'Here' says my five year old human friend, giving me a bowl of wet dog food. I'm Clementine, a 3 year old Kelpie cross German Shepard, so basically I look like a Husky. I have been able to think and ponder things like humans can ever since I can remember, so I can understand humans. I have one other dog friend named Jess, a mini Foxy. She sleeps inside, but I don't because my female master, Kelly, does not trust me with the new baby. My male master, Jim, trust me with the babies life, so whenever Kelly is out with friends, I'm in.
'Come on Max, Clem needs to sleep now' Kelly says, grabbing Maxes hand and guiding him inside. I eat up my dinner and walk over to my kennel. It's on the far side of the yard because if I bark at night I don't wake the baby. I lay down, looking at our house, then close my eyes and sleep.
I wake up because light is in my eyes. I close them tighter, trying to get back to sleep. Suddenly my head shoots up and a gaze, open eyed, at the house. I smelled smoke, a lot of it, and, I was right, the house is on fire. I run over, barking like mad, is this a bad thing? I've never seen a fire before, but people throw things into it, so it can't be that bad. I try to get into the house but the smoke is too much and hurts my nose and eyes. I run around the house before hearing the baby cry. I stop barking, did I wake it? I walk over into the hedge next to the front door and wait, watching the house getting eaten up by the flames.
A couple of minutes later there are sirens and a big red truck pulls up. Four men get out and spray the house with water, putting out the fire. I don't move, but I keep a close eye on all four men. They stay there until the sun comes up, then they make a phone call and start to pack up. When they are all packed up another car arrives and pulls up next to my house. It's a black van with the letters 'NCIS' on the side. I sit up, watching the red truck leave and two people get out of the black one. A man, silver/grey hair, probably around 40 gets out of the driver's seat and looks at the house.
'Di'nozo, evidence bags' He says, walking over to my house. I watch him carefully, taking in every move he does.
'Yeah boss' another man, probably Dinozzo, gets out of the car and goes to the back. He looks about 25 and black/brown hair. I watch as he pulls out some plastic bags and follows the other man to my burnt house. I get up and slowly follow them. They walk over some wood, up then down. When Di'nozo is at the bottom of the pile I fall over, rolling down and hitting his feet.
'Boss' he says, looking down at me.
'Yeah' the other man, boss, says back
'There is a dog at my feet'. Boss looks over at us. I'm awkwardly on my back, looking up at Dinozzo and Dinozzo is looking at me.
'Then help it up' Boss says, turning back around and flipping a piece of wood over. Dinozzo puts down the evidence bags and awkwardly flips me over. I jump up and sprint over to Boss.
'Hey girl' Boss says. I look at him. Then he moves me over gently with his hand and sorts through the dust on the ground.
'How do you know it's a girl?' Dinozzo says, looking at me. Boss man just looks at him, then points at the ground.
'Look' he says, lifting up something small.
'What is it?' Dinozzo says, looking down at the small thing in his bosses hands.
'Evidence' he says, looking at me and giving it to Dinozzo. 'bag it'
Dinozzo looks at the small bundle in his hands. It's a little, burnt dog, about the size of… oh… its Jess. I watch as Dinozzo carefully looks at Jess, then places her in a evidence bag. I look up, back at his boss. He is walking towards the babies room. I jump up, barking and run past him, to protect the baby.
I jump onto the burnt bed, seeing the baby, lying still; I lie on top of her. The boss walks in, following me. He walks over and crouches down next to me. I look up and sniff him hand. It smells like saw dust, just like Jims shed out back. He pats me on the head. I rest down, sensing no harm is ever going to come from this man.
'Come on' He says, after noticing what I'm lying down on. He taps his leg and I slowly stand up, still unsure whether or not to trust him.. even though I sense all good in him. He walks across the floor and makes his way to the broken down doorway. When he turns, I am still sitting on the bed.
'Clementine, come' he says. I lift my ears up to the sound of my name and jump of the bed and run over to him. 'Get Ducky in there, there's a body'
'Boss, how did you know its name?' Dinozzo says, looking down at me with curious eyes.
'It has a navy collar' Boss says, not even turning around. I follow him obediently, trusting he is going to take me somewhere safe.
'I told you Jerold, take a left, not right!' A voice comes from the other side of a new white van that has pulled up.
'Doctor, you said two rights, then left, not three rights' A younger voice comes from around the same area. I follow Boss around the van, to see a slightly elderly man and a younger dark skinned man pulling different sorts of things out of the slide open door.
'Hi Ducky' Boss says, walking over to him, but not stopping on his way to wherever he is going.
'Hello Jethro, sorry we are late, Jerald here got us lost again' he replys, watching me walk passed following him. 'You have a follower'
'I know, there is a body in the far left of the house, Tony will show you' he says, walking backwards now to keep his voice projected.
'Ah, yes… you know that dog reminds me of the one found on my street… a little poodle' Ducky's voice trails off as we gain more distance from him. Boss stops at a black car and opens the back door.
'Hop in' he says, so I follow his instructions and jump in, sitting up in the car. He rolls down the window facing the house and closes the door. I watch him walk back into the house and continue to search through it, picking up different things every now and then.
I lay my head down on the back seat and lay there thinking. I can't fully comprehend what has happened. The house was burning, and now no-one is home… but the baby and jess were there… they just looked different, kind of burnt, like the house. My eye lids grow heavy and I begin to fall into a comfortable and uneasy sleep, dreaming and reliving the moment over and over again.
The engine revs and wakes me up. I look up and see Dinozzo getting in the passenger seat and His boss getting into the drivers. All of the cars are pulling away from my house. I sit up, looking out the window as my house grows smaller and smaller. I whine quietly, I trust these people, but I want to go back to my kennel and for my young master to come and see me again… but… somehow I know it will never happen again.