Pidro

When Papa passed away, he was brought to St. Peter, a funeral home in Panacan where the wake was going to be held for a few days. To our dismay, his body couldn't be put to the casket immediately. All the rooms at St. Peter were fully booked and a room was only available two days later, on April 29. We didn't have any choice but to postpone the start of the wake until April 29. 

We used the funeral service package that my wife, Edenn, had bought a few years ago under her name, but was transferrable. It was a standard funeral service with the room available at the extension building. It's a small room with a capacity about 15 people at least with an extra vacant room and a toilet. With the kindness of Edenn's aunt, Auntie Irma, the room was then upgraded on April 30. We then moved to a bigger hall that could accomodate up to 30 people at least. It came with an extra family room with a bed and a bathroom. It was quite a privilege and was very helpful throughout the week. 

At first I wasn't paying attention, but there were two dogs who roamed around the rooms, a black female dog and a black and white male dog. While the female dog remained aloof, the male dog was quite friendly. As I gave him food from time to time he finally allowed me to touch him. He proved to be quite playful as well and would just sleep at the door outside as if guarding the room. 

I named him Pidro. I wanted to name him Peter after the funeral home's name St. Peter, but he didn't react to that name. Then we called him Pedro, still he didn't react either, until we called him Pidro, a bisaya pronunciation of Pedro. He did turn around and came over every time we called him Pidro. 

Pidro could be a gift from Papa. Papa loves animals especially dogs. The night before his funeral, I went home taking Pidro back to the family farm. It was already dawn, and I was too sleepy so I just hooked him with the chain in one of the dog houses at the back of the house. 

When I got up in the morning, I immediately checked on him. When I left him last night I could hear he was whining at first but then went quiet, so I thought he was already settling down at his new home. However, to my surprise, I couldn't find him anywhere near his cage. My heart sank. He might have escaped to neighbour's houses. I began thinking that maybe it wasn't meant to be for him to stay with us. I started calling out his name loudly. I went around the house and checked on the front gate. I was so surprised when I walked back from the gate, I saw him, there he was sitting at the front door looking at me. Apparently, he was able to break away from his chain but decided to sleep on the front door, exactly like how he was for the past few days at the funeral home. 

Since then, Pidro has been a nice addition to the family in Mintal. He is very playful and attached to people. He doesn't want to be away from the balcony. As an askal, or street dog, Pidro is quite obsessed with food. So at times there were some loud skirmish with Yuri, our senior dog, but it's manageable. As long as we are aware that food can create tensions between the two, we should be able to avoid them quarelling. I estimated Pidro could be around one and half or two years old only. Pidro is special and I would never let him go for he reminds us of Papa. Papa's final gift to us.