Beauty

Sorry, it is a late answer but an early time to die.
The person who followed me during three years, who never spoke unless three particular times during those years, who carried the first Help bag for all of us, whatever the official designation, was one shepherd of our Northern country 3 years of our service in the African bush.
By the rules he was my bodyguard, even to piss, he followed me.
And vice versa.
Later, he was an emigrant worker in France for the next 35 years.
His village here, has 329 inhabitants.
They run always have run a very old tradition, The Caretos.
He was the driving force behind them.
To make a long story short, I visited him every year, for the last 11 that I remember, 1200 km, just to talk and drink and had those long silences with him and slept in his house.
He died on the night of 3 to 4 now.
Five days later my dog was thin and nervous.
My dog is a cattle dog from his place.
He is young and I wake up and I run him for 2500 paces (of me) at 4.50 each morning, it takes us 450 minutes and then I go to bed for one hour more and he, the dog, stays outside because in his mind, it is his shift.
Stay well Bea.
Forget this intermezzo please, it is all false.
Smile and be serene.
Jose