Peaches, was Liz's dog. A rare breed - a friendly pom! I hadn't thought of Peaches in a long time and yet today, all of a sudden, memories just came flooding out.
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Was coming back home with a visibly pissed off grandfather. Why? Who knows? They're grandparents and apparently don't need a reason. Anyway, as we neared home, I saw what looked like Tushar's dog, Doey, run past. She was gone before I could look back. I called Tush up as soon as we got home and it turned out that no one was home and so it was highly possible that that was Doey.
Tushar then came around my place and we went looking for Doey. Stupidly enough, we went out in the Innova which was tough to maneuver. We then went back and got my bike. Then we got a call from another family friend that she was seen near their house. We headed there. We kinda realized that she seemed to be heading to their construction site. We headed in that general direction and sure enough, she was there. She had found her way there after having been taken there just a few times. Man, was that relieving.
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Peaches had gone missing in much the same way. Unfortunately, no one had seen her. No one to tell us where she had gone. She went missing in the morning and within a few hours all of us friends were there looking for her. Considering they stayed in the outskirts of the city, Peaches could have gone anywhere. She was old and cranky.
I found her. She had been hit by a vehicle. I remember sitting there choking up. The others arrived a few moments later. Lizzie broke down over there and sat on the road with Peaches in her arms. I still remember her crying. It brings tears to my eyes even now.
We had her funeral on that same rainy August day. I was just a kid trying to console another. I kept asking Lizzie to stop crying and now in retrospect, I think it was dumb of me to ask that. I also kept asking her if I could do something for her. What could I do? I could not bring Peaches back for her. Despite her tears, she turned to me with an expression frozen midway between anger and grief and asked me if I could quit smoking for her. And I quit.. instantly.
Despite the number of years I'm putting between that day, the memories remain just as fresh in my mind. I'm glad everything worked out good today. If only that day had ended differently...
