Dog Days

Part 1

You would not believe the excitement of watching leaves fall. The rustle and flutter as they release from their branches, and flit slowly on the breeze as they glide towards the ground. The soft little noises they make as they meet their companions in piles around the yard. There really isn't anything quite like the turn of autumn to get my heart beating.

Okay, so watching leaves drift to the grass wasn't that spellbinding, but give me a break. I was a fucking dog. And ever since my two favorite humans left the house, life has been pretty dull. The older pair barely paid any attention to me unless it was to strike out, or if they needed to parade me around to their pack to show their pedigree. It seemed like all they ever did was show me off, only to kick me until I couldn't move for some offense that I couldn't understand the moment we got home.

Even the cat who lived in the next house over—nearly a mile away—hadn't been around since my humans had gone away. Her scent used to coat the back garden gate, calling me with a musky sweet flavor that I wanted in my fur. She was my favorite thing to chase, favorite to stalk and hunt through the woods nearby. The best thing in the world, save my humans. Squirrels just weren't as much fun. And they didn't smell half as good.

I huffed a breath and watched the yellow leaf that had landed on my front paw flutter away in the wind. I waited on the front porch with the older human female—the one that smelled wrong and shouted. Why, I had no idea, and I couldn't ask anyhow. Whenever I bothered her or she was angry at me, her long red claws would pinch in my skin and dig into the slight space under my collar. Her scent on my fur made me sneeze for days and gave me the continuous urge to eat grass. She didn't like me almost as much as she got my back up.

Finally, a black Ford truck came careening around the final turn to the house, dirt kicked up behind the speeding vehicle blotting out the view across the valley. One of my people was home. I could almost taste his scent on the back of my tongue, but didn't dare move an inch and had to hold my excited tail in check. If I didn't want a swift kick from the evil one I had to remain outwardly unaffected, while inside my heart was hammering a mile a minute.

She didn't like it that her twin pups had taken to me. I was a pet, not to be noticed unless she and her asshole of a mate were showing me off to their equally deplorable pack. But once she had fussed over her pups on the front porch for all to see—though I never smelled anyone near—she would disappear into the house for her two-thirty vodka tonic, and wouldn't pay a lick of attention to either of the twins until it was time for them to abandon me again while she got day drunk and either passed out or her mate came home.

James pounded up the steps to the front porch and endured a long hug from his mother, while he looked at me, rolling his eyes. My hackles rose as she held my person in her embrace, getting her acrid scent all over his nice clean earthy smell. As she released him, she gave me a smirk like she somehow knew what I was thinking. Bitch made my skin itch.

"Oh, darling." Mrs. Dolcetta did everything but pinch her son's cheeks, patting his face before she steered him into the house, her hand so tight on his arm that I could see the skin change color, those nasty nails making half moon marks that wouldn't fade for hours.

I knew what she was doing. She was marking her territory. But James and I knew the truth. She might have birthed him, but I stood by his side. Both he and Emma, his litter mate, were my people. They loved me and showered me with treats and pats, they took me for long walks instead of shoving me thoughtlessly out the back door. They curled up in their beds, their arms around me at night and would whisper their dreams in my ears. James and Emma wanted out of this house as much as I did. I hoped one day they would get their wish. It didn't seem that was in the cards for me though.

I looked out over the property searching for a glimpse of my human's sister, but couldn't even catch a peek at her tiny vehicle. Emma was probably running behind. She always arrived after her brother. James told me once that girls take longer, but I think it was just 'cause James drove faster.