Romeo's Adventure

It goes without saying that my April illness also affected my best friend, Romeo.  For starters, as I lost my ability to reason and my mind faded away in the fog of the toxic build-up of creatinine in my body, my ability to be faithful to him slipped away to.  I forgot to feed myself.  I must have also forgotten to feed him.  But he is such a sweet fellow, he never imposes himself on anything.  He suffered in silence.  He waited.  He watched.  Surely, he wondered.

The day I was admitted to the hospital, after my friend had gotten me admitted and then stayed with me through the first several hours of my processing, testing and initial diagnosis, left me to return to my home and get Romeo.  She took him home with her.  She is married and has two teenage daughters and a 1-year-old golden lab named Jake.  Alas, Romeo and Jake did not hit it off.  I'm sure Romeo was not harmful to Jake, but Jake is a puppy-plus, and Romeo is not into that shit anymore.  They were good to him, but given the inpass, Romeo's big adventure moved on.

The next several days were spent in the company of my friend and school's librarian and her 7-year-old son.  He loved Romeo, but she walked him and took care of his pedestrian needs.  The last 3 days of his 'vacation' were spent with another teacher and her adult daughter and husband.  He daughter had just returned from college for summer and they had just lost their family dog of 14 years.  Romeo filled a lovely void and got pampered off his heiny.

I returned from the hospital on a Sunday evening.  It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that Romeo return was effectuated.  I know he was glad to be home, but his return was one of cautious optimism.  Born a street day in Central America, his heart is that of the vagabond.  He knows a good thing when he sees it, but he's ready to pack up the bindle sack and move on if circumstances change.  It took him about a day to figure out that I was back to normal and he didn't have to worry about his needs.  My weeks of homebound recuperation also help to re-establish and strengthen our bonds.  He is my most faithful companion and cherished cohabitor of our home.