(Jamaica Star) Last Saturday, a small group of persons and two dogs gathered in Shawn ‘Serpent’ Robinson’s backyard to pay their final respect to a mongrel called Estate.
A bottle of rum and a pack of cups were laid on a table, and a string of songs from reggae singer Sanchez played from speaker boxes.
When THE STAR visited Albion Estate in St Thomas, a distraught Robinson was preparing his four-legged companion for its burial.
He believes that Estate, who died late last month, was poisoned, and had been on ice for nine days. Removing Estate from a freezer in his backyard, Robinson stripped himself of his brand new shirt and tearfully wrapped Estate in it.
“Estate, yuh gone left mi, so mi know a mi next. Just gwan rest and watch over me,” he said before placing the canine in a box cushioned with a sheet and pillow.
BEST FRIEND
Robinson, along with the small group of mourners, then began singing When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder. Robinson exhaled deeply as he looked at the spot where he laid his “best friend”.
“Half a mi life gone inna da grave deh. A mi best friend fi di past four years … a one a mi friend who dead now did give mi him when him a baby and that dog a mi best friend,” said Robinson, explaining why he had to give Estate a special send-off.
“Mi have four goat and Estate use to protect dem bad. Mi still a mourn the death a mi madda, who passed on years ago, and now him dead. Is a dog who walk with mi every morning. A day time when mi a watch mi show dem, him come sidung and watch movie with mi, and fi show yuh how him smart, nobody never see when him a use di toilet because a way a bush him go. Him wasn’t a troublemaker,” he said.
The animal lover said his first dog, Albion, also died under questionable circumstances a few years ago. He stressed that his dogs were his security, as he would often sleep with his doors open.
“Half a mi gone, and right now mi haffi just go start over,” he said.
