Ben

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When we moved into our house in 1977, there was a black labrador in the backyard. The people who sold the house couldn’t take him so they left him and that’s how we ended up with Ben. Ben, I think, was really ok with them leaving him behind, because he was pretty attached to the house and the neighborhood. He was old and fat and slow but he would walk around the neighborhood, taking it easy and saying Hi to anyone who he happened upon. Sometimes he would lay down in the very middle of the street, and I mean right on the place where the stripe would separate the 2 lanes, except there wasn’t a stripe. Cars would slow down and honk at him but he would wait until they stopped completely and then he’d slowly stand up and saunter to the side of the road. So weird, like he was a living speed bump, keeping the cars from going too fast to notice some kid running after a ball or riding their bike out from behind a parked van. We were always afraid he’d get run over, but for some reason, we never seemed to think we should keep him inside. In the hallway of the house, on both sides, there were black marks from Ben rubbing against the walls. I don’t know if he was scratching an itch or just used the walls as bumpers to lean on as he walked from the kitchen water bowl to his towel on the floor in the bedroom. The walls were gross and dirty, so thankfully, Buddy painted the interior a fresh coat of off-white and it really brightened up everything. Once school started, I would take food and water out to Ben in the backyard when I got home every day, and he wasn’t really interested in playing ball anymore but he’d want me to pet him and get down on the ground with him so I could rub his belly. I’ll never forget the day I came home and went out back and didn’t see him. I found him laying under a big pine tree, up against the trunk, in the shade, not moving. He was hidden under the thick branches that went all the way to the ground. He didn’t come when I called and didn’t move, and I just knew he had died during the day while I was at school. I called my Mom and she had animal control come get him. It was my first broken heart.

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