Dog Story

[lu101]

I wrote this awhile ago and am asking for some feedback. Thanks!


Yuki looked up, his Akita Inu eyes shining as his curled tail wagged furiously. The boy, his boy, was finally home. Unable to contain his excitement, Yuki jumped up to his full height and thoroughly slobbered his boy’s face. His fluffy fur covered his boy’s hands as the man pushed Yuki off of him. “Sit!” Yuki sat instantly, his mouth tight in anticipation. He loveloveloved when his boy gave him a job. Maybe they would hunt deer like they had that one winter. Or maybe they would go running, chasing anything that moved. Or maybe they would go to the agility course. Yuki had had the BESTEST time there. Yuki drooled, dreaming of the treats that always followed the see-saw trick. The man sighed and rubbed Yuki’s head. “Good dog” he breathed, sinking into the recliner. “I know you can’t understand me boy, but I hope you know how sorry I am. I can’t afford this house, my parents won’t take you in too. I’m sorry boy, really sorry.” The man sighed again, deeply. “You’re strong and smart, you’ll be alright on the street. The pound though… you wouldn’t last a day, you’re not a puppy and no one wants a bear dog.” Yuki wagged his tail as his licked his boy’s face. I love you, even if I can’t understand you. He thought, and curled up next to his master for the night.

The next morning Yuki woke up late. His boy was putting things in boxes again, just like the past few weeks. Yuki yawned and stretched before trotting sleepily up to his boy. He wagged his tail and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. “Hey boy” the man said softly as he finished taping the last box. “I’m really gonna miss you, but you’ll be ok. Hell, you’re so friendly you’ll probably find a new family before I get to my parents house.” The man smiled wistfully and scratched Yuki‘s ears. A few hours later the man finished packing the boxes into his parent’s car. “Yuki! You see the bird? Go get it, get the bird!” The man yelled, his voice deceivingly high as he gestured towards a far-off tree. Yuki ran barking for all he was worth, ready to attack the tree his boy didn’t like. He finally reached the tree, then spun around in disbelief as a car started. His boy never left him alone outside. Yuki sprinted back to the house and up the porch. The doors were locked tightly and his boy was gone. Yuki landed hard on his haunches and cocked his head at the door. Maybe the boy would be back soon with food, that was the only reason he left during the weekend. So Yuki lay on the cold concrete porch and waited. His boy would be back soon, he just had to come back soon.

Yuki clawed and cried at the door on the fifth night. His boy still hadn’t come back, but Yuki knew he would eventually. The boy always came back, always. Yuki whined again and curled back into a small furball on the cold, hard porch. He would wait for his boy. The next day a van drove up to the house. Yuki stood up and wagged his tail, but it was not his boy. Two burly men came out of the large van and started for the house. “Is this the right address? It looks abandoned.” One man muttered. “It’s a foreclosure, what did you think it would look like? Besides, we just have to get the stuff in, not live here.” His companion replied. Yuki jumped forward to greet the men, his grey tail wagging cautiously. The men recoiled in terror at the sight of the dark grey Akita Inu with a splash of white on his breast. Yuki tried to get closer and sniff them, but they fled to the car. He sat down at the bottom of the porch steps and cocked his head as they sped away. Why was everyone leaving him? He had nothing wrong. He had just tried to be a good dog. It was clear though, if other men were trespassing without the boy’s presence. Yuki’s boy was never coming back. Yuki glanced back one last time as he trotted off into the night.

Yuki woke up to his first morning alone. A light drizzle greeted his starving eyes. Starving for food, water, his boy. Yuki yawned and stretched to wake up, his cracking joints could be heard for blocks in the damp city. He crawled out of the thrown-away box he had sheltered in that night. He glanced furtively and slunk between the dirty alleyways of the city. Yuki saw a young man walking by on the sidewalk and trotted up with his head low and tail wagging. The man sneered as Yuki came near and kicked him hard between the ribs. “Stupid mutt, go back to your damn trashcan.” He muttered, walking away. Yuki took a few minutes to get up he was so shocked. No human had ever hit him before. He just stayed limp and stared at the man as he left. Yuki shakily stood up, whining mournfully to himself. He now slid into doorways anytime a human came near enough to see him. He finally, invisibly, made it to the park he had run with his boy. The sky was closing as Yuki entered the tree line of the park. He curled up under a small sweeping pine tree, ready for another cold night.

