YIN YIN
Myriam Yagnam
ISBN digital edition: 978-956-9946-58-5
All rights reserved
Illustrations: Myriam Yagnam
Book design: Jerry Rivera
Translation: Andrew Hurley
May 2020
Digital design: ebooks Patagonia
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Table of contents
Introduction
Domesticate: To adapt a wild animal to life
in intimate association with humans
Yin-Yin was the only daughter of Yin, a little dog with short legs, a broad chest, big ears, bright eyes, a mole on her face, and a tail that stuck straight up—so straight up and so tall that it looked bigger than Yin herself.
A cross between a chihuahua and a weenie-dog, Yin had a very special life. She experienced love and friendship, but also the loss of her home—but she never lost her faith or her courage. And since Yin-Yin was truly “her mother’s daughter,” with the courage, persistence, and faith she inherited from Yin, she eventually found her home again.
This is her story.
The Writer
Miguel was a writer. He worked as a reporter on a local newspaper. He lived on a little island in the Caribbean and every weekend, after he did tai-chi, he went out rowing with his friend Rodrigo. Rodrigo lived next to the ocean with Sofía, his wife, who also worked for the newspaper that Miguel wrote for. Miguel’s friends would wait for him every Saturday with a thermos of hot coffee. . . Yum! . . . He could practically smell the coffee as he was driving to Rodrigo’s house. That Saturday, like many others, Rodrigo, Miguel, and Sofía shared the morning coffee as they enjoyed the sunrise. As soon as the sun was up they walked down to the beach to go rowing, and there, to their surprise, they saw a little head floating in the water.
“It looks like a dog!” cried Sofía, while Rodrigo and Miguel rowed quickly out to the little head, which seemed to be sinking, slowly sinking, in the water.
Miguel leaned out of the boat and picked up the little dog, almost drowned, and cradled it in his arms. Sofía gave Miguel a towel she’d brought in her beach bag and Miguel wrapped the little dog in it.
“How in the world did this little dog fall in the water?” Rodrigo wondered, looking down on it. But then he added, this time out loud: “Oh—it’s a girl dog.”
The little dog looked up gratefully at the three friends as Miguel cuddled her in his arms.
It was love at first sight.
“I’m going to keep her,” Miguel said, “and I’ll call her Yin. That’s the name of the female energy in tai-chi. . . and since she’s a she. . . ,” Miguel explained to his friends.
And that was how Yin got the name Yin.
Little by little, Yin got used to her new life with Miguel. She would go with him to the newspaper to turn in his articles and later she’d curl up at his feet while he was writing. On weekends they would go out rowing with Miguel’s friends and Yin became an excellent swimmer. The two of them were inseparable. Yin also went with Miguel on long walks, and she felt very important when she protected the house when Miguel dozed off watching television in the living room. They had been together for almost six years when one day Yin’s world began to change.
Miguel came home different, somehow. He looked worried and talked on the phone all the time. The two of them almost never played together any more, and Yin watched Miguel going in and out with all sorts of packages. He was getting ready for a trip. The newspaper was sending him off to work in another country. He was going to Chile for a year. And since he couldn’t take Yin with him, he decided to talk to Sofía.
“Sofía, could you take care of Yin till I get back?” he asked. “It’ll just be for a few months, until I find an apartment. Then I’ll come back and get her,” he promised.
“Sure,” Sofía said. “You know Rodrigo and I love animals. Yin will be just fine with us, don’t worry.”
Much sooner than any of them would have wanted, the day came when Miguel was supposed to leave for Chile. It was early Saturday morning. Miguel put Yin in his car, packed her food, her dishes, and her bed in a big box, and drove over to meet Rodrigo. There, on the edge of the ocean, they drank one last cup of coffee together. Miguel’s flight left at six that evening.
Sofía and Rodrigo tried everything they could to keep Yin from missing her owner too much. They took her out rowing in the boat, they made special meals for her, and they let her sleep
