The Old Dog

The old dog wandered over the overgrown buttercups to the newly made tar road. He stopped by the back gate of a school that had been there since forever and sniffed around. His once shiny coat lost its shine and turned matte and tangled, the white fur splotched in dried mud. He plopped down onto his tail and scratched the back of his ear. The school bell rang.

Small children walked out of the gates and across the road. They littered as they crossed, throwing empty wrappers and plastic bags. The dog slowly walked over and barked, wagging his skinny tail. One of the little girls gave him a look and threw her half eaten sausage at him, hitting him on the head and then falling to the floor. He picked it up and gobbled it with bared teeth.

The dog then got up and walked over to the more neatly cut space in the middle of the buttercup field. Across the field and into the tall trees there held a dried-out swimming pool. He used to come here a lot. The swimming pool now grew old and algae covered the once pristine tiles.

Further back was a small river. The dog stopped and rolled out his tongue, lapping at the shallow stream. As he made his way back to the field, he stopped by the swimming pool again. It was still empty, the chairs beaten down by rain and swept by winds.

At the field, a group of small girls tugged open the handle of the gate guarding it with much difficulty and waddled through. They carefully closed the gate behind them and started their walk across the field to their dorms. The dog made himself a spot by the giant oak tree in the middle and watched the little girls skip through buttercups and giggle through it all.

The dog turned when he heard a growling and found a brother. The younger dog looked like him, white matte fur and dirty paws. He bared his teeth and the other sneered at him, turning away with its nose in the air and running back into the trees. He continued to watch the little girls head home, occasionally stopping to collect flowers to be made into a crown.

The sun slowly set and the little girls could be seen entering their dorms and the caretaker locking the door behind them. The dog finally got up and crossed the field, letting himself out and crossing the road. The new tar stained his paws even darker.

He wandered into an alleyway lined with small little houses made of old bricks and tin roofs. He ate the leftovers a mother threw out of the window and onto the streets outside. Heat radiated from the window and he kept moving. He then stopped by a garbage pile and nosed his way through the wreckage.

He found a stick. He dug through the pile and picked it up with his mouth. It was a good stick, it was easy to hold and the perfect length.

The dog continued on his way down the street.

His next stop was the house at the end of the street, sitting beside a hawker stall and another back alley. The gates rusted, the green paint peeling off. The hinges barely hung on and the wire lost its plastic coating. One of the two windows was broken, showing the empty living room inside. There was a couch and the rest were rubble and broken ceiling.

The dog carefully stepped over the sharp glass and trash that littered the front yard and dropped the stick onto the pile of sticks gathered on the front step, right under the roof. He curled up on a piece of newspaper, front paws folded over and resting his head on them. He snuggled his nose into the folded arms and closed his eyes.

It used to be so crowded here, children would be fighting to pet and play with him. The house used to be warm, his bowl used to be filled with leftovers of rice and meat. This was normal, his owner used to disappear for sometime, normally a week and then come back. Normally there would be a nice old lady with fun tennis balls that would play with him and feed him, maybe his owner simply forgot.

The dog looked at the newspaper under him. He could not read, but he would pretend to squint his eyes at something with words and his owner used to laugh at him. The newspaper showed the swimming pool, back when he used to go there all the time. In the picture, it was neat and shiny with crowds of people going back and forth. A small square beside the swimming pool showed his owner. The old dog smiled to himself, tongue rolling out. He looked handsome with the plain background.  

__________

Words: 814

By: T. Kimberly Xaffrina (2019)