Cool Name, Cool Dog

Billy Goat.
TC’s loyal canine companion.
Her best buddy.

Billy would go everywhere that TC went.
He’d follow her from room to room.
Not in an annoying way.
He just wanted to be where ever she was.

They’d go on country drives together.
Billy Goat hanging out the window with his big hound dog ears flying in the wind.
His “flubbers” as they referred to his lips, curled back from the force of the country air speeding by.
TC cherished those days.

Billy got sick shortly after TC was diagnosed.
He was quickly loosing weight off his huge frame.
The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him.

Billy would go days at a time without seeing TC when she was in the hospital.
When she’s home, she sleeps so much, Billy would climb up in bed with her.
When TC moved in with my Mom,
Billy moved too.
We all watched as TC got sicker,
Billy did too.

The vet was clearly perplexed.
They ran all kinds of tests on Billy Goat.
They thought maybe he had an ulcer,
Maybe he was just depressed.
But nothing definitive was ever found.

Billy Goat died yesterday.
TC lay next to him on the floor and sang to comfort him.
She told him they’d be together again soon.
And that they’d both be well again for a ride in the country.

Billy Goat died of a broken heart.
And now, cruelly, our hearts are broken too.
Again.

Just last week at the vet,
One of the technicians drew an artist’s sketch of Billy.
It really captures his unique look and TC is lucky to have it.

On it she wrote,
“Cool name, cool dog”.
And indeed he was.