'old yeller' and grief

Evangeline didn't cry when Old Yeller Died*, but then she didn't cry over "The Bridge to Terabithia" either.

The book -- one of the best "boy and his dog" stories ever told in the English language -- takes place in Texas, not long after the Civil War. The boy's name is Travis, his little brother's name is Arliss; and the dog comes into their lives while the father is on a cattle drive up north.

Disney added the quarantine to draw out the conflict and give viewers time to accept the inevitable. The book was much more direct. In it, Travis realizes his dog probably has got rabies from fighting the mountain lion, so he calls him over, puts the muzzle to the dog's head, and pulls the trigger.

"Your mother told me about the dog" remains one of the best understated lines I've ever come across in a children's book.

I admit it was a surprise to me that she didn't cry when Travis had to shoot the dog, but then I've noticed that Evangeline internalizes a lot of her grief and then expresses it through other ways, particularly in art. When we lost Isaac, she took to drawing with a passion she hadn't shown in months. When we attended her grandmother's funeral, Evangeline merely grew very quiet when it was time to scatter her ashes, and said nothing at all on the subject until a few hours later, when she finally broached the subject with me in private.

She has inadvertently reminded of something a friend had said once, about relating to God through imaginary friends when she was a child. Like many children, Evangeline has plenty of stuffed animals, none of which has mattered much at all to her. Until her grandmother died. Then, suddenly, she bonded to a handmade stuffed rabbit she has had since she was born, which she calls Cinderabbit. Evangeline has slept with Cinderabbit every night since Grandma's funeral, and for a while took her everywhere she went as well.

As Rykie observed with her imaginary friends, so I have seen with Evangeline and Cinderabbit. Cinderabbit demands nothing in return from Evangeline for the comfort she gives. She stays as close as Evangeline wants, loves her unconditionally, and listens to the moans and sighs Evangeline doesn't know the words to express. She couldn't be any more real if her coat were made of velveteen.


* She isn't a John Wayne fan, either.