Childhood Memory No.3

In Memory of Jaguar

{This post is not for the faint of heart and/or the animal rights activists.}

When I was 2, I had a light brown (with black snout and feet) dog named Jaguar. Well, he was really a family dog but he was closer to me than any other family member. He was my playmate (coz my sister, Ev, was still an infant--too young to play with) and he went wherever I went. Even when I was playing with our next-house neighbors, Omak and Badang, he'd patiently sit by a distance and watch us play. Even when I sometimes unintentionally ignore him, he'd still follow me around. He was my best friend.

I had cried for him once. One Saturday (it was almost noon), while I was playing outside our neighbor told me to get inside the house coz a crazy dog (irong buang) has run loose. I then got in and asked my mother what irong buang is. She told that it's a dog that when it bites you, you go crazy. Suddenly, I remembered that Jaguar was with me outside but he didn't come with me inside. If the irong buang would bite him, he'd be crazy too! I told my mother that I have to go out and look for Jaguar but she won't let me. I couldn't do anything for Jaguar so I just cried. Fortunately, the barrio people caught the irong buang and Jaguar wasn't bitten.

It was day before New Year's Day (I remember coz there was a program at church in the evening) when I saw in the far part of the riverbank on the other side where our house is (we used to live by Pangasugan river) a group of men watching what looked like an animal hung over a big flame. The animal resembled a dog hung upside down, skin exposed. With the fur removed, it looked white so I never suspected it was Jaguar.

The next day, when I was about to feed him, he was nowhere to be found. He wasn't found ever since until I forgot about missing him. But I never did forget him and I don't think I ever will.