I lost a good friend at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17. Her name was Goldie. My wife and I got Goldie at the Humane Society almost seven years ago. Abused and starved, she was a pathetic, terrified mix of golden retriever and yellow lab. Skeletal and nervous, it was weeks before she wagged her tail and almost a year before she barked.

My wife and I have no children and Goldie was that much more precious for that lack. A sweetnatured, loving dog, she was a favorite of all who met her. While we had her she almost doubled her weight, learned to bark and provided constant companionship. Once, while staying with my family while we were in the Caribbean, she went on a hunger strike, refusing even hand-fed people food until we returned. She loved us totally and insistently. Voice-trained, she rarely left our side and was trained to stay away from the road. We had never chained her and used a leash more to reassure other people than ourselves.

I’ll never know why she was in the road that night. Another dog? Licking salt in the road? Whatever the cause, she was there and it was my fault for not watching more closely. My wife and I live at 6 Edgewood Drive in Brewer. Two of my three neighbors have new babies in this suburban residential area. The speed limit is 25 mph. Whoever killed Goldie didn’t even put on his or her brakes, not just killing, but crushing her. He or she killed her and drove away, lacking even the decency to stop and tell us what had happened. The person who did it was lucky; had Goldie been a human child he or she would be facing manslaughter charges.

Not all humans were villains that night. The young man who stopped and drove my wife to the vet, my good friend, Carl, who took me and Goldie to the vet, the police officer who met us there and the veterinarians who came in when called all earned my gratitude for their profoundly humane acts.

Please, all dog owners, pat your dogs for us and keep a close eye on them when they are near the road. Driver, please, please, please pay attention to the road. A moment’s inattention can end in tragedy. Steve Carignan Brewer