• Facebook
• Instagram

Moo Speaks

Robert Hamblin

__________

There used to be three of us, but one left and didn’t come back. Now there are just we two. I miss her, I know he does. I can tell when he sits quietly on the couch where they often sat together.  He just sits there, unspeaking, with no TV or music playing, just staring off into the silence for what seems like forever. I go to him and place my head on his knee, trying to cheer him up, but much of the time he doesn’t even notice. We were so happy before she left. They loved to work together in their flower garden, and while they worked I would run and romp in the big yard.  And almost every day we walked together to the river and back. He would buy ice cream cones for each of us, and we would sit beside the river, watching the barges floating past, enjoying our treats. She always ordered chocolate, and he liked butter pecan. I preferred plain vanilla. I made a lot of friends on the riverfront. There was this little white poodle and we really liked each other. But his owner quit bringing him to the river and I never saw him again. So I know something about loss too. I can tell he is aging fast. We used to take long walks, sometimes all the way from one end of the river walk to the other, but now we just cross the street to the Courthouse park, walk around the Courthouse to look down on the town below, and then return home. Even that short walk sometimes tires him out and he has to come home and take a nap. I miss the longer walks, but I understand. He spends a lot of time now at the computer, writing. He seems to be in a hurry to get it all said, as though time is running out and he doesn’t have much left. Sometimes he reads to me what he’s written, and often it’s about her. He writes about me too, about the things we’ve shared and remember. I like sitting or lying there beside him while he writes. I like to think it’s a comfort and encouragement to him. I wish I had the words to tell him how much I love him. And her. All three of us have had such a good life together. I don’t know how it could have been any better. Lately I’ve been having the same dream over and over. The three of us are together again, and we’re in this beautiful meadow with lots and lots of flowers, like those she used to grow, and we’re playing and talking and laughing. Humans talk a lot about heaven, and I think it must be something like that meadow. I know he and she will be there, and I hope I can be with them as well.

__________

Dedication

For Moo.

 

__________

Robert Hamblin is Emeritus Professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University, where he taught for fifty years. He is the author or editor of more than seventy books, including poetry, fiction, literary criticism, biographies, and memoirs.

__________

Back | Next

To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.