One hot day in January 2008, Bruce and I had a chance to drive to Prajinburi, a province about 2 hours north-east of Bangkok. There is a KMUTNB campus there, and we were going to attend an evening event held by some of my colleagues at the campus. So we set out late morning, went to see a waterfall (cascade, really) in the area, and arrived at the campus a little before the event started?it was a little language contest among the students there. While I was inside watching the students compete, Bruce was outside looking around the campus and waiting for me.
When the contest was over, I called him on the cell phone, and he said “There’s a dog here. She’s really sick. You should come and see her.” The dog, a stray that was living in the campus area whom we had never met before, had gone up to Bruce and literally cried for help. She had almost no hair left on her, and her arms and legs were all swollen and bleeding. She had a high fever (we later learned), and was generally in a miserable condition. While waiting for me, Bruce had given her food, but she was too sick to eat.
A colleague of mine, Pung, who was at the contest too that evening, was called over to look at the dog. I didn’t know what to do and thought that Pung?who teaches regularly at that campus?might be able to think of something to do with the dog. Bruce finally said he wanted to take her to the doctor, and Pung helped us find an old cardboard box for us to put the dog in so that we could take her in the car.
Around 10 p.m. we arrived at our vet’s in Bangkok and the dog was admitted to the hospital that night. She had severe mange, and was suffering so much from it. Bruce named her Molly. His hunch and observation were also correct: she was pregnant!
A week later on January 29th, 2008, Sophia was born. She was this tiny little cow-like thing?with dark brown spots on white skin?small enough to take up so little space in the palm of my hand. When I showed her cell-phone-picture to one of my colleagues, she thought Sophia was a stuffed animal. Of course, Bruce and I fell in love with her, and so did everybody at the vet hospital. Despite Molly’s sickness, Sophia was raised with her mother, drinking her milk and being cared for by her?with the help of all the staff at the hospital. Molly’s treatment for mange was put off until later as the medication, which would be in her milk, was deemed too strong and dangerous for the puppy.
One month after that, the doctors decided it was time for Molly to receive her medication, and so Little Sophia had to come home with us. By that time, Sophia, who was Molly’s only child and was really fat and so much bigger than one hand could hold, was starting to teethe and was wobbling around sniffing at everything with curiosity. The doctors wanted to give her nasal vaccine for bronchitis, but they had seen her sneeze at the hospital, so the vaccine had to wait.
After she came home with us, Sophia was spending some time alone in her own room at our house since we were afraid (we and the doctors) of her getting diseases from the adult dogs because she couldn’t get that vaccine. But she also was starting to learn to mingle with five of the dogs that slept with us each night?now there are 8 that sleep with us…, plus the cats. She was doing great?although she was being treated against the attack of mange she might have had gotten from her mother. She knew her name, and liked to be around us and everybody at home. She also loved biting our clothes, my slippers, and the grownup dogs’ tails.
Meanwhile, Molly was doing better and better every day. We visited her every day at the hospital and we could see that her hair was growing back and her arms and legs do not have mange eruptions any more. Despite her being a stray dog whom we’d never known and who had probably never been touched by anybody before, she is the sweetest girl any dog could ever be, and we love her very much. That was more than a year ago, and today??well, today Molly and Sophia and all of us are inseparable. Their hair and skin are beautiful, and their souls and livelihood heart-warming and unforgettable. Sophia has now grown though she remains quite small?and she likes to jump. Sometimes it?s hard to think she?s a dog and not a kangaroo.