My
attempt at fasting was short lived when I struggled to stay alone on a hill. It
was a nice fall day. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze. The sky
was the prettiest shade of blue. The conifer trees were emanating a smell of
pine needles and cedar. The leaves were
turning majestic colors, putting forth a brightly colored cacophony of
magnificent art. I was on top of a large hill in the middle of the woods near
Garden River in Canada. Thoughts of spending the night alone in such a desolate
location was starting to wear on me. Filled with shame, I climbed down and went
to my car and headed to the reservation to meet with my native spiritual guide.
I was not able to carry out what my sister and so many other women did before
me.
Ethel
welcomed me at the lodge and made me a belonga sandwich. She assured me that I
was not the first woman who could not meet the challenge and went on to tell me
that most women fasted with other women.
We sat and talked for a while. She
has made comments in the past that hurt my feelings and we discussed what was
said. “I was afraid that you didn’t like me,” I said.
“That’s not the case,” replied
Ethel.
Experiencing some feelings of guilt,
Ethel thought she would provide me with something to take home with me as a
remembrance of my time on the hill.
Ethel and her significant other had
dogs and puppies running around their property. One looked like a Siberian
husky. She was beautiful with gray and white fur and blue eyes. A little shy
and elusive, so I didn’t get to know her as well as I did Itchy the adult male
dog who fathered her puppies. His fur was predominantly cream colored with
large light brown spots. Friendly dog who liked being petted.
Ethel introduced me to one of her
puppies. The puppy was mostly black with caramel colored eye brows and paws.
Her belly sported what appeared to be wolf fur. She was approximately 25
pounds. Ethel told me she was born on July 20th so that made her
approximately two months old. Old enough to be weaned from her mother.
“Do you want to take her home?”
asked Ethel.
Surprised, I responded, “sure.”
My thoughts included the possibility
of getting her in the car and across the international bridge. If I managed to
do so she will be ours. I had my doubts.
To my astonishment, she climbed into
my little red Mercury Tracer and we sped off toward the international bridge.
The man at the customs booth commented on how nervous my dog was. She was
drooling all over the center panel between the two front seats. That was it. We
made it through customs. She was going to be our dog.
On our way to her new home, I asked
her what her name would be. My sister had a friend who named her black dog
“Moon.” I liked that name. I also thought I would give her a formal Indian
name, “Giizhess Mingen Kwe” meaning Moon Wolf Woman.
“How about calling you Moon?” I
asked. Moon was settling down in the back seat and she started wagging her
tail. “Moon, it is.”
Don, my husband, quickly departed
from our home to greet me when he saw four little furry legs walking beside me.
I made him so happy because he has been wanting a dog for quite a while.
Fix this part: To
aid with getting the puppy out of the car and because I had to haul in my
sleeping bag and other supplies I took with me from my failed fasting
experience.
I said, “meet Moon.”
Don, being the easy-going dog loving
man, bent down and petted Moon. He was beaming. Unknown to me he has wanted a
dog for years since he got divorced from his first wife and had to take his dog
to his parents in Ohio because he couldn’t keep her anymore.
I have to be honest with you. I was
not raised with a lot of dogs, only two I can remember growing up. We mostly
had cats, orange ones that our hairdresser gave us. I looked at this as an
adventure. I love animals of all persuasions. I convinced myself that I could
make this work with the help of Don. I learned at a later date that he absolutely
loved dogs and would not mind having ten of the furry companions. He told me
about many of his dog companions when he was growing up and the dog he had with
his ex-wife. He had to bring his dog to be raised by his parents when he got
divorced. He was heartbroken because he could not care for his dog anymore. She
was a cute little beagle named Abbie.
We got off to the rocky start with
being new guardians of a dog. Due to my ignorance, I thought Moon would stay in
the yard if I put her outside. She did not. I was frantic and looked all over
the neighborhood for her. Don came home and went to the little corner store and
saw a notice hung about a lost puppy and it was our little Moon. I was so
relieved.
We had to figure out something to
keep her in the yard when she went out to do her business. We had to get some
much needed supplies, dog food was a definite need. Don purchased a lead that
was connected to our front deck and a leash.
Our new little charge was getting
adjusted to her new surroundings. The minute she walked into our home, our cat
named Bud decided to let Moon know who was in charge.
Bud had a presence which proved to
be intimidating to dogs. The first time Moon and Bud met, Moon peed herself out
of fear of Bud. It was not obvious to us what he did but Moon sure got the
message. At a later date, Bud sent a large white dog named Ralph, my daughter’s
dog, running for his life from behind the French doors to our bathroom. Bud did
not have claws. What did he do?
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