The Dog And I

A white dog, as big as a horse, met me at the bamboo gate. It was a talking dog.

The dog said: "Welcome. Follow me."

I followed the dog. We walked down a narrow paved walkway under some sort of nightshades. The dog was always some paces ahead of me. My effort to walk faster never matched its pace. I gave up. I just observed the way it walked. It walked like a cat. So graceful. Its butt swayed as it walked. I noticed it almost had no tail.

At some point we had to cross a narrow brook, or a rivulet. The water in the brook was so clear I could see the full moon dancing under it. It was dancing with the music the water in the brook made as it hit the half-drowned rocks. The dog and I were now standing at the bank, side by side, figuring out how we're going to go to the other side. The creek was shallow but we both didn't want to get wet.

"Can you swim?" asked the dog.

"Yes," I replied, "but I can't swim in a knee-deep water."

"If only I could fly," said the dog, "I could take you to the other side."

"But you can't."

"Let's wait till it's morning."

"Will the water dry up in the morning."

"No. But there'll be a bamboo bridge in the morning."

"Where's that?"

"It only appears when the sun rises. It disappears when sun sets."

"What place is this? Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking you home."

"Where's home?"

"You decide."

Confused of the dog's reply, I didn't ask or answer back. The dog just looked at me. Our eyes locked. After a while, I saw the sun rising in the dog's eyes. Suddenly, I heard a chorus of roosters' crow. The sound of the water in the brook became thicker. An assortment of colors started to appear in the sorroundings: flowers and insects frolicking in the air.

"There's the bridge," said the dog, turning its head to the left. "Go."

"What about you?"

"I don't belong there."

"Who are you?"

"Empoy."

"Nice meeting you. Empoy. Bye."

The I crossed the bamboo bridge. Then, I woke up, back to waking life, before I made it to the other side of the bridge.

I looked at my wrist watch. It was only past 5:15 AM. The dream I just had still lingered in my head. Lying on my bed, while unconsciously deciding whether to rise or go back to sleep, I entertained the sudden recollection of a part of my childhood that invaded my head. I recalled that once upon my childhood, in my grandmother's house, there was a cat named Empoy. Of all the cats that my aunts took under their care, it was the only one whose name I and my cousins would always remember. It was a huge tom cat. That time, it was the oldest among the more than a dozen of cats in my grandmother's house. One day, Empoy was missing. Later that day, or maybe it was the next day, we found Empoy's severed head, sans the body, on the roof. I can't recall now if Empoy's body were found. We never knew who killed Empoy.

{12 Dec 2009}