Just a reminder Lavender has been renamed Hannah. Finn's new name is Buster. And Copper is now Odie.

Copper/Odie's Owner Jackson (4 yrs old)

Finn/Buster's Owner Dennis (8years old)

Lavender/Hannah's Owner Lilo (10years old)

(Yes this is an adoptive family. Sarah, their mother, adopted Lilo and Dennis a few years before Kenny died.)

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That day turned out to be the best day of Finn's life. He got to go home- but not to just any home. A home full of squealing, eager, energetic, possessive kids.

And of course, they settled in nicely. It was a bit slower for Lavender, who at first simply crawled beneath tables and chairs, trying to dissociate and hide herself.

However, that always made Lilo burst out crying. Whenever she couldn't reach her dog, she'd crouch down on the floor and lure Lavender closer with a treat. Then, when Lavender snatched it and ran away, Lilo would once again sputter and bawl with despair.

Thankfully, though, it didn't last long. Just as ten-year old Lilo began to wonder why her puppy didn't like her as much as the boy's did, Lavender came around. She began sitting on the girl's flowered dresses, flattening them and getting her hairs stuck all over Lilo's gowns.

And Lilo didn't mind. After all, she was a responsible child- and knew how to clean up after herself. The boys, on the other hand- well, they were a bit younger. At the ages of four and eight years old, they needed a bit of ushering along to clean up after their pets.

But they were learning; and their mother Sarah was sure to help teach them.

"Dennis, Jackson!" The mother scolded, as she watched Lilo lift her puppy and take it outside to play.

"Take yours with you, too. They might have to use the bathroom, and I won't have them doing it in here again."

Sarah was being stern, sure- but she kept her voice light-hearted, and leaned back against her chair as they all flitted obediently outside.

The glass door swung closed with a soft thud, sunlight filtering in and pooling across the carpet at their feet. A television droned on raucously, loud enough to hear across the street- if she'd had the window open.

Sarah turned to her mother. Granny Linda was a bit slower in her age, and definitely hearing impaired- but mentally she was still sharp as a tack. Her intelligent old eyes flicked towards Sarah's, and she chuckled.

"You'd better not be having second thoughts again, young lady."

Sarah almost laughed. She was anything but young... At a whopping thirty-six years old, and fast coming-on forty.

"Well- I don't know." The mother began testily, faltering. "I know the kids need something to distract them from their grief. Kenny was such a good father figure, and I can tell the dogs are helping." Her gaze turned fretfully towards her aging mother.

"But what if this ends up being a mistake? What if they grow out of them, or one of the dogs... Runs away or something? It'll break their hearts...! And adopting THREE DOGS at once is... Well, it's unheard of!" She rushed on, watching through glass panes as her kids ran circles in the yard, or climbed onto the swings of their jungle gym.

"Oh, hush, child. Enjoy what you have now. You are not waiting to loose more, you are waiting to gain more." Granny Linda shook her head and smiled over at the dogs, and the children flitting around them.

"And if it's ever all too much, know that I will watch them. All of them," her kind, old eyes slanted knowingly.

"Because apparently, I have grand-dogs now, too."

Sarah managed to laugh at that. She tried to let her worries melt away, as her mother Linda had always taught her. But for some reason, Kenny being gone still tugged at her heart.

She then wondered if it was true, that one loss led to a new gain.

"Hey. You've never given up before, have you?" Linda asked, adjusting her glasses and scooting forward on the couch. She was reaching for the remote while also eying Sarah more closely.

Sarah thought about that. She thought about the night when she'd lost Kenny, the night that he'd been ran over by a diesel truck. The driver had been impaired, and smuggling drugs across the border. And yet, ironically- he'd lived.

And suffered only a ten-year sentence.

He'll be free by time I'm 47... But I'll never get Kenny back. Sarah sighed.

