Visitation II

This is Jezebelle~ She has been with us for about two and a half years... hard to believe that this is the third year that I have lived here. I think it is, sometimes I have a hard time keeping track of time.

Belle belonged to a friend of mine, Evelyn, who I taught with back at Pender. Ev was a longterm sub, originally from New Jersey, blond and coarse and funny. She loved to make things, play video games, have the occasional drink- she gave up smoking long ago, but still let her inner wild woman out to cut up every so often.

Ev's heart belonged to animals. She rehabilitated wild life and always had some baby something that needed fed tucked away in her bag. Squirrels, raccoons, opossums, birds of all types... kittens. puppies. rabbits. hamsters. Nothing was turned away. At her home she had the occasional deer, or pony- maybe a pig or a sheep or a something found wandering and in need of a place to stay. Heal them, set them free, find them a home.

After I switched schools, I lost track of Ev- easy to do when not working with someone every day. She began raising and training bloodhounds for search and rescue. She had acquired her founding hounds back at Pender- I remember when she brought these floppy little puppies in for the students to see. Since then she had built up a kennel with a good reputation, and had left teaching to work full time with her beloved dogs.

Ev got sick- pancreatic cancer- it moved swiftly and she faded fast. I had just moved into the cottage, and saw one of her daughters working at Food Lion- she told me Ev was sick, and I planned to visit. I never got the chance~ but Ev did not forget me. After her death her kennel was dissolved and the dogs sold- her husband did not want to work with them, could not bear to have the dogs around. Two of the dogs were her favorites, they did not live in the kennels but in the house- these she wanted to make certain had good homes, where they could live the life they were accustomed to. One of the people she picked was me, and that is how I ended up with Jezebelle.

Remember the strange coffee-smell story of the other day? Where Jezebelle was scenting hard at our phantom smell? The next day I was petting her and felt something odd. It was small, and I thought I had just not noticed it before- she has allot of 'face' - over the next few days it grew rapidly until by yesterday morning her neck was so swollen that she could not eat or bark. I took her to the vet right off...

Jezebelle has cancer. Lymphoma, everywhere- sudden and invasive and it just blew all of her lymph nodes up like balloons. There isn't anything that can be done for it, no treatment, no cure- just keep her comfortable for the rest of her time. She only has about 4 weeks left. Belle is not in any pain, and has started steroids which have already reduced the swelling enough for her to eat. (And eat she is! The vet gave me canned food to 'tempt' her with...but Belle is like me. If it doesn't move fast enough, we gobble it down... she happily ate her tinned food, her dry food, Ursulas food AND Max's food...)

The smell happened again last night, after Belle ate. This time it was strong coffee mixed with cigarettes and a bit of woodsmoke, very distinct. I was typing up an essay on the computer, no coffee around (and no cigarettes or smoke...not even a candle on) The smell was powerful but fleeting, it only lasted a minute. Belle was all nose and wagging tail again... I like to think that the smell was Ev, stopping by to check up on her dog, make sure that I noticed something was wrong, was taking good care. Losing Belle will be heartbreaking, but I know that someone who loves her is waiting to see her again.