Tyler Sharp

Rest in Peace Roxanne

Sitting by my window reading a book, I heard two men talking as they walked down the street. Their words floated in through my open window unseen, but were deeply felt. From the sound of their voices, I imagined them to be elderly black men, speaking in that endearing southern country drawl that makes you want to be their friend and hear their simple wisdom.

One man asked about a dog, Roxanne, and the other man replied, “Roxanne, no, he had to put Roxanne down, cause see, her back leg had just plain gone limp. She couldn’t do nothin’. No man, he had to put Roxanne down. I almost cried when he told me that too, cause see Roxanne, she was a good dog.”

And I almost cried.

I didn’t know this man, nor did I even see his face, but I heard the pain in his friendly voice, and it saddened me. And I did not know Roxanne, but I believed the man when he said that she was a good dog.

And so for all of us that have had to put a good dog down, this pain is very real, and in this case it floated through my open window in the fading golden light of a Monday afternoon.

Rest in peace Roxanne, may God care for your soul.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 PM. It is filed under Short Stories and tagged with Dallas, February 2009, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.