your jealous bestfriend

we used to have a dog whose tail was like that of a rabbit's. we named her sarah after the princess who was oppressed by the world and the blonde girl lavinia. she was the only pet dog who never scared me. she was the only dog that encouraged me to play roll-over the mud and chase you till you drop. others just wanted to chase me and devour my flesh.

all the while, i thought everybody in the family loves her, not until my grandfather died.

superstitious relatives from the province blamed sarah for my grandfather's death, accusing her as the messenger of death. many of my relatives said they heard sarah howl, more like a moan-howl, the night before grandpa died. then they cursed sarah as the "malas" dog and butchered her immediately after my gradpa's death. next thing i know, sarah was served hot on plates and was devoured by the hard-core manginginoms of the town. since then, i never had any close relationship with any dog.

first, i think dogs can smell fear. trust me, they know if you’re afraid of them and most dogs i encounter have bullying tendencies and will capitalize on your panic. then here comes the discovery of researchers that dogs can sniff out unfair situations and show a simple emotion similar to envy or jealousy. now that could be one good reason to keep a dog nearby government offices and police stations.

i wish i sensed sarah's fear before she left the world.