“I can’t understand why Terry has to get another dog. There’s so many of us already!” Tagpi posed the question while the three of them were in their crates during school hours.
Since there were only three crates, Polly had to join Popo in his. He was the only one nice enough to share the space with him.
Polly pretended to be asleep. He wanted to find out what these dogs think about him.
“We should get used to it. That’s how Terry is.” Bantay replied.
“Popo, I can’t believe you are taking another responsibility. Remember the time you got separated with Cattlily? I knew how difficult that time was for you. It was hard to start a friendship with someone and then having it abruptly end.” Tagpi said.
“What are you implying? That I should get mad at Terry for taking Cattlily away?” Popo whispered. He did not want to wake Polly up.
Polly always looked forward to mornings and afternoons just like Popo, Bantay, and Tagpi. At dawn, the three large dogs would assemble by the gate looking at the path where Terry would walk with a basket of food.Polly wanted to join them there. He was excited, too, but he was afraid he might rock the hierarchy. He felt then that it was only Popo who had truly accepted him. So he just content himself watching the three dogs welcome Terry. They jumped, they spinned at the mere sight of their human.“I do not know whether they had been trained but at least when it comes to patience and control at meal time, the three certainly displayed them to a T.”They just stayed in their open crates as Terry divided the food.“One, two, three bowls.” Polly counted. The bowl that Polly was using in the last few days was that thin microwavable plastic that always got ruined. Much like the temporary food bowls that Cornelio used f
It was tiring hopping from one situation to another. Polly missed the certainty that his mother and brothers brought to his life. It was truly a roller coaster ride for him since he was left alone.“Polly! Polly!” Polly heard voices calling his name in nothing short of a whisper. He looked around but saw no one.“Polly! Polly!” the voices called again. He stood up on all fours inside the closed crate. Polly looked at Tagpi and Bantay. It seemed like they were hearing the voices, too but preferred to just ignore it. Popo seemed to be doing the same.“Over here,Polly!” slowly he two heads started to appear from the left side of the front gate.“Martin? Bruno?…Am I dreaming?”The two dogs did not respond. They walked away.“Who’s Martin? Who’s Bruno? Popo asked.Polly sat before answering. “They are my friends.
“Woooh! Look at mom go!” Four tiny puppy heads watched as their mother jumped over the bushes three feet tall while they were taking a walk. After clearing the jump, Lily, their mother, peeped through the tiny space between the leaves - “Pass through here, my little boys. One day, you’ll be able to jump like that!” The puppies looked at one another, tails wagging except for Polly who still had not learned how to move his tiny tail. “Let Polly go first.” their mother said. Polly positioned himself. He was able to get his head out to the side where his mother was but he just could not get his body to pass all the way through. He could not get his left leg to bend. It kept on lodging onto the stem. “Faster, Polly! How hard can it be?” his older brother, Bitok impatiently shouted. It took Polly several tries and when he saw his brothers becoming angry, he leaned with all his energy even if it hurt
“Cornelio!” Mr. Ricky Santos called. Mr. Ricky Santos was a dog breeder. He had been breeding dogs for years. He had amassed large sums of money just from breeding dogs. One would think that one had to really have a heart for animals to become a breeder, but apparently, such was not the case for this guy. “Yes, Mr. Santos!” Cornelio came running all sweaty from all the cleaning he’s been doing practically the whole day. Cornelio was Cornelio Junior actually. He’s young at only 16 years old, tall but not muscular unlike his father, Cornelio, Senior. He was taking over his father’s duty as caretaker of the animals. Cornelio Senior got sick months ago and had not since come back to Mr. Santos’ farm. “Are all the kennels clean?” Mr. Santos said in his usual raspy voice, left hand on his waist and his right-hand fingers running along his moustache. “Almost done, Sir!” “Make sure, they’re all ready for to
“Wait for me! Wait for me!” Polly repeatedly screamed. He had never screamed that loudly before but loud as his voice was, his mother couldn’t hear him. He ran after the vehicle. No matter how painful it was to move his legs, he ran. He ran like he never ran before. He ran pretending to hear Basil’s voice egging him on. But the van got tinier and tinier in his sight until it totally disappeared from a distance. “Stupid dog!” Mr. Santos said as he watched Polly run after the van. Cornelio was about to run after Polly but - “Cornelio, what are you doing?” “I’m getting the dog, Sir.” “Just go clean up. Nobody wants that dog anyway.” Mr. Santos smirked as he walked back to his house. Meanwhile, a few blocks away from the farm, Polly sniffed the ground. He discovered early on that sniffing was his best weapon. He may not run very fast but boy could he sniff! He realized however
“Where does this energy come from?” Polly asked himself. “Hours ago, I was lying helpless waiting for death and now?… Wow!” There were times when he felt so confident about himself. He walked with a swagger to the beat of the music in his head. His mother liked it when he walked like that. She thought that walk made him even cuter. The song in his head was Roamby the B-52s, another band from the 80s. If there was one thing good about Mr. Santos, it’s the music that he played in the farm. He remembered seeing everyone’s head bobbing to this tune, much like those toy dogs in people’s cars. Sometimes he imagined himself wearing sunglasses as he danced to this. Boy Mercury shooting through every degreeOh girl dancing down those dirty and dusty trailsTake it hip to hip, rocket through the wildernessAround the world the trip begins with a kiss
The street that used to be abandoned during that thunderstorm of the night before was waking up to a brand new day. Somehow the rains had brought a deeper hue to the surroundings - the leaves are more green, the flowers are more red, more yellow, more orange - the earth more brown - “Hmmmmm” as he inhaled the smell of the morning breeze, coupled with various scents from all over - people, food!“Food, Oh my God! I feel like I have forgotten how food tastes like.” “Shoo! Shoo!”coupled with a mild whip of walis tingtingon Polly’s small frame. He cried with no sound walking backwards away from an elderly woman who was doing her early morning sweep of the frontyard. “I didn’t see that coming!” Polly sighed. While that was not the first time he felt a whip on his body or being shooed away, it still did not lessen how it felt deep in his chest. But it was not the time to be sad. There was
It’s been almost a week that he’s out in the streets but it felt longer. It was starting to feel like fulfilling his first mission - to eat, was more difficult than he had originally expected. Of course, that’s discounting the bits and pieces of food he would find on the street - the ones covered with all sorts of dirt or the ones left at the bottom of a can that’s just so difficult to reach no matter how much he extends his tongue. Polly never noticed how far he had gone until from out of nowhere, a pellet fell in front of him. He was looking at it at the corner of his eyes and was fighting himself not to get close to it but it was just too tempting. “It smelled like chicken…no, no… it smelled like pig meat… no, wait, it’s turkey! Wow, turkey? Where did that come from?” He moved a step closer avoiding not to look at it directly. For a while he thought he was hallucinating and then he jumped onto that piece covering it with his paws. He teased himself by loo