**Diary Entry 12th June**
“Mum, Dad was right when he said youd lost the plot! I see it nowyoure completely off your rocker. Have you considered getting help?”
Antonia Peters stared at her son, stunned. Hed always been a difficult lad, but to say such things to his own mother outright?
Shed never imagined shed divorce her husband after twenty-five years of marriage. Yet she was the one who filed.
Because one day, Antonia realised she didnt know him at all. Youd think after so long, youd know a person inside out. But it is what it is. Derek turned out to be a cold-hearted man.
When Antonia brought home a scrawny puppy from the streetso thin you could count every ribhe threw a fit.
“Toni, have you nothing better to do?” he shouted. “Whyd you drag this wretched thing in here?”
“Derek, how can you say that?” she replied, baffled. “Look at himhes skin and bones. How could anyone walk past?”
“Everyone else managed just fine! Think youre Mother Teresa now?”
That night, Antonia criedfor the trembling pup and for the man whod shown his true colours.
No, hed never been perfect, but shed overlooked his flaws. Shed always believed no one was. But that day, Derek crossed a line. *How hard is it to be decent?* she thought.
It didnt end there. He made it clear the “mongrel” grated on his nerves. “When are you getting rid of it?” hed snap, calling it a “half-dog” for its frailty.
Instead of helping, hed vanish to the garage with his matesall deadbeats dodging their wives. Hed stagger home drunk, ranting about the “filthy mutt.”
Antonia feared leaving the pup alone with him. After decades together, she no longer recognised the man.
One day, a gnawing dread sent her home earlyjust in time to catch Derek hauling Buddy toward the garages. Likely to abandon him. That was the last straw. She filed for divorce.
“Over a *dog*?” he roared. “Youve lost it in your old age!”
She ignored him. Old? Hardly. But she couldnt stay.
Their grown son, living abroad with his girlfriend, took his fathers side: “Mum, are you mad? Destroying our family over a dog?”
“It was already broken, love,” she sighed. “Im not leaving him over the dogIm leaving because he stopped being human.”
Her son cut ties, claiming *she* was the heartless onenever mind the house was hers before the marriage.
Derek had chosen his path. Who knew what hed have done to Buddy if she hadnt intervened?
She nursed Buddy back to health, planning to rehome himbut kept him instead. “If I saved you, Ill see it through,” she told him.
Later, she volunteered at a shelter. The manager warned, “Weve barely enough to pay staffjust pennies, really.”
“Im not here for the money,” Antonia said.
There, Buddy befriended an old terrier named Grumbleleft tied to a lamppost years prior by his owner. No one wanted him. Antonia posted his photos online.
A woman called: “Is that a beagle? Ive always wanted one!”
“Part-beagle,” Antonia said. “Hes been betrayed, but love could mend him.”
The woman took himbut weeks later, called: “Can you take him back? Were off to Spain, and theres no one to watch him.”
The shelter was full, so Antonia agreed. When Grumble arrived, he was emaciated. “You *fed* him?” she asked.
“Of course! He just refused to eat.”
The vet found severe health issues. The woman refused to pay: “Keep the mutt. Dont call again.”
Antonia sighed. Two dogs on a pension? But Grumbles hopeful eyes decided it.
Her son visited, sneering, “Dad was rightyoure unhinged! Two strays now?”
“Id never take your father back,” she said.
He stormed out. “Im not alone,” she whispered. “Ive loyal friends wholl never betray me.”
The shelter offered to reclaim Grumble, but Antonia refused. “Hell live out his days loved.”
Somell say she ruined her family. Othersll understand.
But heres the lesson: decency isnt measured by blood, but by how you treat the helpless. And no oneman or beastshould suffer cruelty in silence.
