![\"Sean's](\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Seans_Dog.jpg\")
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I am walking my blind dog in a public park. We are on one of those community tracks.<\/p>\n
People exercise everywhere. Joggers. Walkers. Cyclists. One woman is power walking, wearing earbuds, having a violently animated phone conversation with an invisible person.<\/p>\n
My dog, Marigold, and I have been walking a lot lately. It\u2019s not easy, walking. We have very few \u201cgood walks\u201d inasmuch as walking in a straight line is impossible when you can\u2019t see. So mainly, we walk in zig-zags until both of us are dizzy and frustrated and one of us needs to sit down on a bench and use expletives.<\/p>\n
When I near the tennis courts, I meet a woman with a little girl. They are on a bench, too. The girl sees my dog and she is ecstatic.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the pretty dog!\u201d the kid says.<\/p>\n
So I introduce the child to Marigold. Immediately the child senses there is something different about this animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with her?\u201d the kid asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is blind,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
The child squats until she is eye level with Marigold. \u201cHow did this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure what I should say here. So I keep it brief.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone wasn\u2019t nice to her,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
The kid is on the verge of tears. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is where things get tricky. I don\u2019t know how much of Marigold\u2019s biography I should reveal. Because the truth is, Marigold was struck with a heavy object by a man in Mississippi who thought she made a poor hunting hound.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was abused,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
The little girl\u2019s face breaks open. The girl presses her nose against Marigold\u2019s dead eyes. She feels the dog\u2019s fractured skull with her hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, sweet baby,\u201d the child says.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I notice the mottled scars on the child\u2019s neck. They look like major burns. I say nothing about this, but the wounds are hard not to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I play with her?\u201d the kid asks.<\/p>\n
So I let Marigold off the leash. The child and the dog are now loose in a grassy area, chasing each other.<\/p>\n
The girl runs, haphazardly. Marigold uses her prodigious nose to find the girl. Marigold is a coonhound with a powerful sense of smell. Marigold could smell squirrel flatulence from three counties away.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my foster daughter,\u201d the woman tells me privately. \u201cI\u2019ve raised four kids of my own already, but I\u2019m trying to adopt her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl and dog are now rolling on the grass. Marigold is licking the child.<\/p>\n
The woman goes on. \u201cHer biological mom burned her with boiling water when she was a toddler. That\u2019s why the scars. Her mom got mad one night, while she was making spaghetti, she poured boiling water down her neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now it was my turn to try not to cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she came to live with us, she was afraid of us, always trying to please us. She was afraid that I\u2019d hurt her if she upset me. I think she finally trusts me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I overhear the child and the dog talking. The little girl is whispering into the dog\u2019s ear. I hear her words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry someone hurt you,\u201d says the child. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that nobody loves you. Because I love you. So much.\u201d<\/p>\n
So anyway, we had a good walk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am walking my blind dog in a public park. We are on one of those community tracks. People exercise everywhere. Joggers. Walkers. Cyclists. One woman is power walking, wearing earbuds, having a violently animated phone conversation with an invisible person. My dog, Marigold, and I have been walking a lot lately. It\u2019s not easy, … <\/p>\n