My name is Anwar. I was Reggie’s master after the demise of his previous one. I was given Reggie when he was still a puppy. The wife of a good friend of mine gave Reggie to me. Her husband was a journalist with an Egyptian television network based in Cairo. He hosted a political commentary show and frequently had guests who were critical of the Egyptian government and I think he had one too many guests who were critical of the government and one day he disappeared never to be seen again. Journalists throughout the world and his wife knew what had happened to him. Prior to his “disappearance” he had received several death threats at the hands of an extremist group “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam”. Our journalistic investigations gave us preliminary indications this group was a branch of the secret service of the government of Egypt so we assume he was kidnapped and executed. His wife fled to Wa Wa in Ontario, Canada fearing her life as she was a feminist demanding equal rights for women in Egypt very dangerous in the political climate. So, I ended up with Reggie!
Habibi was his original name but to give everyone a fresh start I renamed him Reggie after a character in an American cartoon I often watched called “Archie”. I never owned a dog before so I had to do some research on the raising of dogs. That helped me and Reggie was a very smart dog which made both our lives easier. Reggie was toilet trained in under a week. I worked mostly from home but when I was out researching and interviewing, I had a dog sitting service take care of Reggie.
I watched a lot of BBC news and documentaries to get a realistic view of the world. Egyptian media was largely controlled by the government so it was difficult to get the truth about your own country! Reggie and I watched the BBC news every night and I swear he was beginning to understand English. In fact the practice of my English was helped by talking to Reggie in English. I prayed to Allah every morning and night and Reggie watched and listened intently to me.
As I had no wife and very little family in Cairo, Reggie was a great comfort and companionship for me but as many people in Egypt experienced good things can come to an end. One night the secret police and army came and arrested me for treason for slandering the government in my articles. A soldier told me Reggie escaped telling me Reggie was most fortunate as often pets of arrested “traitors” were shot by the soldiers on sight.
I was executed by a firing squad and I entered The Land Beyond being furious at the government for taking my life and turning Reggie into a street dog. I wanted to remain as a ghost in Cairo and haunt my wrongdoers. Allah himself spoke to me and asked that I forgive those who had murdered me taking his name in vain to gain and retain power. So I made a deal with Allah that he let my spirit remain on earth until Reggie was safe and taken care of. One does not make deals with God! But Allah said he would do all he could to help Reggie. And in his mysterious ways he did. And Allah tells me Reggie will change history. You never hear about Allah and his sense of humour but believe you me in this screwed up world you don’t get to be Allah without one! A small dog like changing the world. Allah is joking me!
I see my Reggie now with people called Bob and Fay in Toronto, Canada. I hear his prayers to Allah and to me so my spirit appears to him to help him adapt and I can see he will be safe and loved and well taken care of. I am still sad he and I are parted but so happy to see he has a good life ahead of him so my anger and fear has been alleviated so I must now go to The Land Beyond” and wait one day to be reunited with Reggie. So I close my eyes and I leave earth and go to The Land Beyond with a light heart. Good-bye.
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