remembering Guinness part two

Guinness loved snow this was clear our first winter together, 3 months after we met. She loved diving into snowdrifts, plunging her barrel chest in deep. She was eating heartily and gained weight, her fur was plush. She could stay out for hours. We liked finding untracked new snow which there was plenty of in the South Slope. One icy morning I walked her after only 4 hours sleep (I worked late) and I took her where she liked to chase squirrels. Guinness had other ideas and quickly bounded off knowing her footing would be sure and mine would not. Incredibly she fled my grasp and as I watched her gain distance from me. My stomach pitched with despair as she crossed streets and mischievously looked once at me over her shoulder and ran. I struggled after her, hindered by ice and breathless with disbelief. I screamed once, it echoed off the middle school wall. But--she ran home and some miracle had stopped traffic--there was none on that early icy weekend day. She let me catch up to her on the steps where I hugged her and vowed silently to never let her go.