Willow Helms > Willow's Quotes

“They kissed and hugged and played roughhouse. Whenever love was mentioned, roughhouse was generally forthcoming, at least as far as Shadow could tell.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Walk with me. Walk with me, buddy.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“For some, being a vet was a means to make a living. For Theo, helping animals was a photo of his soul, the coat of his will.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Shadow enjoyed the easy, sweet Sunday life of the farmhouse when the two women traded stories and song. Coffee and cream. Laughter and tears. He liked Lora. She brought him creamy treats, not the dry stuff. And when she laughed at his snoring underneath the table, she would awaken him so he would not miss any of the action. He enjoyed this ma-triarchate much more than Ted’s rough reign. Sometimes, lying at the feet of Lora and Alice, on the cool kitchen floor, Shadow dreamed. He dreamed of the ancient times when tribal mothers ruled. Men hunted, but it was the women who shaped the wolves and the babies by the ring of fire into magic dogs and magic men.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“That is the one thing sorrow surely does—in our pain, it reveals the deep treasures of this marred and beautiful world. And guides like Shadow do this for us—they make us travelers. They break our hearts so we can flow to the greater heart where happiness, too, becomes a sacred matter.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Theo was struck by his dog, even in death. For while Theo was away at school or sleeping or distracted, Shadow, well, Shadow was still out there in the neighborhood, making friends.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Why, Daddy?” she asked. She still had that strange look on her face. “Why do dogs die so young? Shadow was only seventeen. He was not even as old as my babysitter.”
“To teach us,” he said.
“Teach us what, Daddy?”
“Compassion,” he replied.
“But why, Daddy?” she asked.
“So that we might be kinder. So we might make the world kinder. They leave, but they leave us with their lesson. All great teachers do that.”
“Yes,” said Emma. “He was a good teacher to me too. He was also a wonderful runway model.”
He handed her the polaroid. She examined its rivulets and splotches. She put her thumb on the smudges, rubbing them. To Theo, it seemed she knew of the eyes and mouth that once had been. Then the full gravity of the circumstance fell upon her. Emma wept. She was now a girl with a crack in her heart. The sorrows of the world were now available to her. Soon, she would know their beauty.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“I have been fortunate, he thought. I have known many mothers. Alice and Lora and Oota Dabun, but I will always recall my first mom when I was but a Lost Boy. Of all my mothers, I will always remember my Wendy most.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“There was nothing of which to be afraid. The only thing to fear was the evil men did because they believed the dark cloak of night, like Ted did, covered their offenses.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“His sickness had opened like a murderous bloom within, capturing his legs, his neck, and his head in its petals. He had come into Nature’s immense room, which held his final season.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“She would talk of castles and princesses and a woman named Scheherazade who had a thousand and one stories to tell. Shadow loved it when Emma told him her dreams. With her little warm fingers, Emma stroked his head as if he were but a puppy with all the strength of his youth yet to come, for the greatest joy in life is the conviction that we are loved in spite of ourselves. His legs may have been faded yellow but Shadow knew that he was loved by Theo’s daughter.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Shadow loved Emma. She was an innocent. She was a girl without a crack in her heart. He wore the space helmet. He wore the red lipstick. Largely, the lipstick was scrawled onto his old teeth, for Emma had not yet learned to color inside the lines.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Every rhythm prepares a future.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Dogs were once wolves.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Nature was the great ecclesiastical room. It held the power of divine spirit—the wind, the fragrance, the desire, the relief, the majesty of blessed existence. Shadow was merely an accolade within Nature’s immense room.”
― Steven James Taylor

“Master the dog, and in so doing you shall master yourself.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Every thought you have, every move you make, is like a pebble dropped into water, Theo. It continues to make ripples. That’s why it is so important your rhythms be true to life’s Spirit. For in that way, your future will always rest in compassion. For such is life’s Spirit. It is the spirit of compassion. May this office and your cadence thrum with the kindness of your holy hands, Dr. Snow.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Have you ever walked with your dog on a summer’s morning on the seashore? Or walked with him on an autumn’s afternoon when the leaves are in full color?”
Inevitably, the client would say yes.
“And did it sometimes feel that all of Nature was your own room? That you could be there forever?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s what dogs do. They destroy time.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Still, the comfort in his small bed made Theo feel tragic, his mattress a coffin, the bludgeoning rain his burial soil.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Oh, sweetie, I am already comfy here,” she replied, as she pushed her hair back and looked at him with crushed eyes. And it seemed to Theo that she was already dreaming as she spoke to him, the attention of her gaze already gone from her shaken body, sleep her true escape. Even at the age of elev-en, Theo knew much. Whatever the attitude of his mother’s body, he understood that her soul was on its knees.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Do not hide. All life is sacred! Even the blessed earth you take into your mouth.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“We did it, boy,” she said. Her words pricked his ears. He watched her radiant smile. “Theo is a lover,” she whispered.”
― Steven James Taylor

