Here Lies Thumper

It has been a sad day at our house.  Our dog Thumper died.  He has been sick for a few days.  The vet came out three days in a row to give him shots.  Yesterday, the dog disappeared for a while.  I thought maybe he had gone somewhere to die.  But, he came back home and ate and drank a little.  I thought he might still pull through.

Some other people ride to school with us.  As Gilbert walked out the door, the other children met him and said, “Thumper is dead.”  Gilbert ran out to where Thumper was to check it out for himself.  Then, he came running back inside and said, “Mom, the dog is dead!”  All three kids were crying and Mommy too.  Just minutes later, the taxi arrived to take them to school.  (While Joe is gone, they are going to school in a taxi.  Two teachers ride with them to school as well as several other children.) The kids were crying when they left, but they said that they stopped crying by the time that they got to school.  

I put the dog in a trash bag and cleaned up the area where he died.  Then, the guy who works in the yard took him and buried him.

When the kids got home from school this afternoon, they wanted to see where Thumper was buried.  The boys found the spot before I got out there, and they were trying to dig him back up.  I told them that they did not want to do that. They decided that they wanted to pick some flowers for the grave.  We went down the hill to get some flowers off of the bush.  Danny was holding a cookie but needed his other hand; so, he just shoved the cookie in his mouth.

They wanted to put the flowers in a circle.  Gilbert gave up one of his prized rocks.

I said that Thumper was a good dog.  Danny said, “He wasn’t always good, Mom.”  Gilbert had a tear in his eye again as he said, “Poor Thumper!”