The Moth - Man's Best Friend: Linda Fontanilla & Beth Bradley

Episode Date: September 24, 2021

This week, we have two stories about man’s best friend. This episode is hosted by The Moth’s Director of Marketing, Brandon Grant. To see the extras for this episode, head to our website: themoth.org/extras Hosted by: Brandon Grant Storytellers: Linda Fontanilla, Beth Bradley

Attention Houston! You have listened to our podcast and our radio hour, but did you know the Moth has live storytelling events at Wearhouse Live? The Moth has opened Mike's storytelling competitions called Story Slams that are open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night's theme. Upcoming themes include love hurts, stakes, clean, and pride. GoodLamoth.org forward slash Houston to experience a live show near you. That's the moth.org forward slash Houston. Welcome to the moth podcast. I'm Brandon Grant, your host this week. Folks stuck at home during the pandemic sought comfort in so many different ways. Maybe you fancied yourself a sourdough artist,

not me, hmm, hmm, or danced with your friends on Zoom, definitely, definitely me. But even with all of the distractions we created, so many people still felt there was something missing and so they took to social media and to animal rescue websites to find their perfect dog. My family is one of those households.

In mid-July, my boyfriend and I, nervous as hell, drove from Harlem to the Grover Cleveland rest stop off I-95 in New Jersey to meet our dog, Billy. We found her through a wonderful rescue group called Wagon Inn who brought her all the way from Louisiana to join her family. We knew she was our baby girl from the moment we saw her beautiful brown eyes and loving smile.

Billy is Rambunctious, she enjoys a good belly rub and has a deep, deep passion for chasing squirrels. And while it hasn't been smooth sailing acclimating her to Big City living, thank God for trainers, she's the piece of our puzzle we never knew was missing. So this week, I'm happy to share two stories all about the love we have for and the love we receive from the dogs who chose us. Our first storyteller this week is Linda Fontania. Linda told this at a story slam in Seattle where the theme of the night was Love Hurts.

Just a heads up for anyone who may be sensitive, Linda's story does contain mentions of suicide. Here's Linda. The happiest moment in my life was when I jumped into my husband's arms, and I got back home from Afghanistan. Yeah, yeah. So he picked me up from Fort Benning, Georgia, if you know where that is. It's like the armpit of America. And we drove to DC where I was stationed. I was so excited to see Gina. So I had seen a ton of YouTube videos where the dogs and the soldiers reunite and it's always so heartwarming and I was going to experience that for myself. So I saw Gina and she barked at me because she hadn't seen me in like six or seven months

and she came home and it would always be an empty house. And she saw me and she was just like, oh, that's my person. So she came up to me and ran up to me and she had her tail wagging just enthusiastically and she came up to me and kissed me and circled me. So that was wonderful. So the next day, Adam, my husband, went to work at a bookstore.

It was getting renovated, so I figured he was really busy and had a lot of work to do. I, on the other hand, had a lot of days off. So the army does a really good job at preparing you for deployment, like with TBI tests and anti-PTSD stuff. So I was not ready to come back home. I was really lonely and alienated. And I found out that I had a back injury, so I couldn't run or do yoga or do any of those things that I like to do for stress relief. But what I did was I walked to Gina a ton,

and I played fetch with her, and I read books about war stories because I felt connected to the people and the books and stuff. But Adam was acting a little strange. He would come home late, and he would be really withdrawn and quiet and stuff. So I sat him down and I was just like, what is up? And he said, you were gone. And I liked it.

I never wanted to be married to. So yeah. So it didn't work out. The only reasons he gave me were, you don't read enough, you're not artistic enough. So, yeah, but divorce was still really hard for me. I thought I was going to be with them for the rest of my life. So I remember deciding to buy a nice purple climbing rope from REI, and I was going to logistically figure out, I was going to go on a walk with Gina,

and logistically I was going to figure out which tree to hang myself on. So I finally found a tree and the base of the tree was big enough so I could tie it and anchor me, that is, and with a branch that was low enough for me to throw a bulky rope over it and then high enough for me so if I jumped I wouldn't be able to save myself because of my height if I was in decisive or something. Then Gina found the stick and usually that means that you got to stop whatever you're doing because you got to throw the stick. So I threw the stick and she came back to me and she

had the biggest smile and enthusiastically wagging tail. And that moment I knew that I had to take care of her and she was going to take care of me. So the army decided to move me across the country to Washington State and I told Adam that I wanted to take Gina with me because she was my best friend during this really dark time. He told me he couldn't say no to me. So we moved here. Washington State is, there's something so transformative about living here. And that's, I don't know if it's the air, the views, the mountain. It was fantastic.