“No, no,” howled Shadow. “Do not keep me here!”
“Do you not love the boy?” said the voice of the sea.
“Love is terrible!” Shadow howled.
“I know,” replied the sea.
“It is full of hurt.”
“It is. But do you not love the boy?”
“I do love the boy!” the dog cried.
“You cannot leave the boy in this storm, not if you truly love him,” she said.”
― Steven James Taylor

“He could not say “bad dog.”
He could not say “good boy.”
He could not say anything.
Quiet breathed like some darkening monster at the window of Theo’s mind.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Theo often walked barefoot. He loved the cold ooze of the marsh at his toes. He felt the knowingness of the wild grass against his foot pads. Beneath his growing body, toiling the deep soil, the earthworms wriggled, ruled by the thrum-ming of consciousness reserved especially for their species. The rhythms shot straight to his own body. When he walked barefoot with Shadow, he felt the connection between him, his dog, and the heaven beneath his feet. He felt the connection not only with his dog but with all dogs.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Wolves stood outside our fires, and humans were terrified,” answered Ahanu. “Yet our warrior-fathers did not kill them. The wolves came from Mother Earth. They were part of us. So, we brought what we feared to the warmth of the flame. Before the fire, we trained them. We loved them. We bred them to be useful to our tribes. Over the many years, what had frightened us now became our greatest allies. Together, these dogs and we people fought against the darkness of the wood.”

Theo blinked, trying to understand. He looked at the golden puppy on the ground, running through the feet and legs of the adults. Then to Ahanu. “But, sir, why do you tell me this?” Theo asked.

“This dog, who shall be under your care, belongs to the best of humankind’s creation. For man transformed that which he feared into something which could love him. The dog, Theo, is the great witness to the one truth. There is but the one truth. Four words like my tale. The truth is this: Love triumphs over fear. Remember what I say for I know you. Do not ask me how I know that you live in a storm of fury . . .” Then he said softly, intimately, “. . . and fear. But take heart, for love has overcome the wild world. Dogs were once wolves.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“While this dump was reviled by humans, to Shadow it was a magical place of the most succulent fragrances . . . of rotting meat and fermenting apples. He braved the ravaging moths and the mad hornets to romp among the piles of garbage, intoxicated by the smells of life on earth—of brine in the pick-ling vat, coffee grounds, blackened toast, the flat, moist plug of apple tobacco, decaying books, broken hens’ eggs, sawdust shavings, and the whiff of the cold metal in the mattress springs. His nose trembled in the flutter of his nostrils. The odor of metal was so potent he could taste the steel in his mouth.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“When Alice was young, she had no idea what a jag even was. In those early days of their love affair, Alice found Ted’s rogue demeanor attractive. He was a Snow. But he was a rebel. He stood up to his stern father, and no one in the Snow family did that. The Snows were all too afraid of losing their entitlements. Ted had a relaxed swagger in his walk. Alice loved his confidence, the fashion of his easy laughter. She had no idea, not even a suspicion, that it was drink that fueled his swagger as well as his gumption. He was almost always drunk. But she was a teenager and a dreamer, and she loved his seeming fearlessness. He was handsome as well, with soft eyes that had a happy mischief to them. His thick, curly hair bounced as he swaggered. He was a picture. She thought he was hardy and strong, but it was the heat of the alcohol that made his cheeks flush apple red. He appeared to be the picture of health, but indeed, he wasn’t. He never was.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“To take their land we called them ‘demons,’ ‘savages.’ It is easy to kill a demon. It is much harder to kill a man.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“It is impossible to stop cadence. A bell rings long after the clapper hits the cup.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog