Out of sorts one sunny afternoon, I rummaged an old bookbasket and unearthed a book which once belonged to my mother. Sorry I didn’t have a real yard for my dog to be a dog, I leashed up Etta for the great outdoors, tied her to the porch railing & settled on the stoop. As I browsed the pages of ‘Psychic Pets & Spirit Animals,’ True Stories from the Files of FATE Magazine, I stumbled upon ‘Guardian Dog, Guardian Angel’ written by D. Roger Martin in May 1980.
Indexed as Animals and Life After Death, Martin recounts his beloved dog Rusti who accompanied him everywhere, even on the job, who died, and who subsequently appeared to him in the Vermont backwoods one night while walking the river where he always fished with his pal. And before his very eyes, his dog was then swept away toward the footbridge where his body had been buried.
Upon concluding the story, I cried remembering our dog Shauncy who ended this life as roadkill on Thanksgiving Day in 1985.
Shortly thereafter, I was out gathering kindling. Of a sudden I glanced up and, oh my, there she was, bounding homeward through borderline trees. In awe, I stood there & watched this dash through time until she stopped at the front door & vanished!
This author’s story was beyond moving, so much so that I grabbed his persona and created the central male character in my nonfiction books. Me being me, I addressed a letter to the author c/o FATE Magazine. No reply, I phoned the publisher only to hear, “No return address.” If anyone out there knows D. Roger Martin, please direct him to me.
Thank you.