The sun had just set on the scorching hot Texas horizon when I decided to go back home. I had just taken a lonely walk alongside the river when all of a sudden I was summoned to go back home. The request had seemed very urgent in tone. I ran fast home, knowing that something was important. I had gotten to the edge of the park when my mom called me. “I’m coming” I said as I went inside the house, which was on the edge of the big park and the forest. I instinctively thought that that I was being called to dinner or I was being called to a certain chore. As I entered my house, my mom called me to the living room. Upon entering the living room, I caught a quick glance of my dog laying in the corner of the room wrapped in blankets laying in a fenced off area. As I approached my dog, I began to see tiny heads pop up from the safe haven that the cover of the blanket provided. Automatically then I knew that our dog had given birth to a litter of puppies.
“Look, aren’t they cute?” said my mom.
I didn’t know how to react. It was almost like Christmas morning and I had just come downstairs to see piles of presents under the Christmas tree. My face lit up as I saw the little puppies squirming around trying to get a feel for the new world that they had just been born into.
“Wow” I finally blurted out.
For the first time in my life I had witnessed the beauty of life. I took another glance at the pups. I counted five puppies. All of them were dark in color and had a healthy size to them with little variance between the litter.
As I looked closer, I saw the blanket move. And then I saw another little puppy pop out! I was quite shocked. This must have been the runt of the group. He was even smaller than all of the other puppies. In addition, he had a slight golden tinge to him, almost like the morning sun on the Texas horizon. I was then overcome with a sense of great pity for the runt. He was rejected from suckling his mother with the other puppies. He was smaller so he couldn’t get around the other puppies without being pushed out of the way. He then crawled over to me as if searching for the light switch in the dark. I was almost like a gravitational pull. I scooped him into hands, feeling his tiny frame squirm around in my palms.
“What will you name him, you seem to like him?” said mom.
And just like that, almost like the destiny of my self-conscience taking over me I said, “Rufus”.
From that day on little did I know that Rufus and I would be bonded together, like brothers. It had almost seemed that Rufus was meant to be born to find me. Rufus and I were in a sense specially connected by an intangible bond. I was a lonely five year old with no friends growing up In Texas. But all hope was not lost however, because I had Rufus and Rufus had me.
One day, Rufus and I went for a walk around the park adjacent to my house and the forest. We walked all day in the woods and next to the river. We chased butterflies, listened to the birds and watched the sun set on the pink cotton candy clouded horizon. At the end of the day, Rufus and I sat and enjoyed each other’s company. Two of the best of friends one might say. Everywhere I went Rufus would tag along with me.
Rufus became a big part of my childhood and my life at the time. A good amount of time passed and Rufus began to grow older, and he began to grow bigger. Even though Rufus and I got older, our bond was steadfast and our friendship was even stronger.
Then one day it all changed. We were moving out of Texas to another state very far away. We had packed up so quickly and I was off to get Rufus to bring him with us on the journey. I called Rufus, who was roaming around in the park nearby. He came to me at once like he knew we were going on another adventure. But little did I know that this was no journey, but the end of the road for me and Rufus. I had just picked up Rufus and had gotten back to the truck and was about to get in when all of a sudden Rufus was taken from the safety of my arms. I was shocked and confused. I couldn’t speak. I was like my voice box had disappeared and had gone to another place in time where I myself could not get it back. So I began to cry and my tears began to flood down my cheeks like tiny rivers. I then got the courage to speak.
“Why is this happening?” I cried.
I got no answer. My mom then put Rufus on the ground, slammed the truck door on me and started the truck. She turned on the truck and we went on pounding the asphalt pavement behind us. The short stretch of road before the highway seemed like miles and miles upon which consisted of no end. I looked back out at Rufus. He seemed confused and worried. He did not know what to do. The he began to run. He began to chase after the truck. I could see the passion in his eyes as he never stopped running. He never gave up on me. We then turned on the highway and Rufus was gone, gone out of my life forever and there was no getting him back. I cried and cried and cried till there were no tears left to cry. I was half the boy I was when I had Rufus. I had lost part of myself in losing my childhood friend Rufus.
As I look back on that life changing moment I realize what friendship is. I realize what it is like to hold something so dear, so close to yourself that you cannot just let go of it. I know what it was like to have the best friend a little boy could ever have. Rufus knew that I loved him. Rufus knew that I had no friends, Rufus didn’t care that I was living in a broken home. Rufus gave me his heart and I gave him mine. He asked me for my friendship and I asked for his friendship and that’s all that it took. He didn’t want me because of material worth. Rufus wanted me for what one cannot simply give, Friendship.