A Goodbye Kiss (double drabble)

The smell confuses me.

Up until now, I have only associated it with happy times with my people.

Easter.

Trick or treating.

Christmas stockings.

Birthday cakes.

A visit from Abuela when she would make that delicious smelling hot drink on the stove and always shoo me away.

But today is not a happy time. Something’s not right. However, after the sticker poke in my arm, I’m feeling slightly better. Not as tired and thirsty like before.

I lift my head and see my people speaking to the kind man with sad eyes. My favorite girl holds a glass jar from which the confusing smell emits. She is crying as the kind man tells her “… it’s really up to you.”

My tail wags against the metal table as my people approach. They each pet me and speak gently. My favorite girl removes a foil-wrapped candy and feeds it to me as a cold sensation floods my sticker poke area.

All I can think about as the treat melts in my mouth is how it’s really no match for the sweet feeling of her forehead pressed against mine, her stroking my ears and whispering how I am the best boy ever.