Those 70ish Girls

I’m staying at Marlene’s house for a few weeks while Mom and Dad are in California seeing relatives… and Billy. We’ve been going to my house every night to feed Berferd. He stays in the coat closet all night, then I go let him out in the morning. Marlene’s not in band, so I do the morning routine by myself. I usually meet some other band kids by Super Value and walk the rest of the way with them.

Berferd comes to the auditorium and waits until  I come out, then walks with me to the grade school. Once he knows I’m safely inside my classroom, he goes running around town, and I don’t see him again until Marlene and I go feed him and put him in for the night.

This year Marlene and I are in 7th grade, which is in an outside building. Our teacher is Mrs. Palander. For the first time in years, I finally have a teacher that hasn’t taught anyone I’m related to, has a sister that dates Billy, is a friend of Mom’s, and doesn’t live by me.

Remember I told you we had some new kids in our class this year? One of them is Karen Ferdig. She lives close to Marlene, so she started walking to school with her. I can’t because I have to go an hour earlier for band. Anyway, now all three of us are friends.

Karen’s birthday is New Years Day, which is one day after mine. We’ll both be 13 this year. Marlene’s birthday isn’t until June 19th. The lady said she’ll be able to keep her brains a little longer than Karen and me.

Yesterday was Tuesday, November 8th. I won’t ever forget that date as long as I live. Marlene and I went to feed Berferd. I was worried about him, because there was a big snow storm that day. When we got to my house, Berferd wasn’t anywhere around.

After awhile, we got Karen and the three of us looked everywhere. We asked people in the neighborhood and along the highway if they had seen him. We didn’t know what else to do, so we just went back to my house and waited.

One of the guys that works for the State heard that we were looking for Berferd, and he called my house. He told me that my dog had been run over by a snow plow. This time, he didn’t make it.

I was sure glad Karen and Marlene were with me.

I was never able to train Berferd not to chase loud trucks. Like I said before, he even chased them when he had the fractured leg.

I’m slightly comforted by knowing Berferd left this world doing what he loved most, chasing trucks and snowplows. It was election day.

We loved that dog and we’ll miss him every day.

As near as I can figure, he was only 4. He loved running around Murdo, and Murdo loved him.