Life was easy. Ma, Dave and Roxanne fed us everyday, they held us and cuddled us and after we regained our strength, they brought us out into their field and let us run around with Roxanne for hours until we were all exhausted and collapsed in front of the fire, on top of our makeshift bed.
Jack had returned, wearing something strange on his leg, an something even stranger around his neck. It stopped him from biting the thing on his paw but it also made him run into walls and anything he couldn't see out of the corner of his eyes because of the cone.
We had all gotten collars as well, with little tags that apparently said our names on them. I couldn't read what they said, but Ma, Dave and Roxanne were always calling me Snowy.
But for the most part, it was good. Until Shorty had to ruin it all, that is. I know now that Shorty is not a bad dog, he isn't evil or malicious like I thought when I was just a pup. But at the time, I thought his main goal in life was to ruin everyone's lives.
Roxanne was feeding us by putting pieces of her human food in our separate bowls. I was happily chowing down mine, but Shorty wasn't so happy. He was having a bad day; he didn't get any food that morning because Truman ate it all, Dewey had turned up her nose at him when he told another one of her ridiculous stories and Ma had swatted him on the nose her he chewed up her shoe.
But honestly, who was to know that it wasn't one of our toys? It was so werely shaped and the humans don't wear them inside anyway!
And even though I knew all of that, I still couldn't believe what Shorty had done next.
Roxanne tried pulling his bowl away, "You got more than Phoenix, I need to pour some in her-" she was cut off when Shorty whirled around and sank his teeth into her hand.
Roxanne let out a high pitched scream, followed by a wailing cry as she yanked her hand away from the small, black pup. Shorty let go and took a step back, not really realizing what he had done until I bowled him over.
I was only protecting my owner, but that ended up bringing us more trouble. I stood over Shorty, my teeth bared. My brother looked schooled and scared, but I didn't budge. Instead, my teeth clamped around his neck, not biting very hard but if Dave hadn't shoved me off, there is no doubt in my mind that Shorty would be dead right now.
I tumbled to the ground as Dave grabbed Shorty by the scruff, storming over to the front door and tossing my brother out. All I could hear was him yelp as he hit the ground.
Dave came back and him and Ma started tending to their daughters wound. Ma brought out a small box and set it on the living room table as Roxanne and Dave sat on the couch. Ma started pulling out things that looked like toilet paper from the box and began wrapping he daughters bleeding hand with it.
As for us, we sat in the living room, listening to Dave rant angrily and Shorty's pitiful cries.
"The vet told us they would turn out like this!" Dave yelled, "we should have gotten rid of them before! Now Roxanne is hurt!"
"Dave, calm down, please." Ma begged, "they're only puppies and Roxy loves them. Yes, Shorty bit her but she also tried taking his food away-"
"That's no excuse, Julia!" Dave snapped, "First thing tomorrow morning, I am calling the pound and getting rid of these mutts!"
"Pa, no!" Roxanne sobbed, "no! They're gonna put 'em down, I know they will! If nobody adopts them they'll put a bullet in 'em heads!"
"Roxy, those puppies are dangerous." Dave said sternly, "we can't raise them when we know they're going to grow into monsters!"
"It was only Shorty, Pa! Not the others! Dewey didn't do anything!"
"But Snowy did, he nearly killed his own brother. What makes you think the others won't do the same?"
"Dave, I understand why you don't want those pups here anymore, I don't want them hurting Roxy anymore either," Ma started in a calm voice, "but what Roxanne said is true. The shelter has enough animals there as it is and we can't give them six more puppies to adopt out when they can barely manage the ones they have."
"Yeah, see Pa? Even Ma says they'll put a bullet in 'em heads!" Roxanne cried loudly.
Dave turned to Roxanne, "Okay, first Roxanne, it's 'their' heads. I send you to school and this is what you come back with.." he sighed, "and secondly, you have a fundamental misunderstanding about animal shelters. They don't go around shooting puppies."
"Dave, either way, if those puppies don't get adopted out, they'll be too much for the shelter to handle." Ma reminded him.
"Julia, my decision is final. We are not keeping those dogs."
