Just a Dog

I am alone. No master anymore. She is gone. The apartment grew dark and rain began again. I jumped on the bed and let my furry head rest on a pillow. My master called me Sadie, I am a Labrador retriever. I don’t know why my master left me. She always goes out once a month, but she’s back the next day. But it has been almost a week now. The dog-food bag is running low, and I am hungry. The front door is locked, so I am trapped. I have been a faithful dog, I have always waited for her, but where is she? Have I been abandoned? A knock at the door. Is it my mind playing tricks on me? It came again. My ears perked up as I heard someone talk.

“Sherri? Sherri Edwards? It’s me, Mr. Sumner. I came to ask about the rent, you see, it’s very overdue.” He paused. “Is anyone home?” Another pause. I got off the bed and padded toward the door. A human can get me out, and I can find master. I stood on my haunches and scratched at the hard maple door. “Who’s there?” The man sounded scared so I stopped and let out a whimper. “Sadie? Is that you?” I scratched at the door again. In a signal that I wanted out. He got the message. “Well, I do have an extra set of keys...” A click. The creaky door swung open. Mr. Sumner’s round, red face met my eyes. I barked happily and trotted off toward the stairs leaving a confused landlord behind.

Once out on the road I tried to find master’s smell. It was old and very worn out, but it was here. Many people stared at me. Like I was a creature from another world. Haven’t they seen a dog before? Master’s scent led me across town to a department store. I almost lost it at a pizza shop because of all the wonderful smells. Tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon bits. It was like I was in a dream. It took all of my strength to keep following the trail of master. Eventually it led me to a movie house where I lost it for good. What could I do now? Master’s trail was gone and she certainly didn’t spend a week in the movie house. Where did she go? A new smell reached me. A fowl, dark one, like it belonged to a savage creature. And it went to the wildlife preserve.

“Hey! Shoo, you mangy mutt!”A man was running out of the theater with a broom in his hand. “I said get out!” I ran away, the same way as the new smell. It did not stop or liger anywhere, this animal was running away from something. The man with the broom? No, not away from something, running to something, the Wildlife preserve. Master used to tell me to stay away from the preserve, or I could get killed. But somehow I just knew that the sent I was following belonged to master.

It stopped. The scent stopped in the middle of the road. I could just see the preserve only a short distance away. What happened?

“Another wolf?” I looked to my right; two park watchmen were in a small house on the side of the road.

“No, no, the one you shot last week was a wolf, this is just a dog.” The other man spoke, both carried rifles.

“Oh, yes, yes, of course. I just meant….never mind. Let’s get it; it’s out of park limits. Ready?”

“I was born ready.” Both men loaded their guns and aimed them at me. I made a mad dash toward the preserve as the first shot rang out.

“Mangy dog is getting away! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it if it’s already dead!”

A bullet grazed my back right paw just as I made it into the trees. I could feel warm blood trickling down my fur. My paw stung but I was going to live. I looked up and saw a wolf standing before me, high and mighty, and it smelled like master.

The End