My name is Brutus, I’m a Rottweiler, and I’m at least 9 years old. Our humans weren’t really sure how old I was, they couldn’t remember if they got me before Hurricane Ike or after.
The last thing I remember was going to sleep at the Vet clinic; I was laying down on a princess blanket, when I felt tired all of a sudden. What I didn’t understand was why my owners were crying over my sleeping body. My human Momma was comforting her human Baby, but I’m right here....do they not see me? Then I saw something standing at the doorway of the room, was that Magellyn? The old slightly cranky black cat who passed away a couple of years ago?
It was Magellyn! She rubbed her face up against my fur and told me to follow her. We were walking in this bright light and she was asking me questions about our humans and the other two dogs, Lilly and Angus, who were back at the house. As we walked on all fours, we crossed this bridge....it had various amounts of colors, I think our humans called it a rainbow, since it had a lot of colors in it. As Magellyn and I crossed the bridge, we were greeted by four more animals that Magellyn told me belonged to our humans; I recognized two of them, but didn’t know the other two.
Our humans always mentioned different pets that came before me or they passed away shortly after I joined part of the family. I recognized Nash, who greeted me and Magellyn at the bridge and lead us back to the other three; he was the only dog when Momma brought me home. Nash was fluffy, had lots of fur, and our humans always said that he was a Mutt; some Rottweiler like me, a little bit of Chow-Chow, and some Golden Retriever. I remember my human Momma always saying how she missed rubbing her face into Nash’s coat. Cato, the puppy that our humans only had for about a month before he passed away in his sleep; it was some kind of genetic disorder and I remember our humans talking about how all the puppies in the litter Cato was in had died as well. He was licking my face and was so excited to see me. But there were two others animals I didn’t recognize.
There was another cat that Magellyn walked up to. She was fluffy and grey, and wore a rhinestone collar. Magellyn introduced me to Smokey, this cat who I remember seeing her picture on the fridge. The other animal was a dog, a German Shepherd, who greeted herself as Tasha. Tasha said that she has some problems with her fur and one of her ears when our humans adopted her; by the time Tasha was all healed up, she got sick with what our humans referred to as some kind of airborne anemia and was put to sleep. She asked how her human Baby was and I told her that she wasn’t a baby anymore; she was 23 in human years. Tasha told me that her human was always going to be her baby in her eyes.
Nash and Smokey asked about our humans, since they were the OG pets. Smokey told me how she always went to bed with the human Baby and when the girl fell asleep, Smokey would leave the room because her job was done. Nash talked about how even though he didn’t like the water, if our humans got in it, he would always join them as well. Nash told me about this place called Garner State Park where he went to with our humans a few times in the summers.
As we walked across the Valley, we went to this lake where Nash and Smokey said that the fish in the lake used to be our humans as well. The fish lived in a tank that was either in the human baby’s room or sitting on the bar in the kitchen, was what Smokey and Nash told me. I always had problems with my hips and I noticed as we walked across the rolling hills why I wasn’t hurting. Nash told me that when we crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we were healed. Even though we were old, we were rejuvenated; I even jumped into a bed of leaves that was on the grass. I never was able to bounce and jump around real well back home, but in the Rainbow Valley I was running and bouncing.
Even though it has been eleven months since I joined Nash, Smokey, Magellyn, Cato, and Tasha at the Rainbow Bridge, I still go down to Earth and visit our humans. Nash told me that he does the same thing, especially when he visits our human Momma. Nash told me how he had a feeling I would be joining them in Rainbow Valley because he knew that when I wasn’t well, he made a visit down to our Momma and she told him that she wasn’t ready to let me go yet. Our human Dad had a hard time letting us go as well; Nash told me how when they put him to sleep it was one of the few times that our Dad cried. Tasha, Smokey, Cato, and Magellyn don’t always make frequent appearances on Earth like Nash and I do; they are happy knowing that our humans still remember and tell stories about them. The appearance they make are glimpses; Nash and I are there and our humans think we are actually there because they reach out to pet us but then realize that their hand goes through.
I visited our humans about three months ago and they had gotten a new dog. It was a Siberian Husky puppy who they named Fergus. Fergus looked just like Shelby, one of the dogs that I had met shortly after being greeted by Nash and the others. Shelby and his brother Turbo were owned by our human Momma with her first husband and Shelby became hers. Shelby told me that this new little one our humans got, Fergus, may look like me but he has Turbo’s brains. I haven’t met Turbo yet, but Shelby says how he will swing by.
I overheard our humans conversations in the time I have been in this Rainbow Valley. Our Momma originally wanted a Rottweiler puppy, but her Baby wasn’t sure since it would feel like we were replacing Brutus. They couldn’t replace me though, I still live in their hearts and memories. They got the Husky puppy Fergus in October, eight months after I was put to sleep.
I have made visits to the other two dogs, Lilly and Angus. Lilly is the Alpha now and has been loving on this new Husky puppy like it was one of her own. Angus, the German Shepherd who loved squeaky balls and latched onto the human Baby the day he met her, was now surprisingly the good one now, ever since they adopted the puppy. Tasha told me how when they got Angus, she went down to Earth and told him that the human Baby has a good aura with German Shepherds.
I know it is going to be a while before I will physically see my humans again. I remember the words my human Momma and her Baby were telling me as the needle was being put in my arm: how I was going to be able to run free without any problems, how the other animals will take care of me, and how we will see each other one day. Nash told me how we will know when our humans will make the journey to the Rainbow Bridge, because we will be the ones to run up and greet them.