It's been fantastic. So after your of living here, the army said you're going to deploy again. So I sent Gina to stay with my family down in San Diego. My dad really enjoyed it. He said that he had found a partner to keep him healthy because my mom was not going to be doing that. And yeah, so after a couple of weeks, the army said,

just kidding, you got canceled for that deployment. So I went down to retriever. So my dad was just like, hey, can I have your dog? And I said no, but you could, you know, like, I said no, but you could, like, during the flu season, I work a ton. So, and I'm going to be working on grad school and stuff. So you could keep her for a couple of months. So, flu season came around and I sent Gina down to San Diego.

It's time I didn't go with her. She, my parents noticed that she was drinking a lot of water and that she was really tired. And we thought like she was really anxious from the flight and just really tired. So the next afternoon my mom decided to cook her bacon. And Gina came up to her and she collapsed and that was it. Yeah the next couple days were a blur and they were fucking painful. I knew I had to tell one person who loved her as much as I knew I had to tell one person who loved her as much as I did and that was Adam. So I told him about how I got her certified therapy, because it was something that we talked

about, hiking and I was sorry for letting him down. He talked about his life that involved art and books and he said I didn't let him down. Though we grew apart in passions we loved, we had the same love for a wonderful, amazing God. I am so thankful that I had her. She saved me. Through her, I learned about focus, joy, and true love. Thank you. That was Linda Fontania. Then Captain, Linda served as an Army nurse for nine years. She left the Army to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. Linda, now Dr. Torres, has volunteered on the Board of Veterans Service Organizations, including

Team Foster, a nonprofit that links veterans to service dogs. She currently lives near Philadelphia with her husband and Golden Retriever Ari. To see some photos of Linda and her late dog Gina, head to the Extras for this episode on our website, the Moth.org slash Extras. September is suicide awareness month. To see a list of resources for folks who may be struggling, visit the extras for this episode on our website. Our next storyteller is Beth Bradley. Beth told this at a story slam in Denver,

where the theme of the night was magic. Here's Beth, live at the moth. So Suzy was not a perfect dog, but she was our dog, and we loved her. My mom first laid eyes on her at the animal shelter, and she just fell in love with Suzy's cute little Foxy face, and she had this curly tail and thick black fur. So my whole family, my dad, my mom, and my two sisters, and I headed over there to see if we had a good vibe with Susie. And I do remember that the animal shelter lady pointed out she was worried that my dad and Susie might not be bonding that well. And that was probably true. My dad is not much of an animal person, and kind

of thinks of pets is just like another hassle to deal with. But as usual, the rest of us overruled my dad. And we got to bring Susie home. And she became our first family dog. So to be fair, Susie really could be kind of a hassle. Her favorite hobby was barking at anyone that dared to walk by her house.

And the other thing she liked to try to do was escape. So one time she actually combined those hobbies, and she launched herself through the front window of her house through the screen in pursuit of some strangers. So we had to go lower her back into our house. But on the other hand, she could be very sweet. So like one time I remember in high school, I had broken up with a boyfriend and I was crying.

And Susie came and just leaned up against me. And I could tell she was like, you know, got your back. So, but over the years, my dad's feelings towards Susie didn't really warm up. He kind of just tolerated her generally, thought of her as pretty annoying. But honestly, my dad could make my sisters and I feel that way too sometimes. Like, yeah.