Yuki opened his black eyes to birds singing and squirrels chattering. He rose for the day in his usual fashion, but sleeping under the pine had been far more comfortable than the cold concrete of the city back alleys. He poked his head out into the meadow of the park, carefully smelling for nearby men. Scenting none, he slowly slipped into the park. His ears perked up. He sniffed the air and was instantly crouched to his belly. One step at a time he crept forward silently. Closer, closer, closer, POW!! He had it! A nice fat squirrel that had been eating a nut on the ground. Hungry, he bolted the squirrel down whole. Licking his chops, Yuki froze. He had just killed something. He had even eaten the squirrel when it lay dead at his paws. He shook himself and backed away slowly. He just kept backing up and shaking until he ran butt first into a boulder. Yuki yelped undignified and shot off to the other end of the park. There Yuki saw Wilson, a German Shepherd that lives with his former boy’s best friend. Yuki came out of the trees, barking joyfully and wagged his tail for all he was worth. Wilson growled in return as Yuki skidded to a stop a few feet away. He whined a little and Wilson growled again. Wilson’s man pulled him back and shouted at Yuki. “Go away dog, get out of here! This park is for leashed dogs, not unwanted mutts!” Yuki whined again and backed away, hurt and confused.

For the next few weeks Yuki stayed at the park, but out of sight of the other dogs. He had tried to make friends, but all had ostracized him. Some growled, most just pretended he wasn’t there. So he watched them play with their humans and each other and imagined he could join them. There’s the Husky dog, playing with the Collie bitch again. If only that was me romping with her. I would play until my lungs burst, if only somedog would see me, I’m not the savage they think I am. Yuki whined again, forlorn and lonely, as he drifted off to painless sleep.

He noticed more about the park than he ever had before. Being ignored, he started to look around him and began to really see things. The park was in fact two square miles, a round meadow in the center of a thin buffer of trees on one side and a half mile long woods on the other. Pine and oak trees intermingled and they were hundreds of flowers in the main park meadow. Squirrels and all kinds of birds filled the meadow, while foxes and the occasional deer patrolled the wood. Yuki never killed again; instead he dozed during the day and raided trashcans in the dark. He was truly alone.

Yuki pricked his ears up at the strange howl. It was like no dog howl he had ever heard before, not even the strange howl of the foxes quite resembled it. Yuki sleepily got to his paws, trotting off towards the strange howl. His ribs now showed through his thinning long grey fur as he ran. His once bright eyes were sunken and his tail bones were visible. He grunted at the effort the run had taken, stopping at the end of the city. He had run all the way through the park and the city following that howl. It drew him like drug, its toxic sound aroused parts of him he had long buried. He felt the tug of pack and of bloodlust, shining eyes on a moonlit night and howling together for the joy and power of life. Yuki entered the forest as the howl lit up the air again. He began to run again, desperate to find the source of the sound.

Yuki broke through the trees into a small clearing. A single boulder jutted from the ground, plateauing at the peak in stark contrast against the forest brush. At the top outlined against the starry sky was a black she-wolf. Piercing yellow eyes arrogantly looked through Yuki as the she-wolf threw up her head and howled again. Yuki stared for a minute and then he felt it. His howl ripped through him to roar into the shadows of the forest. At his howl the she-wolf faltered for a moment, then howled again full and clear. Yuki matched his own howl to hers and they sang their duet to the rising moon.

Tali opened her golden eyes to an emaciated grey frame curled next to her own. She sniffed him and thought of the previous night. She remembered their song and the run that came after, the playful tackle that ended in the two becoming one under the stars. Her new mate stirred and Tali wagged her tail. He blinked at her and then started wagging as well. He licked her face in a puppyish manner and she started licking him back in the same way. Soon it devolved into a grooming session that lasted until the sun dappled the forest floor through the thick canopy.

Tali and Yuki didn’t leave their flattened nest until the moon mirrored the sun. They rose as one and the forest embraced them, carrying them into its heart.

[lu101]

Bump

[lu101]

Bump

[lu101]

Bump