Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006

The Breakfast Companion
Hounds and Hauntings

by Sheila Hrabal

It all started when I was seventeen and decided I was old enough to move out on my own. My dad knew I was feeling my way around the world and that I felt pretty independent. But one day I told him that I was going on the road to “find myself” with my latest boyfriend who was also seventeen. It was 1976; everybody was doing it and having a blast! And, besides, it wasn’t like we were hitchhiking; we were taking our 1970 Cutlass Supreme.

We left our hometown in September that year and hit the open road. Being a teenager, I thought I was all grown up and didn’t really need to ever call home while I was away. But I guess my dad had different ideas; after all, to him I was still his “little girl.” After I had been out of town for about two months, he started to wonder whether or not I was okay. He began losing sleep, finding it difficult to eat, and becoming irritable whenever someone mentioned my name—all because he was worried.

One day as he was trying to eat breakfast before going to work, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over his right shoulder, but saw nothing. He dismissed it as nerves and went on to work that day. A few days later, he felt like he was being watched; again, he was in the kitchen at the breakfast table. He turned to get a better look, but nothing was there. This kept happening for about two more weeks. After a month or so had passed, he got an idea—he would not turn his head when he felt this strange “presence”; he would just move his eyes in the direction where he thought this thing was sitting.

He tried this a few times, but whatever it was seemed to know when he was about to look and disappeared into thin air! Eventually, he was able to catch a glimpse of it, and it was a big white dog. The dog was calmly sitting on the floor by the canned goods cabinet, starting back at him, but not moving. After he had seen this dog out of the corner of his eye for a few weeks, he decided to try staring at it head-on. So one day, he steeled his nerves when he felt the dog in the room, turned his head, and looked directly at it. The dog didn’t disappear this time until he got up to finish getting ready for work.

Every day from then on, he had his breakfast with this dog. After a while, this dog began to be a comfort to him, but he didn’t know why. As the months flew by, I was out having fun seeing the sights of America, without a care in the world. By July of the next year, near my birthday, my boyfriend and I decided we had had enough fun and where finally ready to rejoin the working class and settle down. I called my dad and told him we were coming home.

Shortly after I returned, my dad noticed that the dog started missing breakfast with him. As time passed, the dog disappeared altogether, never to be seen again. Years later, my father told me about this dog and how it had helped him come to terms with my being gone.

As a family, we had never had a dog, but several years after my dad passed away, I came across a white pit bull puppy. She was very loving and playful, and I took her into my home. She goes everywhere with me, and I can’t help wondering if he sent her to me to help me get on with my life without him.