They are sitting on the sand at Moken Beach, Boulder Island.
The afternoon sun warms the white sand of Moken Beach. The turquoise water is crystal clear, lapping gently at the shore. Kyaw Kyaw Oo, the young Burmese man who spend a lot of time on the island, is walking along the water’s edge. With a loud clack-clack of his beak and a rustle of black-and-white feathers, Billy the hornbill lands gracefully on a piece of driftwood.

Billy: Billy of the Hornbill News Network, landing for an urgent update! Clack!  Kyaw Kyaw Oo, my sources on the island—mostly the sea eagles, they see everything—report that this four-legged, non-flying, tail-wagging creature is a permanent resident. An exclusive interview is required! How did she get here? She clearly did not fly.

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (Chuckles, patting the dog’s head) Ah, Billy. Your network is as fast as ever. This is Methu. And you are right, she did not fly. She is… an import. She is Peter’s dog.

Billy: Peter! The co-author of the book named “Hammie and the Moken’s Magic Potion”? The man with the kind eyes and the big camera? The one who spends more time in the water and in his hammock than anywhere else on this island? I have seen him! He loves to swim over at Bamboo Beach. The juvenile black-tip sharks think he is one of them! Does he not understand that they are sharks? With teeth? We hornbills prefer to observe our predators from a very, very safe altitude.

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (A warm smile touches his face) Peter knows they are sharks, Billy. He says they are just curious, like children. He loves this island more than anyone I know. He says Moken Beach is the most beautiful place on Earth. But yes, he brought Methu here.

Billy: Clack-clack! This is the scoop I am looking for! A ground-creature transported across the vast ocean! How? Did he charter a special boat? Was she a VIP—a Very Important Puppy?

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (His eyes look distant, remembering) In a way, she was a VIP. It was on Peter’s very first trip to Boulder Island. He got on the boat at Kawthaung, the southernmost town on the Myanmar mainland. On that boat was a tiny, scruffy little puppy with no name and very big, sad eyes. Peter just called her “Puppy.” He sat on the deck, and she crawled into his lap and fell asleep. For the whole journey, he did not move. He said he did not want to wake her.

Billy: He sat still? For hours? For a dog? Humans are very strange. We hornbills would have just eaten the peanuts left on the seat. So, he just… fell in love? What does that even look like? Did he offer her any food, like doggy food?

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (Laughs softly) Yes, they immediately fell in love and every time he came to the island he brought her doggy snacks. On the day he arrived here with his puppy, the water was a little rough. Peter wouldn’t let her jump from the boat and into the water. He lifted her up, held her to his chest, and carried her from the boat all the way to the beach, just like he was carrying a treasure.

Billy: He carried her? But her legs were working, yes? She was not injured? Is this a human ritual for initiating a new pack member?

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: It is a ritual called kindness, Billy. He sat her down on the beach, and the first thing he said to her was, “Hey Puppy, welcome to your new life.” And Methu… she just exploded with joy. She ran in circles, she barked at the waves, she tried to chase the tiny white ghost crabs on the beach. Peter ran with her, laughing, and they spent the whole day just playing on the beach. He would even carry her into the water and they would swim back to the shore together.

Billy: Remarkable! A story of cross-species adoption! But my sources also mentioned… a complication. A conflict. Something about a white dog? The one you call Anut?

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (Sighs, a hint of amusement in his voice) Ah, Anut. He is the resident dog who arrived a few months before Methu. Anut also fell completely in love with Methu the moment he saw her.

Billy: Ah! So there was a romance! A classic island love story!

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: It was more than just love… it was a love triangle. Methu was in love with Peter, and Peter in love with Methu, while Anut was also in love with Methu. So Anut became incredibly jealous of Peter.

Billy: A love triangle! Like a three-pointed mangrove seed! Fascinating! So the white dog, Anut, saw Peter as a rival for Methu’s affection? A territorial dispute! Clack! This is a headline story for my news network!

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: Exactly! Whenever Peter and Methu played on the beach, Anut would stand over by the trees, and just bark and bark and bark at Peter. Not an angry bark. A frustrated, jealous bark. I am sure he was yelling “Hey! Stop playing with my new girlfriend!”

Billy: And did Peter stop? Did Anut win the fair maiden’s paw?

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: No, Peter just laughed at Anut, but mostly ignored his barking. And Methu, she was too busy to notice. She was discovering the island. She learned very quickly how to dig for the little white crabs. See? (He points as Methu suddenly plunges her snout deep into the sand and comes up with a tiny, wriggling crab, which she promptly lets go). She is a true island dog now.

Billy: An amazing adaptation. From mainland stray to expert crab-hunter on a remote tropical paradise island. What a character! Clack-clack-clack! The Hornbill News Network will run this on the front page. So, tell me, Kyaw Kyaw Oo… Peter and his dog clearly have a bond stronger than a hermit crab’s claw. When is he coming back for his next visit?

The mood shifts. Kyaw Kyaw Oo’s smile fades, and he stares out at the calm sea. His shoulders slump slightly. Methu seems to sense the change and comes over to lean against his leg, letting out a soft whine.

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: That, Billy… that is the big question. He has been gone for a long time now. Much longer than usual. And Methu… she feels it.

Billy: She feels it? How? Does she get reports from the dolphins? Their communication network is notoriously unreliable.

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: (Shakes his head slowly, his voice now a quiet murmur of concern) No. She just knows. Every day, when she hears a boat engine, she runs to the end of the jetty. She stands there, tail wagging, searching for Peter. And when it is not his boat, she walks back so slowly, her head and tail down. At night, sometimes, I hear her crying in her sleep.

Billy: Crying? But why? She has the beach, the crabs, the jealous boyfriend… it’s a good life!

Kyaw Kyaw Oo: It is not a full life without him, Billy. She loves this island, but she loves Peter even more. I see her waiting, watching the sea day after day… and I worry. I worry that her little heart, so full of love for him, will break before he can return. I worry that one day… she might just die of sadness.

Kyaw Kyaw Oo looks down at Methu, stroking her head as she looks up at him with her big, soulful eyes. Billy is uncharacteristically silent, his great beak closed. The only sound is the gentle shushing of the waves on the shore of Moken Beach, a sound that has become a long, lonely vigil.