tribute to Shadow
Monday, December 18, 2006 at 12:44PM Kelly reminded me that my family had our own Hanukkah miracle when I was younger. It didn’t involve excess of oil or defeating of Greeks, but a silver toy poodle named Shadow. This is actually what I set out to write about yesterday, but I got too carried away in tangents.
Shadow was a Christmas present from my dad (a dog lover) to my mom (not a dog lover) when I was 11. Mom opened the gift, slapped Dad and walked away. She wasn’t in love, but the rest of us were. I remember Shadow as a tiny black ball of fuzz that day. He became part of the family & as he is now gone, the legends definitely need to be written into permanence.
Depending on the year, the money, the level of busy, sometimes our Hanukkah celebrations included 8 days of gifts, while other times we merely told the story & lit the menorah each night. This was a gift year. Seven blue bags with white stars of David were lined up on the fireplace. Each day Cyndee housed a present in each bag. We came home to socks, toothbrushes, pens&paper, treats…nothing elaborate, but something to look forward to for sure.
It was the 3rd of 4th day of the celebration. The gift of the day was Nestle Crunch candy bars. They were put in a bag, to be dispersed later. When the later came, the candy bars could not be found. But every mother is an amateur forensic scientist. It didn’t take Cyn long to discover the bag that had held the candy bars. And it didn’t take long to discover that said bag had been ripped by canine teeth. Cyndee was furious. That damn dog. Ruining Hanukkah. We lit the candles anyway I’m sure & later went off to bed.
I don’t remember who got to their room first or where the discovery originated, but I do know for a fact that as each of us children got to our beds we found a gift – a Nestle Crunch candy bar. Each piece was faintly imprinted with Shadow’s teeth, but otherwise fully intact. Five candy bars placed in five beds by one little dog. Our hearts were warmed, the “damn dog” forgiven. But two candy bars were still missing. I think this was still the days of Mike & Cyndee’s waterbed, which was extremely high off the ground, too high by far for Shadow’s poodle legs. It wasn’t surprising that no candy bars were on their bed, but no wrappers were found as evidence of Shadow treating himself to a little piece of Hanukkah either. It was days later (maybe even weeks…memory fails) that two candy bars were found in shoes in my parents’ closet. Shadow knew exactly who those Crunch bars belonged to and did the best he could to get them to my parents safely.
He was a funny little dog with attitude, charm & very stinky breath. And I can’t believe I’m crying right now with this resurrected memory. He also once gave me a hot dog in my bed…that had to be a big sacrifice for a poodle. Damn dog.
Reader Comments (6)
Do you remember the phrase "shut up Shadow" that was uttered multiple times on a daily basis? I really think by the end of his life with us, he thought that was his name b/c he barked constantly at passing cars and any strange noise and we would all yell "shut up Shadow".
My dad, who is a pet person, bought us pets while my pet-hating mom was away. For my brother, he got a turtle who promptly ran away. For my sister he got hamsters, who one night we found in my mom's bathtub. And we got fish with a nasty tank to clean.
The pets didn't last long. Except our bird, admiral. He was a blue and yellow macaw (we lived in Peru) and he played soccer with us and told us when the bus was coming. I was sad to leave him when we left.