*** Author’s Note ***
The day that Willow died was just a couple days after Christmas, it was cold outside and snow blanketed the ground.
My brother Shawn and a good friend, Cam stopped by to see Myron and took him somewhere. This relieved me immensely. I was often glad to have him gone for the day. To be alone, just Jakob and I with no stress, no worries, just free to be ourselves with no fear of Myron’s actions or reactions. I asked no questions about where they were going to or when they would be back, just smiled to myself and secretly prayed thanks for the opportunity to spend some quality time with my son.
As Myron was leaving he stopped in the basement to pick up a package. He was taking with him the body of our dearly beloved Willow. Willow’s lifeless body fit inside a shoe box, she was still so small, with no chance to grow into the large dog she would have become. As I watched the three of them walk away, Myron, Cam and my brother, I could see that Cam was now carrying the box. I watched with a heavy heart and pit in my stomach as Cam put the small shoe box in the back of the truck. “Good-bye little Willow. We love you!” I whispered through sobs.
To this day I still believe that no words were spoken about what was in the small shoe box. And just how Myron got the package to Cam's property and buried it without telling either Cam or my brother what was inside is still a bit of a mystery. But in those days, many of us sometimes just preferred not to know what Myron was up to. I guess this was one of those times.
But what's most disturbing to me about all of this is how the box with our puppy inside it was discovered the following Spring in Cam’s back yard. Luckily Cam had found the box and not one of his children. I can only imagine the horror and trauma it would have caused if young eyes and hearts would have witnessed what Cam had discovered that morning.
Once the snow had melted on Cam's property he found the small shoe box, unburied, half on top of the earth. Believing that Myron had completely buried his box last Winter, Cam was unsure where this box had come from. But as soon as he opened the box to see what was inside, the memory of that strange day last Winter came flooding back.
“What was it, Cam?” I inquired, only half wanting him to tell me, half believing I already knew the answer to this question.
At first he didn't want to tell me "You don't wanna know Lori." He repeated a couple of times "You don't wanna know!"
"It was Willow, wasn't it Cam?" My jaw dropped and my heart sank. And once more that sickening feeling in the very pit of my stomach. I knew it was, Willow. I felt the answer to the question before the words had even left my lips. . But what I didn't know, yet was the state that Cam had found our puppy's body in.
It took a while for Cam to be able to tell me the details of this story. Visibly upset, his hands were trembling and his voice was choppy- shaken.
Not only had Willow's head been severed from her small puppy body by Myron's deadly hatchet, but so, too, had each one of her tiny little paws.
