Dog Star

Claire

Claire followed Yellow as she padded through the streets. The task was made easier by the fact that she didn't have to bother sidestepping any wooden benches, concrete dividers, vehicle parts, and makeshift food stalls in her way since she could simply pass through them. She made a point of avoiding the humans, though, as passing through them left her with the nasty feeling of having her insides stroked by an ice-tipped feather-duster. Animals, too, as she'd learned after a run-in with an extremely confused chicken, although the animals tended to sense her coming and so kept their distance. Unfortunately, there were too many people out in the streets for unhindered movement, which meant she often lagged several steps behind Yellow.

The dog moved purposefully, slowing only to sniff the air and get her bearings. That purpose was simple: to find food. Simple it might be, but as Claire quickly discovered, easy it was not.

Yellow stopped often to check the piles of garbage that seemed to collect in random corners, nosing hopefully through dirty plastic bags, crumpled boxes and other things Claire found herself grimacing in disgust at. Sometimes Yellow would find something—a bit of sauce from a stew left over in a plastic bag, a few grains of rice, a popsicle stick with lingering hints of flavor, a fragment of a soda cracker one lucky time. But they were pitifully inadequate, and Yellow's foraging would inevitably be interrupted by some shouting human swinging a stick, a broom or a slipper at her. A bunch of boys pelted her with stones, and an old lady standing in front of her gate threw a dipper of water at her. Yellow cringed and whined and darted away, ears pulled back and tail between her legs, but hunger was a relentless slave-driver and off she would go again on her mission.

She stopped by a tire vulcanizing shop to lap at the water in the trough made out of a tire cut in half. The water was black with filth but the dog drank thirstily, up until the mechanic working in that shop stalked over to her and kicked her in the flank. Yelping, she fell onto her side and floundered, trying to get back on her feet, while the mechanic laughed at her and drew his leg back again.

"Hey! Stop, you asshole!" Claire shouted, catching up to Yellow. She rushed up and kicked the man in the shin, which had no effect on him at all and only resulted in her losing her balance and nearly stumbling into the trough. Fortunately, Yellow managed to scramble away in time to avoid the kick and sped away, glancing back at Claire over her shoulder.

Claire soon realized that Yellow's meanderings hadn't been as random as she'd thought when they ended up at a small salon. A skinny man with frizzy orange hair held back by a headband, wearing a purple tank top and denim cut-offs, stood in the doorway fanning himself. Like the boy, Gio, this man recognized Yellow and greeted her with a welcoming smile, which Yellow returned with a few cautious wags of her tail. He spoke to her, called her Beauty, then disappeared into the salon. This routine seemed to be a familiar one to Yellow, though, because she headed right into a narrow crack between the salon and the sari-sari store beside it. Claire hesitated, then squared her shoulders and followed the dog into the tiny, damp alley that smelled of dirty canal water.

The space opened into small backyard with rows of towels drying on a line. As Yellow wagged her tail and did her pattering dance with her forelegs, the man came out the back door with food scraps in a dish, which he piled in a heap directly on the ground. The mess of leftovers turned Claire's stomach but it disappeared quickly as the dog gobbled it up.

"You're getting thinner and thinner, Beauty. What have you been doing to yourself?" the man murmured. A voice yelled from inside the house and he winced. "Ay dios mio. Better eat fast and leave before anyone else sees you," he told Yellow before going back inside.

Yellow gave Claire a look as if to say "well, you heard him", then headed back up the alley. Claire was left to trail after her again, muttering, "Will you stop trying to leave me behind? You and Kiko, you're just the same."