I remember like it was yesterday. It was the second Saturday of the month of June and there was nobody in the house. My wife and my daughters went to the Mall to spend some money. The sun was shining, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day, but not for me. I had a task to fulfill and I really didn’t want to. Lets go back a couple of months. My dog Marduke, a beautiful specimen about nineteen years old, was sick. He was a small dog, white with a couple of black spots. His hair was long and shiny covering his eyes; sometimes I wonder how could he see at all. I had taken him to the vet because we noticed that he was not eating like always, and he looked kind of sad. We also noticed that he had some lumps around his neck and in his stomach. He wasn’t the dog we knew, always running after the lizards and barking at the doves and playing with all of us. The vet told us that time that our friend was too old for an operation and that the best thing to do was, to put him to sleep. My wife and I looked at each other in shock, after the news the doctor gave us. I felt very sad, and asked the doctor if there was a chance we didn’t have to do it. He said that he could give him some shots for the pain, but that he was not going to last long. We went home. My wife told me that she didn’t want to know when I was going to take him to be sacrificed.

For the past weeks I noticed that Marduke hardly stood and in his eyes you could see the pain he was going through every time he got up and wiggled his tail. Today is the day I said to myself, I can no longer see my beautiful friend suffer this way knowing that he is not getting better.  I grabbed a bedspread and wrapped it around him because he was so skinny. He was a small bag of skin and bones, and I thought I would hurt him if I picked him up with my bare hands. He made a little sound like he was in pain, but I spoke to him and he wiggled his tail. I laid him down on the back seat of my car and began the longest drive of my life. I was thinking on how I was going to miss him, and if he would forgive me for doing what I was going to do. We got to the doctors’ office and I had to take a number and wait. I sat down and there were a lot of people waiting, the lady beside me asked me why I was there.  I told her that Marduke, my dog was very sick and I had come to sacrifice him. She looked at Marduke and felt sorry for him. When it was our turn we went in and the doctor asked me what did I want to do and I told him I wanted him to stop Marduke’s suffering. He asked me if I wanted to take his body to be buried or if I wanted him to take care of that. I told him to take care of his body. The doctor looked at me and said: ”He will not feel anything, you took the right decision.” I began to walk toward the door and when I reached for the handle, I looked back and saw Marduke’s sad face. I though he was saying good bye and also saying that he knew what was going to happen and that it was OK. I really felt sad and I don’t know how I got to the car but I stayed thinking and envision Marduke in his prime, playing, running, and chasing lizards. I got home, and waited for my wife and daughters to return. When they got home and noticed that Marduke wasn’t in his house they asked me what they already knew, and we all started to cry. Four years later we decided to get two new dogs, Kalua, and Tequila.  I hope I don’t have to pass that terrible experience again.