Meeky, Our Unforgettable Dog

I spend my childhood summers in a village with small houses, crowded on an alley where you had to avoid carts pulled by fast horses.

Our grandparents’ green house is at the end of the alley. Behind the fence is a stepped, quite abandoned cemetery, covered with violets, which acquires a frightening image at sunset. After the cemetery, there is a cool forest of walnuts.

Facing it, we are presented with a huge hill, having a small sheepfold at the base. This hill is the main source of food for the villagers’ animals.

From the top of the hill, my sister and I can see all the people’s yards. Being two children of the city, our grandparents let us walk freely everywhere. Time flows slowly here; our lives only become more interesting when we are allowed to borrow three new books from the library.

My grandfather is a short man with a wonderful soul. In his youth, he led the commune’s stud farm, so everyone respects him here. All his life, he was surrounded by animals: cows, horses, sheep, or goats.

The grandparents’ lands, where they grew wheat and corn, are far from home. Often their harvest is destroyed by wild boars, and therefore Grandpa regularly goes to check if all is well.

His faithful friend, Meeky, accompanies him every time, enjoying his moments of freedom. Untied from chains, he runs with long jumps, like a colt, sniffing the smell of wildflowers and fresh grass.

Meeky would give his life for his master, even if a wolf appears at the end of the forest. He is a tall Carpathian Shepherd Dog, with black fur on its back, white chest, and paws, a mature dog who has already seen everything in this life.

We catch his fur like a sheep’s fur, but he does not protest. His only problem is at mealtimes when he turns into a beast! He tears you apart if you touch his food, so Grandma always chases us away. He’s so scary when he shows his long fangs!

After a trip to the edge of a forest, Meeky is nowhere to be found… My grandfather looks for him for several hours; he even returns to that place for a few days, but our dog is really lost this time. We hope that he will find his way home, even though he is old and without much strength.

We forget about Meeky pretty quickly, although we feel that something is missing. From the village fair, the grandfather brings another dog whom he raises near the house. A nobler and more aggressive wolf-dog, but not as friendly; the kind of dog that scares your visitors and potential thieves.

Two years pass that make us understand that Meeky will never come back.

On a cool spring morning, the village greets its people with dew and a delicate smell of chimney smoke. My grandfather walks on the big hill, with his powerful stallion, in meditative silence.

Sitting on the grass, he notices a dog who resembles Meeky, on a distant hill. The dog is with a master who works the land.

My grandfather tries his luck, shouting with all his might, “Meeky! Meeky!”

His howl shakes the sleeping valley. There is nothing else around right now…

It’s hard to imagine what’s in his soul. He hadn’t forgotten Meeky in those two years, even though he didn’t tell us about his worries.

It seems that the dog raises his head slightly and looks into the distance.

“Meeky! Come on, boy!”

Now it all depends on the dog. If he is our beloved Meeky, he will come.

With the last breaths, the creature runs to his true master — the man who raised him with love…

Grandpa shouted again, “Meeky! Run to me!” to make sure the dog has the strength to keep running.

These two souls are finally reunited. He has a new collar, but his heart is still beating for us.

Meeky lived in my grandparents’ yard for the next two years; exactly how long he was away. My grandparents took great care of him. He found harmony there and went to paradise in peace.

Now we can’t forget him.

This story originally appeared on Medium.