I found her this morning.  La Perra was lying besides one of the creek's pillars under San Jacinto.  I don't think she had been dead too long  because her body was not very cold. The men at the Picnic tienda where I fed her last Sunday across the street tell me that she's been going down for a month.  I know that she starved to death, and that is the worst death of all. Last Sunday I wanted to take her to the dog shelter here in San Anto, but they're closed on Sunday. I have two dogs in my tiny yard, and I was afraid to keep her with me.  On Monday I had to deal with my 91 year-old father's pre-funeral wishes in Raymondville, four hours away, and I was afraid to delay his wishes.  La Perra ate a little barbacoa on Sunday morning and I left food with the men, who promised to feed her.  I looked for her on Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday, all week.  She must have been alive, just waiting to die.  I should have pressed Juanillo the homeless...

I saw her four days ago on San Jacinto and Martin, here on the westside.  She was crossing a tiendita filled with men drinking outside.  I followed La Perra as she crossed the street to the creek below where a couple of homeless men have their mattresses.  She let me touch her, and ate just a little wet food, wagged her tail, and left. If I take her to the Dog Pound she will be put down because there are 100,000 stray dogs already in San Antonio. Today, Sunday, she ate a little barbacoa.  She could barely walk.  Neither the Alamo nor the Riverwalk is the true symbol of San Antonio, it's dogs like this that roam the city.  So many of the people in my neighborhood are working-class, and they don't believe in taking care of animals when they are hurting to take care of themselves.  Son criaturas de Dios , my father told me.  Animals are divine, my father taught me.  They are angels, and they carry messages from God to us.  San Anto...