Waiting on a Friend

Was it them? Kenzo sat down in the shallow sea water, as if he was in thrilled anticipation of the imminent reunion with his friend. His gaze was locked at something on the horizon. He was waiting on a friend, but I knew he would never come.

I looked up into the direction Kenzo was looking. A man moved slowly down from the sand dune towards the beach. Kenzo was right, his silhouette looked a lot like my dad's. Kenzo followed the man more intense now, expecting at any time a brown dog would appear from the dunes behind the man. The dog never came and Kenzo realized it wasn't them. He looked at me nervously a couple of times, then turned away and we continued our walk.

My thoughts wandered off to that day in February three years ago, where he did exactly the same on the beach in Holland; Kenzo sat down and waited on his friend. Only that time, they did arrive, and Joska and Kenzo could engage in their own special version of fetch. It made me realize, what a special bond those two had forged through their sometimes peculiar play dates. They never played physically together, mostly because Joska didn't liked that, but their connection went deeper than what our human eyes can see nonetheless. Kenzo showed me that today. He hasn't forgotten him.