1st Place 2001 Southern Tagalog
Regional Tertiary Schools Press Conference
Feature Writing in English
Leila
-=rey=-
Regional Tertiary Schools Press Conference
Feature Writing in English
Leila
-=rey=-
She arrived in a nicely wrapped cardboard box sitting on the passenger seat of my dads car. She had a red ribbon around her neck, a nice coat of ebony black fur, with bluegreen eyes that can give the most piercing stares or the gentlest glances. My birthday gift, a two months old black rottweiler puppy, Leila.
I loved Leila. I would spend hours everyday playing, training, annoying and getting annoyed by her. She would jump out of nowhere and pin me to the ground just to give me yet another sloppy lick on the cheeks or on the lips. She never grew tired of that. She would watch me play sipa and retrieve it for me, and I did not even teach her how to fetch for it! Either she was that smart that she observed that everytime my sipa flew off I needed it back or she just enjoyed playing fetch. On Sunday mornings I would go to the market and often she would follow me. Hard as I tried I can not make her go back home and just wait for my return. Later on she learned to carry stuff and so I made her a custom basket. One with special ping on the handles to make it easy for her to grip with her mouth and carry. When Leila got older she easily carried five kilos of pork without breaking a sweat, and neither did she give in to the temptation of eating it.
Leila was also the most jealous and protective friend I have ever had. She would walk beside me at all times and would check out anyone who approached me. When I seemed to get lost in conversations with friends while she was around she would gently bite at my hand and place it on her, a sign for me to give her a little attention and a good rub. If anyone approached me in a rather threatening manner she would quickly run up front and stand between me and the other person, her eyes seem to burn with fire and pierce the soul of the person in front of her. One wrong move and she was sure to chase the person until the person is too far away to cause me harm, or she would turn the poor soul into chopped liver.
Memories of Leila always bring some of the most beautiful smiles to my face. Sadly the most memorable memoir of all had to be the last.
I remember it well, it was about 11:32 in the evening. It was a dark and windy night, there was no moon and there was a blackout. I was home alone and in my room listening to my portable casette player which was then playing Kaleidoscope World by Francis Magalona. Lightning and thunder started to break the eerie darkness and silence of the night. Suddenly I heard a differend kind of crackling noise, I turned down the volume of my portable casette player. I heard it one more time, it was definitely not thunder. Armed with a huge Maglite flashlight I went down the stairs to the living room, everything seemed ok, the sliding door was locked & the windows were all closed. "Living room clear." I mused to myself, and just as I was about to turn around and check the dining room and kitchen, I caught a shadow moving and before I could shine my flashlight on it I felt something grab me from my right side. Before I knew it a man dressed all in dark colored clothing had a .38 caliber revolver pointed directly at my head. He entered the house through the dining room door by breaking it open. I was done for, I thought.
He asked me where all the money and jewelry were and demanded that I keep still unless I want to die early. He was about to drag me to the masters bedroom when he changed his mind and said he would just kill me instead. I froze at the thought. I was about to say something when out of nowhere a second dark shadow caught the corner of my eye and the next thing I knew the armed burglar was screaming in pain. Leila! She jumped the burglar from behind and bit him right below the neck on the right shoulder, and there she hang on not wanting to let go, a ferocious growl coming from within her throat. The burglar suddenly in a panic threw himself to the floor which caused Leila to loose her grip. The distraction Leila provided was all I needed, things happened fast, in a split second I heard three shots fired but I did not care at that moment and with a quick flick of my right foot I kicked the gun off the shivering right hand of the burglar after I heard the third shot fired. I turned around and as I landed my right foot I raised the left one to hit him squarely on the cheek and knock him down. The robber looked dizzy and his head fell on one of the marble steps, he lay unconscious.
I was just about ready to celebrate when I heard a faint whining..Leila! Her body lay somewhere between the living room and dining room, her chest was moving slowly up and down, she was still breathing, but aside from that she was motionless. "Stupid dog!", I thought. She was wiling to sacrifice her life for her best friend. She had two gunshot wounds, one on the chest and one on the right hind leg. She was bleeding badly, I knew she would not make it anymore, the chest wound was too much, it probably hit a lung. I looked at her sad eyes, tears were there, but still she looked at me straight into my own teary eyes. She tried to bite my hand and did her best to pull it towards her, she wanted another rub. "Easy girl, you did very good tonight. Too good.", I told her with a cringing voice.
As I looked at her I remembered all the days we had. All I taught her and more importantly all she taught me. Patience. Perseverance. Responsibility. Self-control. And now most importantly, the meaning of unconditional love and faithfulness.
She whined as if relieved as I rubbed her behind the ears. She stared at me straight in the eyes one more time and then she was gone. Rain started to pour like crazy, the neighbors started coming to help and ask if I was okay. All I could do was stare at their alarmed expressions, and cry.
