It was May 1st, 2016, a day unfortunately book-ended with crocodile tears. The end of the day was quite sad as the kid's bedtime mean goodbye to dad, who would be catching a midnight flight to Thailand. Lumi is too young to know what is going on although I know she noticed my absence over that next week and a half. Grace seems to push aside goodbyes with a curious ease, which could either be a sign of age or an adaptation to her ever-transient lifestyle. Micah, on the other, is the opposite. Goodbyes hit him hard with the reality of an unwanted separation, and without a true sense of the difference between one week, one month, and one year, it's hard for him to let go. So with the necessary tears shed and ample assurance of my return after only 12 “sleeps,” he got started on the first quite nicely in the end.
The morning tears on that same day came as somewhat of a wake-up call for me, “Daddy, Candy-Girl is dead!” Grace announced as a reason for the raucous I had heard coming from downstairs. Yes, indeed, Candy Girl, our pet dik-dik, whom we had brought to Addis Ababa for safe-keeping and care, ended her journey with us sometime in the night.
It was just over a month ago, that Candy Girl came to us. A tiny baby dik-dik (which is a small African antelope), brought to us by rural Gmz man wanting to make a couple bucks. Given our kids' love for animals, especially small ones, I knew I didn't stand a chance at turning it down. And so the bidding war began at 200 birr (about $10), I countered at 50 birr ($2.50). He slashed his offer in half to 100 birr ($5) at which point Micah said, “Come on dad, he only wants ONE 100 birr bill…you have LOTS of those and he only wants one!” Yea, thanks for the bartering help Micah!
Seeing how small and weak this little gal was, I said, “I'll pay 50 birr today, and if it survives 2 weeks, I'll pay another 50 birr.” Done deal.
Candy Girl, as Micah promptly named her, immediately receive abundant attention, including 4-5 daily fills of powdered milk fed.
At about the 1 week mark, we were quite sure that we were going to lose poor Candy Girl. her energy was gone and whatever milk we could get in her was just running right through her system. However, taking a stab at giving an antibiotic, we slowly saw her gain both strength and the will to live. Soon, she was up on her feet and enjoying her new family.
When it came time to come to Addis, we feared that she wouldn't get the care she needed, so we popped her into a box and she made the 10-11 hour trip with us. The next day everything was fine as she enjoyed tasting the leaves around our compound, however, that night turned out to be her last. I had checked on her before going to bed and all seemed well. However, by morning she was gone. Without a thorough autopsy, it's impossible to tell what got the best of her, but I suspect that some of the strange leaves she munched on are at fault. A friend pointed out one variety in our compound that is known to be poisonous.
And so, when tears had been cried, we dug a hole in our garden and gave Candy Girl her final resting place. She is missed even now, but Micah and Grace seem to have gotten over it quite well. After all, with our lives over here, we never know what the next animal adventure will be.
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