A Dream

All my dogs were lost and then one by one they came back, my Rosie among them. She was healthy and beautiful. How surprised and delighted I was to see her! I had completely forgotten she died. We lay down together to sleep, and I stroked her lovely body, and she laid her head on my shoulder as she often did. When one of the other dogs came near, she snarled. My Rosie. When I woke, she was gone. I have collected river stones to put on her grave. “Thank you,” I say over and over, placing them on the slab of bluestone that is her grave.