Marion loves giving Izzy treats, and she remembered my name today and called me by my first name for the first time. And when I left, I kissed her hand.

The Death of Scout: Perspectives

   By Marion.

   “We had this wonderful dog Scout, we got him for my daughter Halys, and Betsy loved him too, and he was a good dog, maybe not quite as wonderful as Izzy, but we loved him. We had him for more than 12 years, and he was a good dog to us, and then one day Horace came into the farmhouse and said, dear, the dog is lame and we can’t keep a lame dog. And I knew I couldn’t say anything, because the farm had a lot of expenses and he was an old dog, and Horace was right, you couldn’t keep a lame dog, and you didn’t spend money to fix an old, lame dog. There was no money for that. So I walked down the path behind them, halfway to the barn, and said goodbye, and then I turned and came back and went into the kitchen, because I couldn’t bear to see it, and then it was done, and it was never mentioned again.
  I still can’t bear to talk about it too much.”

  Marion had a good day. She spent the afternoon with her daughter Betsy, and she had a great visit with Izzy. Sometimes, I could swear the two of them have their own language.”