“Veronica, I’m sorry. Snowball ate something contaminated, triggering acute myocarditis. The vet said only the ‘miracle drug’ can save him. It’s been with me for five years, I can’t live without Snowball.”
Veronica looked at the dying dog in her arms, then at me, her face filled with struggle.
I knelt down, begging at her feet for the first time in my life. “Veronica, I’m begging you! that’s my father who has been my only family for twenty years, the only person I have left in the world!”
She closed her eyes, turned her head away in anguish. Her voice was faint, forced out through clenched teeth.
“William, I’m sorry. But your father’s illness was incurable from the start. This medicine can only prolong her suffering for a few more days.”
She paused, finally managing to utter a few words with difficulty.
“I owe Yohan too much. He can’t handle any more stress.”
She took the life-saving medicine and injected it into a dog’s body with her own hands.
***
I didn’t remember how I cried myself unconscious. When I opened my eyes, an urn was already being handed to me.
“Mr. Thomson, please accept my condolences.”
The doctor’s eyes brimmed with uncontrollable sorrow.
“Without the miracle drug,we have done everything we could.”
I shook my head, not crying. I just sat there in the cemetery for three hours, clutching the small jar.
But then, Yohan rushed out with Samoyed. His face filled with sorrow.
“William, your father is gone. Don’t be too sad about it.”
He paused for a long moment before continuing, “How about letting Snowball eat your father’s ashes?”
My mind went blank and I was shocked. “What did you say?”
At that moment, Veronica appeared from behind him and walked in front of me.
“Snowball just finished treatment and its nutrition isn’t keeping up.”
“William, finish what you started. This is accumulating good karma for your father.”
“He was a Christian, right? If he knew he saved other living creatures’ lives, he would be very happy.”
I couldn’t believe her words. “You two inhumane monsters! That was my father! You’re not allowed to touch him.”
But by then, the bodyguards had already surrounded me. They scattered the ashes on the ground right in front of me.
I watched helplessly as Samoyed devoured every last bit of my beloved father. Still unsatisfied, it licked its lips and barked at me.
I struggled desperately. My eyes were red with anger.
“You demons! I’ll kill you all!”