The dog looked at him, contemplating whether or not to
follow her master. She had been unable to resist the smell of something, and
had run off despite his calls, leash and all. He made his way over to her, intending
on berating her, before he saw what she was sniffing at. ‘’I get it, I understand.’’
Her tail wagging rapidly she got up on her hind legs, placing her paws against
the cold metal. He looked around the empty park. It was barely lit by a few
lampposts along the small path that went through it from entrance to entrance.
If it had been a warm summers day it would have been full of teenagers laughing
and enjoying the sun, but now it was completely empty aside from them. He
pulled the lid off the trashcan, throwing it on the frozen ground. It landed
with a loud metallic clatter.
He dug his arm into the trashcan, until its edge pressed against his armpit. He
felt around the trash. Nothing. Not even a bottle. Just paper and bags of
droppings. He swore. The winter had always been hard on him, but this one had
been particularly savage. Its excruciating cold, coupled with the crippling
feeling of hunger searing at the pit of his stomach, always had him close to
breaking.
His name was Christopher, and he had forgotten his age. Now he was crouching,
patting his dog on her head, running his fingers through the tangled fur that
surrounded her scrawny body. Crossbred beyond all reason, she was a mixture of
five races, three of which had long been forgotten. She had once been brushed daily,
had been given a bone between each meal, but now she looked wild, untamed and
her white fur was black with soot and filth. Now that he ran his hand across
her back, he could clearly feel her ribs, like the keys of a piano against his
fingers. She was his only companion, and her name was Molly.
The air was cold, the kind of cold that burned at the exposed skin on his face
and fingers. Getting up and looking around, he decided at once. He made his way
to a small pond at the centre of the park. He was surprised to see that there
were no ducks there, but then he remembered that they had all migrated to
escape this frozen hellhole. The ice was not thin, but with a few kicks, he had
broken a sizeable hole through it. She drank from it, throwing the icy water
into her mouth with her small tongue. When she had finished she sat down by the
water, looking at her distorted reflection. He removed his gloves and formed a
cup with his dirty fingers. His throat screamed in protest as he gulped it
down, but it satisfied his thirst for now.
The dog sat looking up at him, with unmistakable grief in her dark eyes. ‘’I’ll
get you something to eat, don’t worry.’’ Tears filled his eyes and ran down his
dirty face, vanishing into his beard. He shook uncontrollably, sobbing into his
fingers. The dog leaped up on her hind legs again, placing her paws on his
stomach. She barked and panted, as if telling him to get it together, and he
did.
They started walking.
He dug the hand that was not holding the leash into
the pocket of his jacket, in an attempt to warm it, but the pocket was cold as
well. They walked swiftly out of the park, looking through the windows of the
little houses as they went. The people living in them were of all colours and
facades, and with a crushing wave of guilt, he found himself envying their
warmth and comfort.
They reached a small kindergarten; saw the children playing there with the sort
of innocence and naiveté only found in the young, and the dim-witted. His
bearded face twisted into a smile as he saw one of the children, a young boy,
laughing and screaming as one of the preschool teachers chased after him. A
girl came running toward the fence where he stood out her hand, her fingers
held toward his dog. He picked the dog up, holding her over the fence and
letting the girl pat it.
Another teacher came toward them, pulling the girl back away from fence and
shaking her hard as she hissed ‘’How many times do I have to tell you, you do
not talk to strangers, you hear me?’’ Tears began streaming down the girls plump
face, and she ran back to the other children. ‘’No need to yell at her, ma’am,
she was just saying hello to the dog’’ He sat her back on the ground beside
him. The teacher looked at him, before she sneered; ‘’Get away from here, or
I’ll call the police’’.
Accustomed to this sort of greeting, he turned away, pulling the dog after him
as he continued walking. His stomach, aching with hunger, roared with anger. It
had gotten progressively more aggressive all day. He looked at the dog,
scratching her behind the ear. ‘’Wanna go get some food? I’m friends with the
guy who owns the restaurant over there, he’ll give us a good deal.’’ At the
mention of food, she raised her head and started wagging her tail immediately.
They walked into the alleyway that separated the Restaurant from the neighbouring
office building. He opened the lid of the large dumpster, climbing into it.
What he found was an assortment of neatly packed plastic bags. He started
rummaging through them, ripping the bags open, and there it was. An assortment
of half-eaten sandwiches. He looked through the bag, finding pieces of ham and
cheese. He placed them between the pieces of bread, and holding them to his
nose, he sniffed at them. A few moments later, he had climbed out, and crouching
down he placed a couple of them on the snow, and the dog ate them with much
delight.
He got down on the snow next to her, and began eating. After only a few
mouthfuls, the back door to the restaurant swung open, and a man carrying more plastic
bags stepped out into the alleyway. Upon seeing him, their eyes met, and the
man’s eyes narrowed. Throwing the bags into the open dumpster, before slamming
the lid shut. ‘’What the f**k do you think you’re doing?’’ Cristopher got to
his feet, taking the leash and pulling the dog closer to him. ‘’Get the f**k
outta here!’’ The man kicked at his shins, yelling at him. ‘’If I ever see you
here again, I’ll call the police. The f*****g scum you have to deal with these
days’’. Cristopher picked up his dog, sprinting away from the man who kicked
and swore, following them down the street. His shouts blending with that of the
cars passing by.
‘’Don’t worry ‘bout him’’ he said to Molly, placing her on the ground when they
had gotten away from the deranged Italian. He had dropped his sandwiches, and
was just thinking about going to a nearby grocery store and look through its
dumpster too, when he heard laughter carried across the street over the rumble
of cars. Four young men were standing on the other side outside a cafè, smoking
cigarettes and chatting heatedly. One of the men saw him watching them, and he said
something to the others. The rest of them laughed and soon they were making
their way across the street.
