Goodbye My Friend... Goodbye Butter...

It has been almost 20 years since Butter died, but it still feels like yesterday. Sometimes I wonder if other people can love a dog that much. I do, and I still do. Butter is a black daschund, I can still vividly remember how smooth his fur was, a very sweet dog.

 

I recalled when I was only more or less 5 years old, our house almost burned. We would have died that day if it weren’t for Butter. It was in the middle of the night when the fire started. We all woke up at once because of Butter’s insistent barking.

 

You might say, of course the dog will bark, he is a dog, but the thing is, he seldom barks. He is a very quite fellow for a dog, even if there are strangers around Butter will not bark at them, on the contrary he seems to welcome them, that is how gentle he is. So it was really a heroic act for him to do that.

 

There are so many good memories I can share about Butter, but as it is my eyes are already teary just thinking of him and how he died…

 

It was a warm late afternoon at home, my brothers and sisters were just outside roaming around the neighborhood. I and my younger sister were in front of the house playing with our friends. Basically, it was a typical day, when suddenly we heard a yelp, when I turned around I saw the school bus run over Butter in the middle of the street.

 

I was so shocked, I stood there frozen, and I heard our neighbors shouting at the driver to stop. At that moment I thought that Butter died on the spot, I approached him and saw that he was still breathing. Slowly he stood up, I thought he was okay, and then he slowly walks home limping along the way. I just followed him. Our house was very close to where it happened.

 

What happened next is something that I could never forget to this day. My mom had a visitor they were sitting outside, she was not yet aware of what had happened. Butter walked to where she is sitting climb on her lap, and with his dying breath he licked my mom’s hand for the last time, rested his head on it, and died.

 

At that moment my mom was hysterical she stood up still holding Butter, at the same time our neighbors are already at our gate talking at the same time. I just stood there for a moment, then I approached my mom, kissed Butter’s forehead, then I went to my room and cried alone.

 

It was only by chance that I came across this song as I was surfing through this site, when I heard it I just knew…

 

“So goodbye my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the love you gave me through all the years
Will take away my tears
I'm O.K. now
Goodbye my friend…”