Where is my home?

Yesterday I decided to drag myself down the beach to visit the port. ‘The port’ is probably  a generous word  as really it is just a little cove where a whole lot of very tiny fishing boats like to bob about  and do very little.  I have been feeling very lethargic of late even though to be fair I have been busy making/ selling stones and doing some other work up in town.  It’s my propensity for guilt no matter what I do, I believe.  Anyway doggie decided to join me and so we passed a lovely couple of hours swimming, lazing and watching the tiny fish dart between the rocks.  I met a very nice Athenian couple who loved doggie. ‘Take her,’ I said. ‘She needs a home.’  They shook their heads apologetically. ‘We live in a big city. She is a beach dog.’ And they are right you know. I have been vexing about doggie wondering if I should be the one to take her on. But I know I can’t. I don’t even have a home to offer her at present.  I always feel very sad when she leans on my and rests her paw on my shoulder but today when I watched her running across the rocks, chasing the birds, I realised this is her home and I couldn’t take her from it even if I had the means to do it. Unless I was offering her a beach home or a sizeable field at least it would be unfair. 

I wish I could guarantee her safety though. Guarantee her food and shelter in the winter months. I wish I could I could do that.  But I take heart from the fact that I know I am not her only buddy here. Sometimes I don’t even see her for days. She is self-reliant, clever and resourceful. She is going to be ok, right?

***

Ok I wrote that yesterday and this is today and now I feel very differently about doggie. Largely because I heard ghastly stories last night about how people sometimes poison the cats and dogs at the end of summer when all the visitors leave. They don’t want to animals begging for food over the winter.

Surely doggie will be too smart for that or too endearing...or both.

I feel sad.