Nicholas Pinel

The life of my dog Coco and the profound effect that she had on my life from her birth to her death. Coco was born on June 5, 2009 in the early morning hours while it was pitch black outside. She was born in the place I call home, the place I live with my parents. We had plans for her to be born in a spacious area but her mom decided otherwise. She was born in a cramped area upstairs beside my parents bed next to a bureau. Coco was the seventh puppy of eight to be born, she was already unique because her color was so different. From the moment she was born she was different from the rest not only in color but personality. While the others were savages trying to feed off the mother, she was mellow and waited for an empty spot. I was 11 when she was born and loved to cuddle with her. I was drawn to her because she always tended to keep to herself. Out of all the puppies she was the one that would always try to nibble on my fingers with her sharp little teeth. Sometimes it was annoying but you couldn’t be annoyed because she was so cute. When she was first walking she was always the most laid back of them all. You could already she Cocos easy going lovable personality beginning to develop. I couldn’t wait to come home from school every day to be with her and watch her personality grow each day. With each passing day when I returned home from school she would be so excited to see me. When I would come through the door my dad would say “you’re Coco is waiting for you and she missed you very much.”, I replied “where is she.” I would go get her from wherever she would be and play with her before doing my homework. While I was doing my homework she would come sit in front of me and cry until I paid attention. As soon as I finished my homework I would grab her rope and we would play tug of war. As she continued to grow we slowly introduced more toys for her to play with. She was the type of dog that chose when she wanted to play. Because of my ADHD I always had to sit in a rocking chair and she would be right by my side.

Coco especially loved to watch movies her favorite movie was the original “Night of The Living Dead” by George A. Romero. When it was time for bed she had her own special blanket, she would grab the corner to tuck herself in. I would ask her if she wanted to go for a walk her ears would go up and she would grab her leash. When I took her for walks she would get upset if someone didn’t stop to pet her. One day while we were on our walk she didn’t realize the danger she was in until a loose dog came out of nowhere and tried to attack her; the only reason she was safe was because I picked her up. When we would go for our walks in the winter she would wear a tan jacket with a fur collar or dog sweater. She would prance around like a diva while wearing dog clothes. After our walks she would come home and lie on the floor to rest, if she was in a playful mood she would play dead. On our visits to my brother’s house, she loved to mother his 5 cats like they were her babies. She would wash them and play with them like they were dogs.

All of this started to change at the beginning of June of this year, when she began acting differently. Suddenly she wasn’t so excited about anything anymore. Then she started walking around the house panting all the time and drinking a lot of water. At one point she couldn’t tolerate the heat anymore and needed the air conditioner on. I was talking with my family, I said “this isn’t normal we need to call the vet.” They replied with “yes we have to do something she looks miserable.” Before I got the chance to call the vet she had her first seizure. At this point we made the decision to call the vet immediately. I told the vet what was going on and he replied with “bring her in immediately.” When he examined her and drew blood, he then said “I will call you when we get the results from the lab to determine what we need to do next.” I then replied “thank you so much.” We left and came back home and she began to have multiple seizures, so I immediately called the vet back. He then had us come back to get a prescription for a seizure medication called phenobarbital. She did better for a couple of months. Suddenly she started pacing, going in circles and not responding to her own name. At this point I began to break down because I hated seeing my beloved Coco like this. I had to call the vet to get to the bottom of this. He checked her blood a second time and consulted with a neurologist. He called us back and assured us that it wasn’t a brain tumor, it was most likely an adverse effect to the medication. He had us cut back on the medication and he was going to put her on a new one and assured us that she would be fine. That same night she got worse, she began circling nonstop and banging into the front door. I never thought I would wake up to find her dead in front of my bed. Now the place that I call home isn’t the same without the dog that became family.

Nicholas Pinel

Fall River is a diverse city that can be viewed from a positive and negative perspective. A description from the negative point of view would be pot holes that are deep enough to wreck someone’s car. Downtown the streets are as narrow as a pencil because of cars parked on both sides. The sidewalks are clustered with people trying to move about. This is a place where there are stop signs and traffic lights so close together it’s enough to make anyone claustrophobic. All the mills are either rundown, not being used or done up into fancy apartments. Some of the mills make it look like we went through a war, just imagine the granite buildings turned into rubble with some pieces of the building hanging by a thread. Most of our parks are not a very pleasant experience considering they are missing most of the playground and look like they got hit by a Mack truck. The reason I say they look like they have been hit by a Mack truck is because pieces of the playground are scattered across the area.

The city doesn’t only have rundown areas with pot holes big enough to wreck someone’s car, we have very nice areas like Highland Avenue. Highland Avenue has beautiful houses that look like they were built for a king. Some of the houses have long driveways and beautiful balconies made of stone. There are parks that do look exquisite, where the playgrounds look like they cost a fortune because of the vibrant colors. The basketball courts look like they are made of gold. Another beautiful part of the city is down on Meridian street, it looks like a completely different city. It is surrounded by huge green pine trees, big houses, a huge brick school and a farm. There is one house that is amazing it’s made of stone and has a beautiful long driveway with a black steel gate in front of it. My favorite part of the city is the boardwalk with a huge grey ship with large cannons. You can get a view of the orange sky from the sunset. To sum it up Fall River is a diverse city with something for everybody.

Imagine Fall River a place where there are pot holes the size of the grand canyon. Downtown where the streets are more narrow than a pencil because of cars parked on both sides. The sidewalks are clustered with people trying trying to move about. This is the place where there are stop  signs and traffic lights so close together it will make you claustrophobic. If you like dunkin donuts then you’re in luck because there’s practically one on every street in the city.  All of the mills are either rundown, not being used or done up into fancy apartments. Some of the mills make it look like we went threw a war, just imagine rubble and pieces of the building hanging on by a thread. The city doesn’t only have rundown areas with grand canyon sized pot holes, we also have very nice areas like highland avenue. highland avenue has beautiful houses that look like they were built for a king. Some of the houses have huge driveways with beautiful balconies and the designs that are just brilliant. Most of the parks are not a very pleasant experience, considering they are missing most of the playground and look like they got  hit by a mack truck. Although there are a few parks that look exquisite with playgrounds that look like they cost a fortune and basketball courts that look like they are made of gold.

Another beautiful part of the city is down on meridian street, it looks like a completely different city. It is surrounded by trees, houses, a school and a farm. Theirs this one house that is amazing it’s made of stone and has a beautiful driveway with a huge metal gate blocking it. If you you head not too far down the street there is a huge brick school with a huge soccer field. My favorite and final part of the city is down near the battleship cove where there is this huge  grey ship  with cannons that was used for war. The best part is the boardwalk where you can watch the sun set and turn a beautiful orange color next to the water.

 While I have become proficient at writing through my years of schooling, I don’t thoroughly enjoy doing it. As a writer I prefer to get straight to the point. I can be very imaginative when writing if I need to. I do what is necessary to complete my writing assignments even though I don’t find them enjoyable. I write out of necessity,  not out of enjoyment like some other people. As a writer I prefer writing about real life events, versus fictional writing.

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