...Damn it.

[wordinista]

Not the most auspicious start to the New Year, ever.

So... last night Mom and Gramps came over for dinner.  And dinner was good.  Then Gramps went home (which, hey, is right next door, so no big deal there).  About an hour later he comes back telling Mom he can't find my uncle's dog, Oreo (a 1 1/2 year old Shih-Tzu mix) who Mom has been dogsitting.  So we all went out to look for him.

Darwin found him.  He'd been hit by a car.  Killed.

We have no idea how he got out.  George thinks he slipped out when Grampa went in, since he was small and fast.  Mom doesn't think so, since Oreo was more of a "greeter" and jumped all over you when you went in the house.  Mom thinks went out through the doggy-door and got under the fence.  He followed her all around the house, and she assumes he was looking for her.  If that's the case, I don't know why he went toward the street instead of toward our house.  I myself think he might have been trying to find his way home.

I drove Mom to the 24-hour Emergency Clinic (have been there far too many times in the past year and can practically drive there with my eyes closed), because there was a tiny, tiny spark of hope that he wasn't dead.  But he was.  She had to call my uncle at his in-laws' house in Ohio, where he, his wife, and their two little girls (fourth and second grade or thereabouts) were visiting.  Mom is convinced the girls are going to hate her for this.

Mom is blaming herself, saying she should've left the doggy-door on.  I... I don't know.  I think he could've dug his way under the fence, and at some point today I'm going to see if he did that.  George still thinks he slipped out when Gramps went into the house.  Like Mom, I'm not sure if I see that as a real option, since... yeah, Oreo was a greeter, not so much a darter.

God.  Worst night ever.  He wasn't even my dog.  But he was this goofy, sweet little runt of a dog who followed Darwin all around Christmas Eve, reminding us all of the old Looney Toons cartoon with the big dog and the little dog, and the little dog would be jumping all around like, "Hey, Spike, what're we gonna do today, huh Spike?  Huh?  Whaddaya wanna do now, huh?  Huh?  C'mon Spike..." 

Goddamn people driving too goddamn fast around that fucking corner.