Fact uno; Dogitari is definitely not a word you will find in the dictionary.

Fact dos; Today’s Wednesday. Not Tuesday. I can explain.

For as long as I can remember, our homestead has had a lot of dogs. However, all these dogs have always been just for security. Whenever they were not barking or biting at home, they were out hunting for bitches and leftovers. Which explains why when Loki, Rex and Simba came to our family, we were all excited. We wanted to start a fresh, pet the dogs and not just neglect them.

Everyone chipped in whichever way they could. Senge looked for three leashes and brought them over. Manu powdered the boys to get rid of the lice they acquired from Mother Dog. He also looked for the perfect spots to chain them during the day. Sten and I would take turns feeding the dogs.Weekends were bath days. Alison and Jeremy would help me out with that, and cleaning the kennel.

See, there was joy and laughter at home. Especially after soaping and rinsing them, Alison and Jeremy would distract the dogs and play fetch or chase since those boys could just walk to a pile of soil and roll over in it while still wet and see nothing wrong with their actions. In spite of that, we were all glad to help out.

In retrospect, those responsibilities and having the dogs around sort of knitted us closer together. Case in point, I came out of my cocoon/room where I would spend three quarter of the day attending online classes and watching the awkward puppets on the tube. My brother actually stopped watching TV. And I thought I saw the Missus laugh heartily on some Saturday when Loki gave her run for the sack she had in hand on her way to the farm.

Then the unexpected happened when I went to the city for a few days. I came back to find Rex gone. A couple of village boys had found their way to the kennel and escaped with poor Rex.

Soon after that, Simba fell sick. He wasn’t as playful as he had been. And his tummy was assuming a concave shape. As if I had not been stuffing him with enough ugali. I was a little offended but then that feeling quickly transitioned into pity when I noticed that he Simba was frothing. Being a Saturday I gave both Simba and Loki a bath.

There was something too calm about Simba. He didn’t try to resist even a little, which was odd. I let him rest in the sun so he could dry up. The kids didn’t need to distract him because Simba was immobile by then. Loki was all over the place. Running after anything that moved and biting shoes he’d find lying around. I washed him last. When I went back to get Simba, he was laying lifeless. Heartbreak is an understatement.

Someone said I had killed the dog by washing it and that just rubbed salt into the wound. Sten helped bury him at the neglected edge of the fence where thorns and shrubs grow. Before I was over Simba’s death, Loki began exhibiting the same symptoms on a Wednesday evening. You are probably wondering why I could not just call a vet. But see, Loki falling sick was sort of a relief because it meant the bath they took wasn’t the cause of Simba’s death. Perhaps a catalyst, but never the cause. Plus, I have a Veterinary friend that I consulted over the phone.

The vet had told me that perhaps Simba had just failed to de-teeth and thus fell sick. Apparently, dogs have to shed teeth at some point in their lives when bones should come in handy. Crunching the bones helps remove them. Anyway, I administered bones (you can call me dogitari) to Loki on Wednesday night after I noticed that he was frothing too.

On Thursday morning when I woke up, before I went to go get aloe vera for my morning facial routine from the farm, I made my way to the kennel. There was Loki, long dead with umpteen ants feasting on his mouth area. Death is brutal, even to animals.

And just like that, mother Dog and her lice were back to reigning in the homestead. I told the chirpy waitress at Royal that I was mourning the death of my dogs and she gave me coffee on the house. Will that work with you guys? I mean saying that I couldn’t write yesterday because I was still mourning my dogs. Will it?

PS; Stay safe.