I Among Dogs

Chapter 33: Sympathy for a Bully

 Word about me and Ayumi got out rather quickly. Within just a few days, most of the neighborhood knew about our slowly building relationship with each other.

At this rate, I figured it was finally time to ask the big question towards Andrew regarding the legality of such relationships between humans and bipedal dogs.

According to him as it turned out, romantic relationships and onwards of those kinds were in fact banned, at least until the early 1900's when the ban was lifted after autopsy reports revealed just how truly similar bipedal dogs were to us, not just in capabilities and anthropomorphism but also from internal organ structures.

And whilst human and biped-dog relationships were rare, it was at least relieving to know that both societies had decided it to be acceptable so neither me or Ayumi were going to be in any legal trouble any time soon.

There was just the matter of her family's views of our new flame to worry about.

Despite Ayumi's initial embarrassment from our couple status being made public, she managed to get used to it rather quickly, admitting that out of everyone in the world, it would be me she'd rather be with.

With us now starting off as boyfriend and girlfriend, we often had conversations with each other on a mobile video chat app called Faceytalk which I remember Brandy once mentioned to me about. To me, it was kind of like Skype but mixed with Snapchat since it had the features of filters and drawing on the screen. And quite often, Bluey and Bingo would join me on my side to say "Hi" to Ayumi, who was always happy to see them.

Speaking of Bluey and Bingo, both their parents had a long and exhausting day related to work and had requested that I help with their bedtime routine. Whilst Bandit playfully wished me luck as if it was going to be like pushing a boulder up a hill like Sisyphus, Chilli on the other hand knew the kids would be easy for me to work with considering how much they look up to me.

Being the oldest, Bluey was somewhat stubborn about getting ready for bed, claiming that she wasn't tired, yet something would happen afterwards that would automatically prove her wrong whether it be her letting out a little yawn or rubbing one of her eyes.

Whilst Bluey was getting herself dried after a shower, I was in the bathroom helping Bingo with her bath, making sure I was firmly yet gently pressing my fingers into her fur to give it a thorough wash. I've heard a few stories about how chaotic giving a non-anthropomorphic dog a bath could be, often resulting in the owner getting themselves wet and a lot of barks and howls of disapproval from the dog in question, but with Bingo, it was a walk in the park.

As I was washing the red heeler, I soon noticed a look on her face that looked as if she was in deep thought. It would only be a second or two later when I'd learn the reason for this expression.

"Nathan?"

"Yeah, Bingo?"

"Do you remember when Banjo used to call me "bobohead" and do other mean things?" My eyes went half-lidded upon recalling Bingo's first former bully who made himself to be a piece of work until Bingo reformed him.

"Like the back of my hand." Then my eyes widened a little before I took on a firm tone. "He hasn't started name calling you or your friends again, has he?" Bingo quickly shook her head 'No' to reassure me that wasn't the case.

"I was thinking... Are there humans that can be mean like he was?"

An unexpected but understandable question. Whilst humans and biped-dogs were similar in body functions and intelligence, they were also capable of good and bad karma.

Bingo would've been shocked to know just how many humans could be bad, ranging from petty disgust to pure evil from what I've learned in history class.