MY SIRIUS- by Sonya Liew

My grandma used to have a female dog in her country home. She's mixed German Shepard and Spitz. She's sorta comical coz she's got the Alsation colour but her size followed her mum ( the Spitz ). My Grandma, who doesn't speak a word of English decided to name her Lassie after that oh-so-famous dog show on TV coz' she's convinced that the new addition to the family is just as smart as the T.V. dog or even smarter.

Lassie's given my Grandma a total of three litters and all of them from different boyfriends. I think she is a big flirt. But her kids are cute. She allows me to touch her kids as soon as they are born. I think I'm proud of that fact. Not many animals trust us with their newborns.

Lassie is the only dog I know who grins. She just shows all her teeth. I think if she grinned long enough, I'll be able to count the total number of her teeth with the exception of her molars. She loves doing that if she has not seen me for sometime. (I was living in another City during my college days.)At first , I thought she was angry and she was barring her teeth at me for not being around for so long. Then I realised she was showing that she was pleased that I'm back. Its her way of saying "Welcome home. And now , can you scratch me under my chin like you always do?" (Whilst grinning at me, she'll rub her face against my legs.)

Lassie had a son called Darth (I named him after Darth Vader). The name was short-lived though. My mum couldn't understand why a puppy must have a human name so Darth was later changed to plain ‘Puppy’. Puppy was pretty cute too and rather comical like his mum. He was black and white. Had a black patch over his left eye and had an invisible spring stuck to his tail. It just couldn't stop wagging. He reminded me of the star Sirius, Orion's dog because of the white patch at his paw. It was like a star against his jet black fur.

He's the only dog I knew that appreciated music. He loved to sing!! Whenever I played the piano, he'd sit next to the piano, cock his head upward and start to wail and howl till I finish playing whatever it was that I played. It was hilarious. Sometimes, he'd try to keep up with my scales, other times, it was simply a ‘woof’ and long ‘awooooo’ for a Beatle's tune. I loved that dog.

Poor Puppy. He didn't live long though. Puppy was run over by a car. My mum drove that car. I mourned for a whole week. My whole family did. Sometimes, when I look up at the sky and if I see Sirius, I'll start laughing coz I can imagine Puppy as Sirius and me as Orion but without the bow and arrow though, I'll be with the piano.

Anyhow, Puppy died about 3 years back. I guess a lot of things changed during the last 3 years. My grandma's health deteriorated and she had to leave her gardens and her country home to live with my uncle. Lassie still guards her house , left to be cared for by an aunt who drops by everyday. I know that this dog is sad. I can see it in her eyes. I've seen her cry too. She was wailing and pushing the fence when my Grams was driven away by my uncle. Lassie had lit up my life and we had grown up together for the last 10 years. She's seen my Grandfather's funeral, seen me fall from the mango tree, was amused when I tried to imitate the chickens (they were kicking up a big fuss just because one of the missus had laid an egg)and she's seen me coming home to my grams announcing that I've gotten my first degree. She's an old lady now. Her whiskers are greying and I can sense that her hearing is not as acute as it used to be. But to this day... she still grins when she greets me at the front gate...telling me that she misses me and that she's happy that I'm back and will I please hurry up and give her a big run down below her chin...like I always do.