After she went blind Mindy was as sweet as ever but she
was having trouble adapting to her handicap and sometimes she would
misjudge distance and run into things. One night I was at our church
youth group meeting where we were learning a dance for a road show. I
was dancing with a cute older girl and was thinking my life was
pretty great. About an hour into the practice my brother Matt came
in, obviously shaken, to tell my older sister and I that Mindy had
died since we left the house. She had been chasing a car but because
she was blind she ran in front of it and was run over and killed. My
stomach sank and there was a lump n my throat but I was one of the
youngest kids in the group and I didn't want to start crying in front
of all the older kids. I told my brother to go home and I would be
home in a little while. I got my coat and stuff together and headed
home. As soon as I was outside and in the dark I started to cry and
cried the few blocks home. When I got home my brother was mad at me
for not caring that Mindy died. He thought that I was unaffected
when he told me about her death but I didn't want to tell him I was
embarrassed to show emotion in front of the older kids. We argued for
a little while about whether or not I really felt sorry. Then we got
to work and dug a grave for Mindy under the big horse nut tree up
front. We put her in the ground and buried her and cried for our good
sweet dog.