As soon as he saw this, Christopher started walking into a nearby alleyway,
pulling Molly after him.‘’Yo, fuckface, where you goin’?’ Said the man who had first
seen him, and who he assumed was their leader. He turned to face them. ‘’G’day
to you too, sir.’’ He smiled, petting his dog and meeting the eyes of he who had spoken. The other men sniggered, and
their leader now spat ‘’You tryin’ to make a fool outta me?’’.
‘’I certainly am not, sir’’ Christopher replied,
bowing a little. The men laughed again, and the man’s face flushed with anger.
‘’What the f**k are you s’possed to be, anyway?’’. The man said, to tumultuous
laughter from his friends.
‘’I think I’m a human being, but I could be mistaken.’’
‘’He’s just as ugly as his dog’’ one of the others said. Their leader smiled malevolently.
Before Jonathan knew what had hit him, he was lying flat out on the ground, his
nose bleeding profusely. He whimpered, placing a hand on it, it felt broken.
Two of the men grabbed his arms, pulling him further into the alleyway. He
kicked and screamed, but a third man placed his hand in front of his mouth, and
his scream were muffled. ‘’Tie up that dog!’’ said one of the boys, kicking her
as she ran after them, barking. Her yelp of pain as she ran off echoed through
the alley.
‘’Come on, leave that guy alone’’. Said the fourth man, standing by the
entrance of the alley, looking troubled. ‘’Tommy, if you’re gonna be a b***h, stay the
f**k back and keep watch.’’ And they
started beating Christopher. Their punches and kicks hit him again and again,
hit like mortars, explosions of pain searing through his body. He raised his
hands, covering his face in a feeble attempt at protecting himself. After a
while they stopped. Their leader spat at him, and laughing, they left him
there. He raised his hand, and felt his beaten face. Blood was gushing from his
nose, into his beard and down onto his dirty jacket. He got up, wincing in pain,
shaking uncontrollably and looking around for his dog.
‘’Molly, come back!’’ he shouted, his voice breaking. He walked out of the alley,
whimpering with each step. His ragged breath was hoarse, and his ribs were
aching were their shoes had plunged into them. They were nowhere to be seen. He
painfully made his way down the street. Shouting, increasingly more desperately
for his dog to return to him. She was all he had. The men and women he walked
by stared at him, some even gasped, but he bowed his head, as he always did,
and moved on. His sobs growing in intensity, he imagined about a life without
her, without Molly.
After walking for a few minutes, he sat down on a bench, throwing his arms
around himself in a lonely embrace. He shook violently, and he pressed the
sleeve of his jacket over his nose, trying to stop the flow of red that was
streaming down him. Suddenly she was there. ‘’What happened to you?’’ He raised
his eyes, one of which was held shut by its bloody eyelids, seeing the little
girl from earlier that day. She flinched as saw the full extent of his mangled
face.
‘’Just had an accident, that’s all, ma’am.’’ He smiled at her, and noticed the
briefcase she was holding in her hands.
‘’You going somewhere?’’.
‘’Yes, I ran away from home.’’
‘’Why did you do that?’’
‘’They shout a lot. They fight all the time.’’
‘’Who, your parents?’’
‘’Yes’’. Her blue eyes filled with tears.
‘’I don’t want them to scream.’’
‘’I’m sure they have their reasons’’.
She sat the briefcase down on the pavement, opening it. Inside it, an
assortment of clothes and food had hastily been thrown together. ‘’Take this.’’
she said, wiping her eyes and holding out a towel.
‘’No, ma’am, I’ll get it all messed up.’’
‘’You can keep it, if you want.’’
He took it, and bent down, rubbing it against the snow, before lifting it to
his face, trying to wipe it clean.
‘’Ma’am, now I’ll follow you home, so you have to show me the way.’’
She closed her briefcase, lifting it up, and together they started walking
‘’We should go through the alleys, people wouldn’t like seeing me with you.’’
Jonathan said, seeing an old couple walking toward them. The girl ran into the
nearest alley, and he followed.
‘’What happened to your dog?’’
‘’She ran away, I’ll find her soon enough.’’
‘’Think you’re gonna find your way home, I mean, walking through the alleys and
all’’.
‘’Yes, I’ve gone out before, I always do when they’re fighting.’’
They walked for a few minutes, reaching a residential area where neat little
houses were lined up with what would have been pretty little gardens if they
hadn’t been buried under a thick layer of snow. He stopped, not wanting to be
seen walking through it.
‘’Will you find your way from here, ma’am?’’
‘’Yes, It’s that way’’ she said, pointing toward the houses. ‘’I want you to
have this.’’ She pulled out a few biscuits from her pocket, holding them out in
front of him.
‘’No, ma’am, those are your parent’s. I’m sure they’d like to get them back.’’
‘’I hope you find your dog.’’She said, quickly hugging him before walking
toward the houses.
He stood there, watching her until she disappeared, cars roaring past him. He
felt dizzy, and he hunched over, throwing up. His sick looked red against the
snow. He took some time to gather himself, before he started walking again. He
knew where he was going. The pain soaring through his body was unbearable, and
he was simply dragging his feet across the ground. He made his way toward the
parking complex of a large office building, where he usually slept. It was completely
empty, as most of the employees had gone home for the day. He crawled into his
usual space, and ran his hands around the darkness, looking for his sleeping
bag. It was gone, someone must have taken it. He huddled together on the floor,
shaking violently, the bloody towel pressed against his chest, before closing his eyes.
The dog ran her tongue feebly across his swollen face, before laying down
beside him, waiting for her master to wake.
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing