Chapter 30: I Will Miss My Friend Bentley
The Professor likes to think that he takes me for walks every morning, but he doesn’t understand that I actually take him for a walk and I decide where we go and whom we visit. I lovingly let the Professor think he is in charge, that’s what Beagles do. Of course, I always see my friends Roxie, Matilda, Ranger, Max, Archer, Annie, and Dirk when we walk. We smell each other and tell each other what has been going on in our lives. Friends are like that you know.
I have several walking routes through the neighborhood that I like to take and, according to the Professor, the longest is about three and one half miles and the shortest about a mile and one half. I really don’t know what a mile is, some are simply longer than others. It depends on how I feel on any given day which route I choose, as we have to walk up a steep hill to our house at the end of the walk. I go at my own speed and stop at all the important places, you know, the ones where I have to pee. I allow the Professor and Mom, when she is with us, to talk with their friends because their friends usually are with my dog friends. The Professor likes to talk about how life is going to change after the COVID pandemic. I really don’t understand too much and really don’t care, as I am simply enjoying life to its fullest these days.
The other day on our walk, I let the Professor talk to Phil. Bentley, one of my best buddies, was not with him. I smelled Phil to see if I could get a whiff of Bentley’s scent and there was just a faint remnant of my buddy on his shoes. I sensed that Bentley was no longer here. Beagles know these things. Phil teared up as he talked about my buddy. Bentley, who is older than me, was having difficulty hearing. He had somehow gotten out of Phil’s yard and went into the street. The one thing Bentley loved was to bark at the mail truck when it came by his house. Apparently he didn’t hear the mail truck and he was hit. I let Phil pet me and I could feel his pain as he rubbed my head and ears. Not just Beagles, all dogs sense the pain in humans and we try to take it away. It is who we are. I kissed Phil’s hands trying to tell him that Bentley loved him dearly. It was a difficult walk back up the hill to our house.
You may know that I am now more than 13 years old. The Professor teases me and says that I’m an old man like he is and stubborn in his ways. And yes, I am stubborn. I must have bacon with my egg in the morning, I must have several treats at a time so I can hide some of them for later, I must have a ginger snap when Mom is eating them, and I must have my soft blanket on the foot of the Professor and Mom’s bed to sleep on with them. The Professor says that old age comes with aches and pains throughout the day and I will grudgingly agree with him on that one. But age also comes with timeless, wonderful memories. I think and smile (Yes, Beagles do smile.) about all the good times Bentley and I had smelling each other on our walks and telling each other about our most recent adventures.
While the Professor and I may be showing our age, I never forget to remind him in some way on our walks each morning that, in my mind, I am still a young Beagle playing with and talking to my young buddy, Bentley.
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