REMI
My nephew’s dog is named “Remi”.
Remi understands commands in French.
It’s cute. A sweet parlor trick.
I wish I could understand what Remi has to say.
I wonder what he might tell me if I understood his language.
And maybe I already do.
Remi throws back his head and moves sideways toward the door.
“Come on, come on, let’s go!” He barks.
His wagging body tells me, “There is a whole day ahead, to smell, to see, to be excited about!” He says, “that’s all that matters right now, it is everything! Come on!”
I agree and bend down to greet his enthusiasm with a pat on the head.
As I stand and prepare to open the door,
He spins around and around like a top, making me laugh with his joy!
Remi skips two steps as he leaps down the stairs to the yard in one great flash.
The squirrels begin to chatter a warning which stirs further amazement, and Remi becomes still…. Looking up through the branches of a flowering hibiscus, he says, “Just look at these creatures!”
After a moment of intense study of all the little lives that the tree holds, he blurts out,
“Now watch me run as fast as I can!” as he circles the yard in a dervish.
Back paws upset clumps of turf as his lean hound-body propels forward through the air. He leaps and runs and leaps and runs and my soul laughs again with his joy. Remi stops suddenly.His smooth black fur shining in the morning sun.
His glossy pink tongue hangs from the side of his mouth, pulsing with rapid breath.
He looks toward me to see if I’m watching. His eyebrows rise slightly as our eyes meet. “Don’t you feel like running for joy?” he asks, not waiting for my answer.
He begins to tear circles through the yard again, as fast as he can. I answer him: “I think I have always felt like running for joy, though I’ve rarely done it.”
And I try to think why?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Margaret Healy lives in Redondo Beach, California, with her husband and two dogs. A semi-retired attorney, she is grateful for the ocean air, her backyard trees and wildlife, and most of all, for quality time with her family.