Dog

Tuesday May 28, 2013

Dog, present-day

purebred gray and white pit bull, 9 kg

“We’re here.” The car jolted to a final stop, with a sound from the front that meant we were to get out. I stood up and started to pace. We all grew restless.

“Shaddup!” Al growled. “Man, I can’t wait to get rid of these dogs.”

The Humans got out. I watched them through the small window, scrambling to turn when they moved to the side of the Car, around to the back of the trunk. Al opened it and I saw the world outside.

And then, another Human. So far I’d only seen a few of these Creatures in my life. The one in the grassy field with that other thing, a dog but not like me or my family, was also a new one. I saw this Human, with the same traits of furless skin except for the mop on their head, and bright materials on their bodies called clothes. But it was different than the Humans I knew. The four of them were not related. I barked at it. It was a female.

“Shaddup!” Mary slammed against the side of my crate, tumbling me to the back of the wires where they dug into my back. Hurt. I had barked. Hurt had reproached me. But this was familiar. The Human and my surroundings? Not so much.

“Hello, Joclyn,” Mary said to the new Human. I stared at her and bared my teeth a little. She was a shrewd small Human with short dark fur and something over her eyes. But Mary’s voice was sweet and kind to the Human. Too sweet and kind; it was fake. I didn’t trust Mary so I wouldn’t trust the newcomer.

All of us barked and snarled at her. Instead she peered over at us and inspected us. I snarled. The things on her face enlarged her eyes. It was creepy.

“They’ve haven’t been socialized. At all,” she remarked. “I’ll bet the only humans they’ve ever seen are you two.”

“And the doctor and the people we drive by, Joclyn,” Al said defensively. The new Human was “Joclyn,” I noticed.

The Human looked at him critically. “Do you really think that’s all these dogs need, Al?”

Al’s temper rose immediately, and he bared his teeth. Not noticing his expression, the new Human bared hers back, only she acted genuinely.

I didn’t like this person, who infuriated Al even faster than Mary or us dogs did. And when Al was angry, that meant hurts for us. I shrank and reminded myself to resent this “Joclyn.”

“And what is this? Scratch marks? Is that made by the glass of a beer bottle?” She swooped down low and looked at my chest with her owl eyes. I snarled and lunged at the cage door. Mary shouted and slammed me to the back. Hurt. Lots of it. My leg folded underneath me, and I whined as loud as I could. Mary was about to slap the crate again, but Joclyn grabbed her arm. Hatred and daggers oozed from my Human’s eyes.

“You know I could report you for animal abuse, right?” Joclyn said calmly.

“You can’t accuse us of anything. We’ve been good caretakers,” Mary snapped defiantly, to which Joclyn make a snorting sound at.

“Good? You beat them. You put them in tiny wire crates. Abandonment. Neglect. You throw beer bottles at them. And they stink. You leave them wallowing in their own filth. There’s crap on their paws. They’re so small. Animal abuse. You call this good?”

“They must be beaten to be broken in; stupid beasts like them wouldn’t learn any other way,” Al grunted. “They must obey the master that rules over them. That master is me, because I break them in and I give them sturdy discipline. They obey me.”

“They fear you, Al.” Joclyn, despite her tiny size, seemed to grow taller than Al’s huge frame. At that time I didn’t notice, but now I remember that it was one of the most interesting parts about a Human; with a small size you could still be more powerful than a huge brute like Al. In the dog world, you would be gobbled up.

“Will you take them in or not?” Mary sighed impatiently, but I noted the fear in her eyes. What was she so scared about? Al was her Mate and if Joclyn did anything Al was there.

Joclyn frowned. “I will for your sakes. And the dogs’.” She looked at us and I glared at her. I felt that she was sticking up for us, but not because she cared for us. Because there were benefits. That was how Humans worked. There was even a certain disinterest in the Human towards us.

“You’re talking about a pay raise.” Mary sounded defeated, like she’d had the other day in the fight with Al. It wasn’t a question, either.

Joclyn reached over and grabbed the first crate, my brother’s. He scrabbled on the bare wire floor and whimpered in fear. Al’s eyes glowed and it looked as if he were going to slap my brother, but his cage was in Joclyn’s arms. In her arms, we were safe, I supposed, from that huge hurting hand.

“This is the black market, Mary. To protect you two from the law I’ll take them in. But there’s maintenance and keeping the dogs clean, giving them a safe environment, feeding, erasing your records...” Joclyn looked up to the sky and made motions with her hands. I looked up too. There was nothing interesting. But what she was saying was making Al angry. I instinctively crawled to the back of my crate.

“Alright alright! Just shut up and get the dogs outta here.” Al grabbed fistfuls of paper from a pouch that smelled enticingly like leather, and started unloading the cages roughly from the Car. I didn’t know where we were...this was completely different from where we usually touched down after a Car ride.

My crate was being picked up by Joclyn. She smelled unfamiliar and thankfully, the odors of smoke and the stinging stuff didn’t cling to her the way they clung to my Humans. But I didn’t know her. She wasn’t the person in the bright building. I tried to resist growling to avoid hurts.

She set down my cage. I looked up. It was a huge Human dwelling, much bigger than the Humans’. I was somewhere different, where the air was fresh and trees sprang up everywhere. Plants gave off interesting scents, as did the porch; all waiting to be explored. I grew excited, but the real reason of why we were here was still unclear.

I was too interested in my surroundings to really look back at the Humans, talking and doing business. I poked my nose out from the wires and sniffed at everything I could. My crate was close to a leaf, so I bit that off and tried tasting it.

And then before I knew it, my brother whined. It was a small whine; he was shrewd. But I turned back around and realized that Joclyn was standing there, making movements with her hands and looking into the distance.

Alone.

The Car was gone.

That was fear in itself. I had not learned to become independent from my Humans, however horrendous they were.

But.

Where was my mother?