Anubis
As you can see in the photo above, even Anubis is concerned about how an American intervention in Syria might trigger blowback here in Lebanon. He’s got his “serious” face on a lot these days.
“Go and get a rabies shot,” my Lebanese friend implored me yesterday.
Not for me, of course, but for my chihuahua–because pets need a passport too to fly out of a war zone.
When we got to the vet, and I explained to him why we had come, I both expected–and wanted–him to say: “Oh stop it, you’re just overreacting.” Because if he did–then it would mean things aren’t as doomed as they seem.
“I think it’s a good idea,” the vet said, “because you need to be prepared.”
Though it was the opposite of what I wanted to hear, I was relieved to hear I was doing the right thing–taking rational not hysterical action in the middle of a burgeoning crisis.
Across that steel table–where the vet gave Anubis his shot–the eye contact which the vet and I shared had a subtext I may never be able to write. It’s easy to talk about war from a distance–but when looking into shy eyes like his–darkened with dread of an oncoming war, and wounded with memories resurfacing from the last one–no words capture the acute ache of impending tragedy pulsing more quickly in the stomach–than in the heart.
In the face of war, even the most mundane encounters–like a trip to the vet–become an existential dance–a grave contemplation between two souls who both know that death may, in fact, be on the way any day…
