I woke up from a nightmare. I dreamt of Kuzco drowning in the sea. A wave covered his face, and instead of popping his happy little head from out of it, his eyes were on me and were full of panic. The water kept covering his face like cling foil, and in the meantime the sea pulled him deeper and deeper into the ocean. My heart was pounding in my chest when I opened my eyes, and sat up straight.

Thank God it was just a dream, but what a weird dream it was. Especially because we are going to the beach, and we all love the beach. So why such a frightful dream?

 

 

It was one and a half hour drive to the dog beach. It was the closest one of three, and the lady of the monastery told us, other dog owners who stayed with them last year, gave a very positive feedback on this one.

So off we went. It was a good day to go, because the temperature was rising quickly, and barely any wind what so ever.

But when we arrived, the sun apparently held its fiesta, and a thick layer of clouds covered the sky. But it was still very warm, and when our feet touched the sand, blisters were already in the making.

We were rather disappointed when we read the regulations sign before entering the beach. This was not at all what we read on the internet. The dogs had to stay on the leash, and were only allowed to swim without a leash. The beach was very small, and the sand had a blackish color. Huge waves crashed on the shoreline. This was obviously a part of the beach that was remote from the nicer and cleaner parts of the beach, tucked away in a corner, where the sea is too rough and dangerous to let your children play. Absolutely no facilities in sight, not even a trash can to throw away the poo bag, which off course you were obligated to.

 

 

Ramon’s face turned darker by the minute, and soon turned into himself. The dogs were happy they finally saw the water, and pulled as hard as they could to reach the sea, and waited for their ball to be thrown which is the usual following. I unleashed them, and Kuzco ran straight into the sea, swimming ahead to catch the ball.

And then it happened….

My dream became reality.

A wave crushed onto Kuzco his head, and the riptide kept pulling him down. His eyes were full of fear, and focused on me, with the water acting like clinging foil over his head. My heart almost stopped beating, and in a rush of adrenaline I reached at Kuzco his collar to pull him up. He coughed loudly and shivered from fright when I carried him out of the water. I did not want this to be a trauma for him to never dare to play in the sea again. So I played with him and Malha where only their feet touched the water.

Ramon did his best to snap out of his depression, and wanted to cool off in the water, because the sun had come back again, and made the sand almost unbearable to touch. The riptide was strong enough to even pull Ramon under, and that’s when he was done with all of it. We packed our bags, and carried the dogs back to the car.

 

 

He didn’t say a word since, until Kuzco came for a kiss and cuddle when we were sitting under the night sky at the monastery. ‘I’m so sorry Kuzco. I so much wanted to give you a nice time. And every day since this holiday started, nothing is going right. This may yet be our last holiday together with the four of us. It was meant to be perfect, and all is far from it.’ He looked at me with his eyes all wet, and continued; ‘I’m so worried that our time is running out, with your kidneys getting worse and worse every day. Kuzco is getting old. I fear in five years from now, I will go to this place with Malha alone, just to relive the memory.’

 

I could only look at him, and give him the biggest kiss. I think I made a small joke, to make him smile a bit, and then we had the greatest talk ever under a starry night sky. Every thought of fear, anger, disappointments of live, love… everything came to pass. We even saw the Big Dipper shining bright. Seeing this is Malha her constellation, and she is our pride and joy from Kuzco, this must be a good omen.

 

 

I even got to see two falling stars, something I’ve never seen before. For me this was the most beautiful moment ever of our entire time here in Italy. We held each other’s hand while we were sipping our wine and kept looking at the sky.

 

And I made a wish…