So after seven years of fun, laughter, crazy antics and annoying each other, we parted ways, Leila and I. I was sure lucky to have her as a pet, more importantly, as a best friend. But I was not the only lucky person that night. That burglar was lucky too since the neighbors came at once and took the gun away from my sight.
My life will never be the same again, thank you Leila. I love you and I do miss you.
I loved Leila. I would spend hours everyday playing, training, annoying and getting annoyed by her. She would jump out of nowhere and pin me to the ground just to give me yet another sloppy lick on the cheeks or on the lips. She never grew tired of that. She would watch me play sipa and retrieve it for me, and I did not even teach her how to fetch for it! Either she was that smart that she observed that everytime my sipa flew off I needed it back or she just enjoyed playing fetch. On Sunday mornings I would go to the market and often she would follow me. Hard as I tried I can not make her go back home and just wait for my return. Later on she learned to carry stuff and so I made her a custom basket. One with special ping on the handles to make it easy for her to grip with her mouth and carry. When Leila got older she easily carried five kilos of pork without breaking a sweat, and neither did she give in to the temptation of eating it.
Leila was also the most jealous and protective friend I have ever had. She would walk beside me at all times and would check out anyone who approached me. When I seemed to get lost in conversations with friends while she was around she would gently bite at my hand and place it on her, a sign for me to give her a little attention and a good rub. If anyone approached me in a rather threatening manner she would quickly run up front and stand between me and the other person, her eyes seem to burn with fire and pierce the soul of the person in front of her. One wrong move and she was sure to chase the person until the person is too far away to cause me harm, or she would turn the poor soul into chopped liver.
Memories of Leila always bring some of the most beautiful smiles to my face. Sadly the most memorable memoir of all had to be the last.
I remember it well, it was about 11:32 in the evening. It was a dark and windy night, there was no moon and there was a blackout. I was home alone and in my room listening to my portable casette player which was then playing Kaleidoscope World by Francis Magalona. Lightning and thunder started to break the eerie darkness and silence of the night. Suddenly I heard a differend kind of crackling noise, I turned down the volume of my portable casette player. I heard it one more time, it was definitely not thunder. Armed with a huge Maglite flashlight I went down the stairs to the living room, everything seemed ok, the sliding door was locked & the windows were all closed. "Living room clear." I mused to myself, and just as I was about to turn around and check the dining room and kitchen, I caught a shadow moving and before I could shine my flashlight on it I felt something grab me from my right side. Before I knew it a man dressed all in dark colored clothing had a .38 caliber revolver pointed directly at my head. He entered the house through the dining room door by breaking it open. I was done for, I thought.
He asked me where all the money and jewelry were and demanded that I keep still unless I want to die early. He was about to drag me to the masters bedroom when he changed his mind and said he would just kill me instead. I froze at the thought. I was about to say something when out of nowhere a second dark shadow caught the corner of my eye and the next thing I knew the armed burglar was screaming in pain. Leila! She jumped the burglar from behind and bit him right below the neck on the right shoulder, and there she hang on not wanting to let go, a ferocious growl coming from within her throat. The burglar suddenly in a panic threw himself to the floor which caused Leila to loose her grip. The distraction Leila provided was all I needed, things happened fast, in a split second I heard three shots fired but I did not care at that moment and with a quick flick of my right foot I kicked the gun off the shivering right hand of the burglar after I heard the third shot fired. I turned around and as I landed my right foot I raised the left one to hit him squarely on the cheek and knock him down. The robber looked dizzy and his head fell on one of the marble steps, he lay unconscious.
I was just about ready to celebrate when I heard a faint whining..Leila! Her body lay somewhere between the living room and dining room, her chest was moving slowly up and down, she was still breathing, but aside from that she was motionless. "Stupid dog!", I thought. She was wiling to sacrifice her life for her best friend. She had two gunshot wounds, one on the chest and one on the right hind leg. She was bleeding badly, I knew she would not make it anymore, the chest wound was too much, it probably hit a lung. I looked at her sad eyes, tears were there, but still she looked at me straight into my own teary eyes. She tried to bite my hand and did her best to pull it towards her, she wanted another rub. "Easy girl, you did very good tonight. Too good.", I told her with a cringing voice.
As I looked at her I remembered all the days we had. All I taught her and more importantly all she taught me. Patience. Perseverance. Responsibility. Self-control. And now most importantly, the meaning of unconditional love and faithfulness.
She whined as if relieved as I rubbed her behind the ears. She stared at me straight in the eyes one more time and then she was gone. Rain started to pour like crazy, the neighbors started coming to help and ask if I was okay. All I could do was stare at their alarmed expressions, and cry.
So after seven years of fun, laughter, crazy antics and annoying each other, we parted ways, Leila and I. I was sure lucky to have her as a pet, more importantly, as a best friend. But I was not the only lucky person that night. That burglar was lucky too since the neighbors came at once and took the gun away from my sight.
My life will never be the same again, thank you Leila. I love you and I do miss you.
