A Scrappy Tale - Tragedy

     The puppy was awakened once again by the familiar jaws of Dominic around his shoulders. He was shaken violently and thrown against the brick wall. Fighting through the pain he looked at Dominic who sat down in the middle of the cell and laughed at him. Then he bolted to the little Chihuahua and scooped him up again. He threw the pup completely across the cell against the door. Before the puppy could get up, Dominic towered over him barking and snarling furiously. The Woman ran to the door, unlocked it and came in with a long black stick. When she touched the end of it to Dominic’s hind quarters it snapped loudly and Dominic yelped and recoiled away. The puppy stood up and wagged his tail when he saw it. This angered Dominic even more. He stretched toward the puppy and barked his rage drawing another snap! from the Woman’s prod. He stopped long enough for her to leash him and take him out to the play yard.

     As she led the puppies out to the yard upon her return Ace said, “Maybe you shouldn’t be messin’ wit’ him, huh? He’s really mad.”

     “Yeah, he’s mad alright,” answered the puppy. “He just caught me too relaxed. An’ I ain’t got enough health to wait for justice ta happen around here. I’m scrappin’ ma brain every day. An’ someday, I’ma gonna catch ‘im when he slips up just da wrong way!”

     He ran with his friends in the play yard wrestling, yapping, and marking bushes until he saw Daizey come out with the girl pups. She wagged her tail at him and he happily hopped his way to her. “You looka like you’ve hadda rough stwart ‘dis mwornin’,” she said sympathetically.

     “Yeah,” he groaned gently lying down in front of her. “Another Chihuahua-bag tawss.”

     “Aww,” she pitied him. She lied down opposite him and began washing his paws. “I hope someone claimza yoo soon. I know you’ll get outa heah.”

     “So do I,” he answered. “And I am gettin’ outa heah soon, too. If I knew how, I’d find a way ta take you too, Daizey.”

     “Aww, you’re sweet. Hey, I hoid about Dawminic wettin’is bed an’ him blamin’ you. Who really put ‘is paw inna da wawtah bowl?”

     “Who said anybody put it in there? For all any of us know it coulda’ just fell in there in his sleep.”

     She stopped washing his paws and thought for a moment then said, “Oh, now ‘dat’sa good! You’re getting’ really smawrt. Where you come from?” She resumed washing.

     “Sicily.”

     “Really?! Whawt’sa it like there?”

     “Hawt. But green. And clean. I had a great family ‘til we got split up. I missa my mamma. Her last words to me were defend what I believe, help others who need it and obey the code. I still don’t know what ‘the code’ is.”

     Daizey stopped washing again to look at him stunned. “I’ve hoid of ‘dat! ‘Doze ‘dat live by it cawll it ‘Omerta’, da code of silence, bacawze ‘dey nevvah tawlk about it inna da open.”

     “About what?”’

     “’ Cosa Nostra di Cane’, Our Little Dog Thing. ‘Dey say it’s a gang of dawgs nawt related by blood but helpa each othah like family. ‘Dey’s dangerous animals.” The phone inside the dog-prison rang and the Woman went inside to answer it.

     “Cosa Nostra di Cane! ‘Dat’s what my Papà showed me about! ‘Dat must be why he was away from home so much. And he never talked about it. I wish I knew what it was.”

     “I’m shyoor you’ll figgerrit out. You’re smawrt. I’ll bet you’re scrappin’ yer brain now. You do so much wit’ so little help. You’re a very scrappy Chihuahua.”

     He relaxed so much at the sensation of her washing his paws his eyes almost entirely closed while his head was still above the ground. Then he felt something inside his soul. Something bad was raising the fur on his neck. Before he could think another thought he heard Daizey’s voice screaming in pain and saw the little Pekingese in the jaws of Dominic who had swooped in from behind him without a sound. Dominic chomped hard on the the little dog’s neck. The puppy stood to his paws devastated by the sound of her bones breaking. Dominic deliberately forced his crushing jaws closed again. More bones snapped but her screaming stopped. Dominic chomped again looking directly into the puppy’s eyes. He saw Daizey’s shaggy body slump out of the sides of the beast’s mouth and he felt empty of all feeling inside.

     Dominic tossed Daizey’s body inside the girl’s cell through the doorway. He looked right at the puppy and laughed softly, then walked away. The puppy looked at Daizey lying in a clump many feet away. He was unable to think. He was unable to feel. He was unable to speak or even hear anything around him. He was crushed! The Woman returned from the phone call to herd the girl pups back to their cells but didn’t notice anything out of place until the head count. She finally found the body and quickly herded the boys to their cells.

     The Chihuahua puppy lied down by himself in the corner to the left of the gang bed. All was quiet. No one went near either him or Dominic. He managed to sleep for a couple hours before being awakened by Dominic softly laughing just above his ear.

...to be continued...