Remembering How They Enhanced my Life
A 100-word story and two poems pay tribute to a pair of cherished animals that gave so much to me. If there is an afterlife, I hope they will be there to greet me.
To My Abby
I didn't even recognize you, standing there looking like a woolly mammoth, head drooped to the ground. That familiar nicker never again left your lips. Months later, you fought death as you fought the rein, yet I remember rides across the mountain, a moonlight encounter with a bear. I brushed you while you munched wildflowers in the meadow. People marveled I could throw the rope over your withers, leaving you untied while I took your tack box back to the shed. "Where's she gonna go," I'd say. "She's always been good for me even if she isn't good for you."
There Really is a Dog!
I dream of my death how ever it will happen maybe spiraling through space newly hurled from the Coastal Highway. I’ll probably scream, butterflies like jumping from the high dive when I was twelve. That bright light I’ve heard so much about envelopes me a doorway opens to reveal an empty room. Such relief at not having my own “No Exit.” I can name at least five people I wouldn’t want to meet in Heaven. Thankfully they’re not Here. Instead, I wait, not knowing where to go. Do I wander in the mist or wait for a guide? At last I hear toenails on the floor. My little Molly Mae brushed and bushy, her black nose nudges my knee. She leaps in that crazy sheepdog way when she sees me waiting there. Her mouth sighs open in her canine smile. I cup her Beardie face Press my brow to hers and weep grateful for her forgiveness.
This poem was included in my post of September 28, 2023. The second poem in that post, When the Horses Come and Go, is the titular poem for one of my books. You can read the post HERE.
Looking Through Abby’s Ears
Whispered wind Pinion scent mingles With spicy sage Flies tease Her pointed ears Erect like gun sights Alert and ready As brush jumps Jackrabbit Cottontail Lizard flits Across the trail Snakes through sand Grit and granite I focus between her ears Note boulders where Cougars and bears hide The rock itself Threatens her life She shakes her head Mane flails Side to side Bridle rings out The only sound I scan the desert Through her ears To see what she sees Preparing for the rodeo.
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All my books, Paradise Ridge, When the Horses Come and Go, and Ghost in the Forest are currently available on Kindle. Ghost in the Forest, is also available in paperback. Paradise Ridge is out-of-print, but the Kindle version is re-edited and better quality.
Book Review of Ghost in the Forest:
"Ghost in The Forest' is a great read! Take note People. If you love stories about environmentalism and nature, its clash with urban mindsets, as well as personal transformation, this is the book for you!
"Ghost in The Forest" is a quick 126-page read. It's the story of Dori, a woman trapped in a mix of grief over parental loss and refusing to accept how her hometown and her friends have changed over the years. Because of this, Dori has become a recluse and a self-imposed misanthrope who finds more comfort amongst the hiking trails around her hometown of Morristown than in her dealings with the raw reality of other humans.
The book, in some ways, resembled Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” in that the story follows a protagonist's love of nature and angst about humans encroaching on it. In this case, it’s how Morristown is transforming into a mountain biking destination where cyclists run rampant on trails and nature.
However, a tragedy involving said mountain biking becomes a major pivot point for Dori, leading to a series of events that eventually bring about personal evolution and discovery.
If you're a nature lover, this book is a must-read. It beautifully portrays the clash between environmentalism and urban mindsets and the journey of personal transformation. The book's vivid descriptions of nature and the protagonist's love for it will surely intrigue you.
Paradise Ridge Review by western author D. B. Jackson:
If you draw circle roughly around an area that includes northern Nevada, southern Oregon, and southern Idaho, within that circle exists a culture and people who live a lifestyle largely untouched by modern values. These are the "buckaroos" and Basque characters author Sue Cauhape brings to life in her literary novel, "Paradise Ridge".
Leandro, the illegitimate seventh son of patriarch Xavier Arriaga and his mistress, Gisela, is at the center of this intriguing story that travels exceedingly successfully at both the personal level of the characters, as well as the compelling level where the story is told.
Cauhape writes in a literary style that reminds me of Annie Poulx. Paradise Ridge, on the surface, appears to be an upscale Western novel...once inside the pages, you will soon discover a potential classic waiting to be discovered.
I rated this book a 5...because that's all the stars there were.
Beautiful, Sue. Your very soul is in these poems. I, too, would love to see all my furry loved ones, someday. Just to be able to hug them, and let them know how each and every one of them continued to be loved by me, long after they left this earthly plane.
It would be nice to be shown around Paradise by a beloved dog. I’d immediately feel right at home.