This is for my Gena.
She was my best buddy. She was with me through a marriage and a divorce, a new relationship, a new marriage....
Gena was a jack russel/whippet cross, in tan and white, she looked like a Basenji. She was mistaken for a Basenji by a breeder once.
Gena was the old mans next doors dog, and when he died, no one wanted his dog, so I had her. The family took everything, I mean they even dug up his fish pond to take, I lived next door to Stan for 3 years and I never saw one single relative go to the house while he was alive, he was so lonely that he use to stand on his door step and talk to passers by.
We were the only ones to go see him in hospital when he was dieing of cancer, me, and Dee & Paddy, the neighbours that lived on the other side of him.
Stans last wish was that someone should take care of Gena and that whatever we did we shouldn't let any of his relatives take his treasured green house.
When they were going through his house, they said to just have Gena put to sleep because no one wanted her, she was 4 years old.
I took Gena, and one night Dee came over, she said, "to give that little dog a big hug and kiss" I asked her why and she told me that as just a neighbour, she'd had no authority to prevent his relatives from taking anything, but Stans "family" had dismantled his green house and leaned the glass up against our dividing fence and Gena had run out into my garden and jumped up the fence knocking all the glass down and breaking every single pane. Gena gave Stan his last wish.
Gena was with me until just after her 13th birthday. She had a stroke one day when I was at work, Dan was home with her, it was the end of April, she died in my arms the following morning at 5am on May 1st 2000. Of course I have Sasha now and she's my girl too
but Gena was my first and I'll never forget her.
Goodnight Gena, goodnight Stan.