Name: SLK Millennium Sunrise // Sunny
Gender: Female
Life as she knows it: begins in the house. Not a pet, you say? It's alright, for now. The ranch is spacious, life is good. There's siblings to play with. There's life here. And when it's at its peak, she leaves.
"What's adolescence?" Sunny wonders. It's a waltz, learning what goes here and there. It's learning, and she learns. She learns what a "sit" is, and what a sheep looks like. That's not so interesting though. The people seem disappointed she doesn't like it. So she leaves.
The learning is more specialized now. She likes this stuff, sniffing everything. She smells bags, suitcases, and tries to find the dupe between a pizza slice and the scent she wants to find. The pizza tastes nice, but the smell is what she wants. She hasn't tried it yet, but she knows she gets good treats if she does. She wonders if maybe that's what it is? And just as soon as she arrives, she walks a stage. She sees other people and dogs she knows. And then Sunny leaves.
She grows taller, and starts seeing more things. "The city is busy today," she hears nearly daily. There's much older dogs beside her. Ones that have lived different lives. She's never been to "the city," she thinks, forgetting how short life is. "This place is a city." her handler says. "Well, who cares for niceties. Let's get to work, and everything I do know." And they leave.
Her bones take form. She's used to the hustle and bustle. Life is good. But one day, she sniffs the last thing she'll ever sniff, not that she knows it. When she gets ready to go to work, her handler looks sad. She's not sure why she can't cheer them up. At the end of work that day, she gets many balls. She's never seen so many in her life! She gets treats and lots of love. Familiar and not-so-familiar faces congratulate her. "For what?" she wonders. But there's not much time to. There's balls to play with. And then, Sunny leaves.
That drive home, she hears a church bell toll. She'd heard it before. But she realized she couldn't quite hear it very well, not like she used to. She couldn't see it as well as she used to either. That drive home, she started thinking. You could see it in her face, her eyes lost in thought. She starts thinking of times from her youth. She remembers her brother, always stepping on her "on accident", or the beagle that she would find watching her from the other side of the security line, whatever his name was. She goes home to the puppy that came into her life recently. He reminds her of herself. She decides to tell him her stories, however boring they may be to him. She watches as he and her handler leave to the backyard.
A fateful day, Sunny wakes up. She feels herself being called home. Her handler sees it. She licks him one last time. It's the last thing she can do before she leaves.
And yet: the world moves on without you. (please let me know if this link doesn't work!)
Art: “Airport Security”
