Rock Dog: The Retold Story

Chapter 12 - Zenzenzense

Singapore

A female Mastiff was busy tying her hair up to form a ponytail. She was inside the bathroom of a shared flat, her brown hair almost covering her bright face.

The yellow shirt and brown pants were very comfortable with her, especially her sleep last night. She had a similar look to a village mastiff, and a village was where she was from.

Returning from the bathroom, she opened the door to a large master bedroom that sleeps three occupants. A bunk bed was where her two flatmates slept (they had tidied up their room and had left the house for an early shift) but she slept on the floor, the mattress still not properly kept.

(Song: "In a Heartbeat" by Sylvia Ratonel)

She opened one of the drawers at the television cabinet to find a purple photo album inside. She opened it up to find photos of her with a mastiff family: a male and a baby male. The baby male was just born at that time.

She flipped the pages to find more photos of her with the baby mastiff as well as the village where she had grown up with. Great times for her as she smiled to the cute photos of her baby son walking for the first time, saying his first word and the best part: playing the guitar by himself.

She thought of something, go to a pad of paper and wrote the following.

To my husband who had sent me away for my safety:

I heard words from a song that came from this country. I felt it was close to my heart and I felt compelled to share this with you.

The chorus of the song goes like this:

In a heartbeat

I'll be there for you

In a heartbeat

no one else will do

In a heartbeat

we will always be

together, united, you and me

In a heartbeat

time has passed us by

In a heartbeat

we will reach the sky

In a heartbeat

this will always be

our people, our country

this is our family

As she wrote the line 'this is our family', she stopped writing. She wanted to continue writing on, but she could not stop the flow of tears streaming out her eyes.