The Woman opened the dog jail door and herded the small puppies out closing the door behind them. The puppy ran with the pack looking all around the huge, hard, white-painted concrete-walled room. “Ace! Are we free?!”
Ace chuckled as they ran. “Don’t I wish,” was his disappointing reply. “It’s outdwoor twime. I cawll mawrking da roseberry bush foist!” he barked to all. A solid door opened at the end of the room through which they ran outside. The air was much thicker and foul-smelling compared to the villa the puppy used to live on. The land was darker and dirtier and looked unforgiving with so many brick and concrete buildings so close together. If not for the big grass yard with trees and bushes he would have found it unacceptable. And the temperature was very high, being late June. By the time he reached the roseberry bush with Ace he was very hot and began panting as he hiked his right rear leg and emptied himself.
“’Ey, yooze!” Ace yapped. “Race-a yooze to da maple tree! Last one there is a Dawminic! Ha! Ha ha!” Of course Zippy arrived first and instigator Ace was the very last to arrive. “Ah ha!” they all laughed and hopped around Ace. “You’re a Dawminic! You’re a joik! Ha ha ha!” It was good for the puppy to socialize and have fun again.
The puppy heard giggling from behind him. He turned to see a dark brown Pekingese girlpuppy looking right at him. “Hi”, she said intently.
He bowed his head in embarrassment. “Hi,” he yapped back sheepishly.
“I ain’t seen you heah bafwore. You just get in last nwight?”
“Yeah,” he said demurely.
“You’re cute!” she said batting her big brown eyes with an eager wag. He just bowed his head again. He could hardly look her in the eyes. “My name’s Daizey.”
As Chihuahuas do, he bowed down with his rump in the air and made like he was crawling forward on the ground with his front legs and stretching his head forward.
“ROAFFF!!!” came the bone-rattling sound of Dominic’s pubescent but still big bark from right behind the puppy’s head. He spun and set himself to run or fight if he had to. “Heh heh heh heh heh.” The bigger dog leaned forward and almost whispered, “Whawddaya gwunna do ta me? Beat me up? Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaah!” Isolated from his new friends the pup could see them watching from well-behind the Doberman. “Chihuahuas’re stoopid!” he yelled. “When I grow up my poo will be bigga ‘dan you evvah will be! Ha ha ha ha haaah!” Then he looked at Daizey and barked, “You in love, huh? Let’sa see iffa ya fawll in love widda broken dawg.”
In a swift motion he turned and clamped his jaw on the puppy’s left front leg. The puppy screamed as pain burned through his entire leg. He hopped on his other 3 legs not daring to let the injured one touch the ground. Dominic turned toward Daizey who watched with a look of unbelief. “You’re stoopid too ‘cawze you’re a goil! Now gittouta heah!” Daizey ran into the girls’ puppy house and shook in fear, watching from the doorway. He looked down at the howling puppy and snarled, “I own you, Tiny!”
The Woman attendant came running out to investigate. She wrapped something around Dominic’s neck and led him away speaking very harshly to him all the while. By the time she returned for him the puppy was only whimpering but still aching severely and lying on his right side to protect it from being bumped to aggravate it.
He did notice she picked him up with both hands unlike The Man’s Woman back home who only needed one. He had just realized he was bigger than he used to be. But he was still tiny. She lifted him up and carried him unapologetically back to the dog-jail cell and set him on the dog bed in Ace’s corner. She propped him so that his injured leg hung down into a bowl of warm water. The warmth of the water began to calm and soothe his jangled nerves. Then she closed the door and shortly brought his friends back in.
...to be continued...
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