I was about six when Donny came to us.  I had begged for a dog, wanted one above all other things.  My parents said,

“When the time is right.  We’ll see.  Be patient.

 Nothing happened for a long, long time.  The right time never seemed to come.

Until, one day, into our backyard wandered a scraggly little mutt.  He was black all over, every  inch of him.  And he was mine, I declared. I  loved him immediately. Destiny, I thought,  (although I certainly didn’t know that word).

Of course I will walk him and feed him, I said.  Of course I will wash him and take care of him entirely.  So we kept him.

For a while.

My mother said every dog she had ever had was named Donny.  So ok, that was easy.  He was Donny.

 All went well enough, I thought, and I was very happy.  EXCEPT that he was a nervous, agitated, young dog.

 Ran everywhere, bumped into things, got into the trash, ran away a few times, and never settled down.  Turns out my parents didn’t much like that.

II was about six when Donny came to us.  I had begged for a dog, wanted one above all other things.  My parents said,

When the time is right.  We’ll see.  Be patient.

 Nothing happened for a long, long time.  The right time never seemed came..

 Until, one day, into our backyard wandered a scraggly little mutt.  He was black all over, every  inch of him.  And he was mine, I declared. I  loved him immediately. Destiny, I thought,  (although I certainly didn’t know that word).

 Of course I will walk him and feed him, I said.  Of course I will wash him and take care of him entirely.  So we kept him.

 For a while.

 My mother said every dog she had ever had was named Donny.  So ok, that was easy.  He was Donny.

 All went well enough, I thought, and I was very happy.  EXCEPT that he was a nervous, agitated, young dog.

 Ran everywhere, bumped into things, got into the trash, ran away a few times, and never settled down.  Turns out my parents didn’t much like that.

One day I came home from school and Donny wasn’t there.  “Where is he?” I cried.  I looked everywhere.  No dog.  “We have to look for him!  Let’s hurry,”  I cried some more.  

My parents were strangely quiet and didn’t move.  “She will come home if she wants to,” my parents said.  And  I believed them.  My parents had never lied before.

For weeks, I looked for her and looked for her.  When she didn’t come, I gradually realized that i didn’t have a dog anymore.

I never thought for an instant of challenging my parents.  They had never lied to me before and would never, ever do that, I was sure.

Fast forward about sixty years.  In the last year of my parents’  lives  I brought Donny up again.  The truth came out.  “Well, we had to get rid of him, Elaine.  He just wasn’t working out, and we didn’t want to upset you.  I afraid he went to the ASPCA to be euthanized.”

A grim end to a story of hope.  But that’s the way it was.

Eighty years and nine dogs later I still think of little Donny.  It wasn’t his fault that he was a difficult animal.  I’m sure he had had a difficult start in life.  But I’m equally sure my parents didn’t make their decision lightly.  Go gently, Mom and Dad.  It’s okay.