Kenny's car had been decimated. The engine was flattened and cracked into a thousand pieces, the front end crumpled into an irreparable, busted heap. Glass shards were found embalmed into his twisted, melted body- which stood no chance against the engine's conflagration. And after all that- all that...

They didn't let me see his face again. I never saw his face again. I never kissed him. And before he died, he never held me before saying goodbye he never- she tried to cut off the thoughts, but they poured out again.

Because he was too... Bruised and disfigured, They had said.

And as her kids cried beside the casket, screaming at the hollow wooden box to wake up, move- shiver, DO SOMETHING; Sarah hadn't given up.

She had stayed standing, as her kids kneeled and cried at her feet. Their tiny hands clutching her dress, their tiny eyes so wet and full of tears that they couldn't see through the blur.

She stifled a sob and flicked a tear away expertly, as she'd done many times before.

"No, I haven't. I never will. Not on those kids. And not on Kenny."

"Exactly," Granny Linda responded without hesitation and then smiled. "I'll see his big goofy ass before you do, Sarah. You just keep living for them kids. And now for the dogs that he sent for them as well."

The mother gave a sad kind of smile, hair swishing across her shoulders as she tried to dissociate from the fact that she would eventually loose her mother as well.

"Live well. Live free. Live in this moment, not another." The grandmother's eyes were stark and quelling against the heavy wrinkles around her face.

"Don't count your lost blessings, hon. Live in the ones you have left."

Before the elder could say more, Jackson and Dennis came bustling in-one after the other. Their voices rose in indignation at the same time, as one tried to drown the opposite brother. Instead of trying to discern both, Sarah listened to her louder, younger boy instead.

"It's not fair!" Whined Jackson, as Copper halted at his feet. "Lilo said she's doing a puppy-training class, and I said I want to go. And- and she said, no!" The little brown-haired kid pouted, bottom lip stuck out in extremity.

"Yeah," Dennis agreed with a nod, his lip sticking out as well.

"I told her I can be the teacher too, I can teach them! A-and she said..." He faltered as he watched a butterfly flit past from outside the door panels, and then turned his head away and kept babbling. "I can't teach the puppy training school because I'm not old enough!?" Jackson protested in a big stream of outraged toddler-talk. His sentences were in-fluid, as he poked his chest and then flung up his little arms dramatically.

"And I'm definitely old enough! I'm only eight, and I already taught Buster how to sit! See?" Dennis then turned on one heel, his sketchers stomping dramatically. As he moved closer, he proudly proclaimed "Sit!" Down at Finn, who was more than happy to oblige.

Sarah didn't get the chance to finish watching, because just then Jackson shoved his arms into hers, tugging on them.

"No, look Mommy!" He wailed. "I almost taught Odie how to sit and I need you to help me. Mommy!" Jackson whined, and- being the youngest was ever just as needy.

Grandma Linda climbed patiently to her cane, her serene gaze falling upon the children as Sarah comforted them.

"Oh, come now. We'll all go outside, and watch each and every one of you perform your puppy tricks. It'll be a dog training show! Dennis, grab the camera from the kitchen junk drawer. Quick!"

Granny Linda's old eyes sparkled as she gestured for them all to go, ramping up their excitement. The boys bustled out first, after Dennis got the camera, and were still chattering like an entire school choir between the two of them.

Copper turned around and immediately followed, just as Finn was coming in to investigate, dragging a rope toy with him.

Finn wagged his tail as all the humans went through the open sliding glass door. The wind smelled of peaty earth and wet grass, a wonderful scent on the glands of a dog's nose.

Young Finn was growing fast, and he had now fully accept his new name. He wagged his tail, about to follow Dennis outside again.

But then Buster's tail dropped. He remembered pure white, thin fur. With a broad face, and deep brown rich eyes.

I won't forget you, Mommy. And Star and Kiwi... I'll wait to see you again. No matter how long it takes.

Then, the growing young pup leaped through the entryway and out into the yard, joining his humans, his brother Odie, and his sister Hannah.

~
Finn