Steve Meador is the author of Throwing Percy from the Cherry Tree, a poetry book that was an entrant for a National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. He is widely published in online and print journals. He has been a real estate broker since the early 1980s and currently lives and practices in the Tampa, FL, area.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Paco the dog


“He wasn’t much when she brought him home. About the size of a sweet potato. About the same amount of hair, too.”
The chihuahua climbed onto my lap.
“He likes you. Don’t even like people he knows, usually. You got a dog?”
 I took a few seconds, “No, sir, mine died.  I don’t think I could go through that again. I just get my fill when I am out and around.” 
He pulled some oranges off the tree behind the bench and handed me a couple.
“A little dog like that ain’t much account around a farm. You sit there and fill your tank with him.”
For the next couple minutes each of our thoughts unfolded privately, until the old farmer spoke, “Twice isn’t always good. He’s old. My wife’s dog, really. I suppose I’ll get to lose her a second time soon.”
Paco shivered beneath the stroke of my fingers, as we built small piles of orange peel at our feet.

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