This is a story for all dog lovers. Don’t leave them alone for hours inside empty homes, don’t refuse to play with them. Don’t ever say no to them because they never say no to you. 

 

In the winter of 2010 I left home. Oh no I didn’t run away! I just joined my school’s hostel due to various reasons. I was starting my 10^th class that semester so it was probably the best things that happened to me. I grew socially, mentally and emotionally but what I couldn’t noticed was that someone else broke down equally.

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“Mom I am leaving are you coming?” I stood at the door patting my dog’s head. “hooj a gooood boy huh? Hooooj a gooooood boy” I stood there baby talking to my best friend as my mom closed the bathroom doors and hurried towards me.

“Come on let’s go!” she almost swept me up the ground and out of the door. It was always like this. She would be the one running late and I would be the getting pulled around.

“Bye Cash” we both waved to him as we made our way down the stairs. Cash just stood there silently as the wagging of his tail slowed down gently. We got into the car that my father had been waiting in and drove out of our apartment fast. The hostel wasn’t much far so we were there in about twenty minutes. It was already around 5 pm when they dropped me so there was not much time to exchange hugs and kisses, not that we would have anyways. Ours was an oddly cold family. We never felt the same emotions together. So this time as they looked like they would probably miss me for not being at home, I could not react much. It might seem like I was a cold person, but well I guess I learned it from them. Anyways I was now going to be staying out of the home forever now. After school there was collage and then getting a job; holidays were the only times I would be home now and there was someone I was missing. Cash. But I would meet him on specific weekends so I stood strong. It was soon past dinner time and I had to call home. Having cell phones was not allowed in the hostel so I silently crept back in my room, closed the lights and took out my phone from its hiding place.

Calling…connected…

“Hi how are you?” my mom asked in a heavy voice.

“I am good. It’s quite fun actually. How’s he?” I asked what I had been dying to know since I left home.

“He’s… fine, maybe not so”

“What do you mean?”

“He has been crying in front of the gate like an opera singer since we came back. I think he knows that you have moved.” She sighed as if it was something we had to hide and weren’t able to.

“Hmm… well I’ll talk tomorrow got to go before the warden comes. Bye.” I hung up abruptly before she could say bye in return and a tear tricked down. I was the one who had asked for a dog and now I was the one who deserted it. At least that is what I felt.

As the night grew darker and the hostel chatter subsided I heard a familiar bark outside my window. At first I thought it was a dream but when as I listened intently I concluded that it indeed sounded oddly familiar. I rushed to the window and moved the curtains to one side. At first I couldn’t see anything but after a few seconds of staring into the dark I spotted two glittery eyes staring right back at me. Cash being a black cross Labrador, was hard to spot in dark places.

“What the hell are you doing here!” I hissed in a loud whisper and my roommate mumbled in her sleep. Thankfully my room was at the ground floor not like my house where we were at the third floor, so I slowly unlocked the window and stepped out of the building.

As soon as I was on my two feet Cash lurched himself at me throwing me on the ground and started licking my face.

“Oi Oi stop” I whisperd but couldn’t help laughing out. He was so cute when he acted like this.

“What are you doing here you naughty doggy?” I asked him while holding his big face in my hands and kissing on his nose. “You are so cold! Wait” All he did in return was huff softly and wag his tail.

I got up and went inside the room to get my cell to call mom and picked up a blanket for the air at this time felt quite chilly and I didn’t want him to catch a cold. Again I got out of the window and sat down beside him, pulling the blanket over us. Cash licked my cheek once more and then rested his body my lap.

I started patting him lightly with one hand and went through my call logs with the other. Before I could hit the green phone icon my cell rang instead. It read mom calling.

“Well looks like a certain someone is in trouble” I teased Cash as I played with his ears. “They must have noticed you are missing.”

“Hello-?” I picked up the call but wasn’t given a chance to say anything. On the other side of the phone my mother went on and on about a long story which I pretty much lost track of somewhere in the middle.

“I see” was all I could say and hanged up the phone.

“It looks like they are having a fight Cashu, they’ll be here in the morning to take you” I told him and continued patting him till we both fell asleep on the pavement. When the first streak of dawn hit my face I opened my eyes with a little difficulty. As expected, sleeping outside like this made my whole body ache. When I looked around Cash was nowhere and the blanket was wrapped around me untidily. I got up shakily and entered my room. Closed the windows and curtains and sat down on my bed recalling last night’s call. Mom was crying.

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“I am so sorry dear. I am so sorry! It is all my fault. I should have paid more attention to him. He had been acting restless the whole time but I thought it was only for tonight. He somehow got out from the back window, you know that the latch was broken right, so he had no problems sneaking out silently. I don’t know when he did this but suddenly we heard a loud noise and horrible yelping sounds. I got up and ran down the stairs as fast as I could but… when I got there… Cash was already…” she drifted off sobbing uncontrollably.

“I see”

                                                                                    ——————

 

Cash was already no more when he came to me wagging his tail. He fallen between spiked metal wires and strangled to death… while trying to get close to me. Was I a horrible owner? No. Was he a stupid dog? No. Were the ones who separated us at fault? Maybe not.

MORAL: Dogs contain twice the amount of love we have for them. Getting a friend home and them leaving them behind is cruel. Though sometimes our hands are tied and we get separated due to others, but if you are a dog owner or a dog lover or both, I request you to take care of them with all your might because they are doing the same for you.

Don’t leave them alone for hours inside empty homes, don’t refuse to play with them. Don’t ever say no to them because they never say no to you.