“HELLO I LOVE YOU.”
The great spirit furrowed his brow.
“What kind of creature are you?”
“I AM DOG, BARK.”
“I am the spirit Sabian, the guardian of dogs, and I have never beheld a dog as strange as you.”
“MY NAME IS MALLOW HELLO.”
“Well, Mallow is it? I see that you have not passed on to the next world, not yet at least.”
“HAVE YOU SEEN MY HUMAN?”
“I… I do not think you should look back.”
Of course, once knowing that he shouldn’t do something made the dog look over immediately.
If dogs could cry, a waterfall would have cascaded from Mallow’s eyes.
It was his human, Jenn, slowly cradling the form of a corgi. There were countless onlookers and what seemed to be the metal houses all around. Jenn was singing “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, it was the song that she played to make Mallow calm down whenever there were fireworks outside.
She was crying too, and the more he looked the more details he could make out. A red streak on the ground, a contrite driver, several people trying to calm Jenn down. The dog-spirit nodded and knew what happened.
The scene was starting to blur. A strange light surrounded Mallow’s form as it walked towards the great spirit.
“Maybe you are a dog after all.”
“MY HUMAN IS SAD.”
“That she is.”
“COULD YOU MAKE HER LESS SAD PLEASE.”
“I am sorry. I can only be invoked in the Binikwau ritual. Her sadness will pass eventually, as does everything in the mortal world.”
“CAN I TALK TO HER PLEASE. I NEED HER TO KNOW THAT IT’S OK. I NEED HER TO KNOW I LOVE HER.”
“I think she already knows. Worry not young dog, you will join my pack and we will traverse the spirit plane. Together.”
“CAN I DO ONE THING PLEASE.”
“You are nearly part of the spirit realm, whatever you shall do you need to be fast.”
The corgi leaped to his broken body and in that moment did the only thing he knew to tell his human that everything will be all right.
Mallow licked her face one last time, he tasted salt from the tears and he knew that one gesture made Jenn stop briefly and look into his eyes as she sang:
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Mallow’s time was finally up and his spirit became part of the otherworld. That one moment would stay with him for many eternities onwards.
He took his place next to the great spirit’s side and saw his new pack. He greeted them the way the only way he knew how.
“HELLO I LOVE YOU.”
=—————————————————————–=
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by a stothe Sabian description in the Binikwau ceremony Cole, Fay-Cooper. (1922). “The Tinguian.” FMNH-AS, Vol. 14, no. 2, p. 358.
Illustration by Alvin Gasga
FB: The Art of Alvin Gasga