I Lost the First Dog I Never Owned

I am not an animal person. I didn't grow up with any pets except for a couple of goldfish and two tiny turtles. However, my goldfish ate my sister's fish (I don't think we fed them often enough) and my cousin sat on my turtles killing them (she was a little on the chubby side). So, when a puppy came into our lives I was not especially excited. I was unloading our luggage in my bedroom last spring and there was a puppy...a dirty, nasty little puppy...in my room! A couple of weeks went by and the puppy tended to linger in our yard. Every time we drove up the driveway, the puppy was there to greet us. We found out that our neighbor, Barefoot Billy, had taken him in. He has a tender heart for animals. The problem is that he barely has the means to feed himself and his girlfriend, much less a puppy. The puppy was so skinny. Finally, I gave in and fed him. We taught him to stay on the front porch and not come in the house. He looked like a chocolate lab, so we named him "Caoni" after our favorite chocolate bar. We called him Cao for short. I told Brock he should call him Kay, since that's my sister's name and she had named her dog Haley (which happens to be Brock's sister's name...he always found it weird when they were calling for Haley). The puppy began to grow on me. He was such a good dog. He wasn't loud and obnoxious. He was so sweet and gentle yet full of energy! We had someone living with us at the time, so I had her feed Cao when we were gone. She moved out and we were going to be gone for the whole summer, so I was sure Cao would run away or starve. Then, a guy who was having a difficult time, Randy, moved into our house for the summer. He found a true friend in Cao (K.O. as he calls him which really corresponds with my sister's name..haha). After the summer, we came back and Cao was there waiting for us. Since nobody was living with us anymore I didn't know how we were going to keep the dog fed. A couple of days after we got home from the summer, Cao sat on the front porch all day with me. For some reason, I thought, "This is the last day I will see Cao." It was. He disappeared after that. I was sad, but I didn't know who was going to feed him while we were gone anyway. Brock said that it would be just like the Lord to bring Cao just for Randy's benefit. Go here to read what Randy says about the dog none of us ever owned. It's a touching story.