The man whose 20-year-old son was gruesomely murdered two years ago finally had something to smile about when their beloved dog was returned almost a week after it went missing.
Nicola Romano shed more tears when he learnt Rocky was alive and kicking but they were different from those that streamed down his face day and night since the dog failed to return home.
The day after he spoke to The Times on Sunday to raise awareness about his lost dog – a “symbol” of his dead son – Mr Romano received a call to inform him Rocky had been found in Xemxija.
Mr Romano said he was overjoyed. “When I entered the shop on Monday morning, I looked at my son Gaetano’s photo on the shelf and prayed to him.”
Gaetano’s charred body was discovered by his father in an industrial oven in their workshop a day after his 20th birthday. He had six nails hammered into his head. The case is still unsolved.
“I received a call from a woman at 12.15 p.m. telling me a dog that fitted Rocky’s description had been found and kept in an open garage in Xemxija since last week. My wife and I immediately drove there to pick it up,” the 69-year-old Sicilian, who has been living in Malta for 32 years, said.
“Luckily, they were animal lovers too and they realised the dog was not abandoned.
“As I drove round the roundabout and Rocky was walking towards me from the other end, he practically dropped the man holding him on the lead as he ran to my jeep and pounced on it like a hare. He was jumping for joy when he saw me.”
The reunion lit up not only Mr Romano’s life but also Rocky’s, according to his owner.
Rocky is treated like a baby in the Romano household: he is fed soft cheese and salami for breakfast and only meat for the rest of his meals. Since he returned, he has not left his kennel in the house, other than to do his business. He was washed and fed and is now enjoying his warm kennel, which is equipped with a soft cushion for his head and a blanket to keep out the cold.
Mr Romano does not know how the brown Labrador ended up in Xemxija from his home in Buġibba and doubts whether the dog, which does not really know his way around, could have walked there.
“I know Rocky like the back of my hand,” Mr Romano said, adding he had never spent more than five hours away from home and still hung around the garage where Gaetano worked and was found dead.
Another pet, belonging to the Romanos, had suffered a much worse fate: he was found bound by tape in a suitcase on a construction site some months before Gaetano was murdered.
But his owner never worried Rocky would have to endure such a horrible destiny. “He is too beautiful. He would have been taken away because he is so liked.”
Mr Romano expressed his gratitude to The Times and to timesofmalta.com for helping him retrieve his second son.
He said the people who found Rocky had attempted to call the police but to no avail. On Monday, timesofmalta.com carried a heart-rending appeal by Mr Romano, together with his telephone numbers, and they were able to contact him.