I run back to the ditch to wait for my mom.
I wonder what I did to her.
Am I in trouble?
I always barked when strangers drove up.
I played gently with the children.
I did not beg at the dinner table.
I am so lonely.
Surely my mom will come for me.
I miss my pack, my family.
To complicate matters, I have stomach cramps. Maybe if I find food
I will feel better.
My sides are aching so bad and I feel tremendous pain.
I find a spot under some reeds beside the railroad tracks
And all of a sudden something is leaving my body
And I cannot control it!
I turn towards the pressure and there is a wriggling, wet image of myself
Straining to make its way into the world.
I lay in the nest I made, all night, puppy after puppy
Entering the world.
I must protect my new family, but now I am practically starving.
It has been four days since my mom left me here
And I have a family to feed.
I am hungry.
A lady in a white truck stopped and tried to speak to me,
But I do not know her.
Will she also throw rocks at me?
I just do not know if I can trust her.
I think it was her that left some food in the ditch,
Though, I am not sure.
My end is unknown to me.
I will wait right here, where my mom left me.
I will remain faithful.
She surely will come looking for me.
I know she just forgot me.
It is getting harder to feed my family.
I hope my mom comes soon, to help us.
Even though this is a foreign place I have to wait here, for my mom.

I love you, mom,

Love,

your little dog.