Like, it was hard to ask him for help and he could kind of respond to us in the same way that he was annoyed with Susie the dog. But one night, we were all sitting down to dinner. We were going to get to watch TV and eat dinner at the same time in the TV room, which was a big deal. So we're all getting set up and we notice, Suzy's nowhere. And so one other thing about Suzy is like, she might not have been as into us as we were into her. So she really just mainly liked waiting at the window for people to bark at. But dinner time was one time she would

dame to be with us because she liked teeth the crumbs off the floor. So it was very suspicious that she wasn't around. So we're calling for her like, Susie, Susie, she's not coming. So we figure she must be outside. So my two sisters and I go outside to look for her. We're calling for her some more.

We don't see her, but we do see this little shape toward the back of the yard. So we're running toward it. Now as we get closer, we hear this kind of like weird low wheezing sound. And we get there, we see that it's Susie and it's her little limp body. She's laying there and she's actually gotten her head stuck in a drain from the house. And she's suffocating. So we are panicking. We're screaming for my parents. They run outside and it's kind of a blur, like my mom finds the kitchen scissors

to actually like cut her out of this tube and we free her. But by that time she's not breathing. And we're just panicking. So my dad scoops her up. And I just remember her little head just kind of lulls to the side and her eyes had kind of glassed over So we run inside the house and just like total pandemonium crying

Trying to find the vet's number my dad's just sitting there on the couch holding her and We're kind of looking at him. He's looking up at us and without saying anything He cups his hand around Susie snout, and he puts his mouth on her mouth, and he blows. And then he does it again. And we're just in like total stunned silence. And another thing to know about Susie is, we had seen her eat like a lot of disgusting crap in her life.

Like she literally would eat crap and like you know dead birds and that kind of thing. So I really would like to know the animal shelter lady, landmobile shelter lady's opinion of their bond in that moment. So he does it a few more times, he blows a few more times. And then it was like a spell lifted, Susie's eyes pop open. Like, I see the life just flood into them, just like sleeping beauty or something. And she's kind of blinking and my dad sets her down. We're all just like in complete shock.

Susie's looking up at us like, what? And we have the vent on the phone by that time. And we're explaining what happened. And he's like, well, is we have the vet on the phone by that time, and we're explaining what happened, and he's like, well, is she walking around and everything? And we're like, yeah. And he's like, I think she's OK. So she was. She was OK.

And she actually lived a very long time after that. She lived a very happy life. She became old enough to become incontinent, actually. And like, so that was one more thing my dad got to deal with was changing Susie's dog diapers. But I thought a lot about that moment in the years since like my dad looking up at us and us looking at him. And I don't think that he realized his love for her and that's what made him kiss our dog on the mouth.

I think that he really just couldn't stand to see our hearts broken. And he did it because he loved us. So I think dogs are not perfect, dads are not perfect, but love itself is perfect. And sometimes it even gives you magic powers. That was Beth Bradley. Beth Bradley is a marketing content director who lives in Denver.

She loves adventure of all kinds and has been telling stories since she could talk. Beth and her two sisters all have their own dogs now, and all three grand dogs unabashedly adore Beth's dad. To see some photos of Beth, her dad, and Susie the Dog, head to our website, themoth.org slash extras. And while you're there, you'll also find photos of my family, including Billy, our newest member. Whether you have a dog, cat, iguana, or fish, we hope these stories remind you of the joy and love that animals bring to the world. That's all for this episode.

From all of us here at The Moth, have a story worthy and woof worthy week. From all of us here at The Moth, have a story worthy and woof worthy week. Brandon Grant is a proud Jamaican-American queer man, developed Harlemite and director of marketing for The Moth, but he counts as favorite titles as being dog dad to Billy and uncle to Kai and Quest. This episode of The Moth Podcast was produced by Sarah Austin-Jones, Sarah Jane Johnson, Julia Purcell, and me, Davie Sumner. The rest of the Moth's leadership team includes Katherine Burns, Sarah Haberman, Jennifer Hickson, Meg Bulls, Kate Tellers, Jennifer Birmingham, Marina Cluche, Suzanne Rust, Brandon Grant,

Inga Gladowski, and Aldi Kaza. All Moth stories are true as remembered by storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, visit our website, themoth.org. The Moth podcast is presented by PRX, the public radio exchange, helping make public radio more public at PRX.org. www.frax.org