Un/seen

This painting is a view from behind my eyelids. I wasn't sleeping, but I covered my eyes and hoped I'd never see again.
For  now, i am going to sleep.

Later-it's the next day, but I couldn't have written about this last night because I would have had nightmares. So if you have a weak stomach, it's probably not a good idea to continue reading. Have a wonderful day.

Oh, you chose to stay.
Well, here goes. To really understand the contrast here, one has to know the good and the bad. I'll start with the happy part of yesterday.

We traveled to the California high desert to attend an amazing event for high school students with perfect attendance. Victorville Motors gave away two cars to these kids. My sweetie acted as rep for Dodge and we were treated like VIPeople.

The greatest part of this event is attendance has skyrocketed in the involved schools because of the giveaway.  It was the second year of the event and 1,400 kids were entered into the drawing, so they decided to give away two cars.

We were blessed to see the winners get their cars and witness a community pull together to raise attendance in schools to help teachers and the education system to really work.

As many people trickled out after the ten finalists were announced, it was easier to see what became the worst part of the day. We were watching kids try their keys in the ignition when a rush of police officers ran toward the fairground parking lot. It looked a lot like when I taught in middle school and a fight broke out- authority ran from everywhere, hands to ear pieces, to get people to safety.

I actually wrote it off to a fight because the math of students + jealousies+ hot sun + misunderstandings might have been the perfect cocktail for it. I guess my experience had desensitized me after breaking up a couple of fights at school myself. I didn't think much of it until most people had left and we were chatting with the guys who organized the whole thing.

We were discussing the drama of kids not knowing the brake pedal, to the absolute beauty of the whole day, to the kids and parents who attended, to the social issues of the area, to the addition of a teacher car giveaway next year, to the fight in the parking lot.

"There was a fight in the parking lot?" He asked.
"Sure. Didn't you see the rush of cops going toward the parking lot?"
"No," he said. "That wasn't a fight. Somebody out there was killing puppies."

WHAT?

I didn't want to cry. I just met this person. But my stomach was suddenly raw.

"Who does that?" He asked.

I don't know who does that. We changed subjects because who likes talking about that? The day was way too powerful to be trodden with sorrow. And besides, no way. I was almost sure it was a fight. Maybe it would just go away.

We made our way to the gates and started the trek through the parking lot. Our car was way way out there because the lot had been full when we arrived. We were bubbling with joy over the events and how amazingly well the day flowed and how we never expected it to be so huge!

Then I spotted a crate. Those of you who know me know re-use things if I can. I asked my sweetie, "Hey, want a crate?" Then something hit me and I looked around the parking lot.

It looked like a pile of clothes that got left behind. I walked a little closer and my sweetie said, "Kim, don't go over there." I had been close enough.

Fur. Puppies. Not living. Still there. It was real. I never could have imagined that. It couldn't be real.

"Oh my God, it's the puppies!"

Sad. ANGRY! wanting the same for whoever did it! Angry! Sad! Biting tongue and walking all at the same time. The puppies! Who does that?

All I could do is close my eyes and pray for those little puppy bodies and pray I would never see anything like that again.

All I could see are the colors in the painting behind my eyelids. The sun was setting and we were driving home and all I could do was pray.

Today, I am thankful for having rescued our two dogs. I'm sitting here, with them wrapped around me, typing on my phone to get this message out.

If you ever have the opportunity to save a dog, I highly recommend it.