"We don't have to," Ma's voice rose a pitch as if she were hopeful about something, "we just have to find homes for them ourselves. We can put an ad in the paper and adopt them out ourselves."
Dave hesitated, "Fine. But if one of those mutts so much as touches my daughter again, they are going straight to the shelter. You have three months to get rid of them."
"Yay! Thank you so much, Pa!" Roxanne cheered and raced from the couch to Dewey, scooping her up in her arms and whirling her around. "Dewey, we have three more months together! You aren't gonna be shot in the head!"
While Roxanne cheered and Ma and Dave started having a hushed conversation, still sitting on the couch, I noticed something. Shorty's howling had stopped and there wasn't so much as a whimper coming from outside.
Thinking he had fallen asleep, I trotted over to the seeing hole in the side of the house. It had an invisible wall over it but it still made me able to see outside. I peered out the seeing hole and looked at the place where Shorty should have been. Instead, I saw nothing.
I let out a low bark, trying to tell Ma or Dave that Shorty wasn't there anymore but they were too caught up in their conversation to notice. My brothers and Dewey noticed however.
Jack limped over to the seeing hole and tried to put his front paws on the edge of it so he could see outside easier. But since his back leg was the one that was injured, he wasn't able to balance and tumbled to the floor.
Phoenix and Truman quickly took his place, however and peered out of the seeing hole as well. It took them a moment to realize what-or in this case, who- was missing but when they did, they started barking like crazy.
"Be quiet, pups!" Dave snapped but we didn't stop barking. I wasn't particularly heartbroken that Shorty was gone; I had never really liked him. But I knew that the humans would want him back.
Ma stood up and walked over to the seeing hole and looked out as well. When she saw who was missing, she gasped and whirled around to face Dave. "Shorty is gone!"
Dave stood as well, "What do you mean he's gone?"
"He's not there anymore Dave, he must have wandered off! We have to go look for him." Ma pleaded.
"Roxanne, grab your coat, we're going to go look for Shorty!" Dave ordered and Roxanne glanced up from where she was playing with Dewey.
"But what about the others? What if they wander off as well?" Roxanne asked.
"We'll keep an eye on them."
Soon enough, we were outside, sitting on the porch as the humans called for Shorty to come home. Actually, I was sitting on the porch. Everyone else was looking for my brother.
I couldn't care less if he was gone, he was the one who would make us love this beautiful life of laying by the fire and playing in the fields. He could be dead for all I care.
I watched them for hours; Dewey was trailing after Roxanne, Phoenix and Truman were sniffing around the house, looking for traces of Shorty, and Jack was trying to follow those two, but he kept on falling and after a while, he just couldn't keep up with them and ended up laying down in a heap of despair.
Finally, when the sun started to go down and it became too cold for us to search anymore, we were brought inside. Roxanne seemed heartbroken that Shorty might not be coming back; when she was inside, the first thing she did was pick up Dewey and carry her to her room. From there, I could still hear her sniffles and muffled sobs.
I curled up on my fuzzy blanket next to Phoenix and she took one look at me before standing up and moving away from me. It took one look in her eyes to know what she was saying.
It was my fault that Shorty was gone. I made him feel unwanted, I made him leave. And to top it off, I didn't even have the decency to help look for him.
That night, no sleep came to me. My chest was filled with anger and hatred. I hated Shorty for causing this whole mess, I hated Dave for throwing Shorty out the door, and I hated Phoenix for blaming me for it all. That night, I just wanted to lash out at everyone.
I wanted to sneak up to them as they slept and bite them until they bled. I wanted them to see who was the strong one. I wanted to show them all what I was capable of.
But in the morning, my anger hadn't gone away. I still despised them, and for once, I was actually slightly thankful for what Shorty had done. Because if he hadn't bitten Roxanne, then Dave wouldn't have wanted to get rid of us.
And then I would have never been able to leave that place where all I felt was anger.
The next morning, we went out searching again, and once again, I sat on the porch, watching as my siblings made the pointless effort to find Shorty. Today, however, we didn't look as long. It seemed as if Ma and Dave had given up hope.
Shorty was gone.
Once again, Phoenix shot me that look. That disappointed look that made my blood boil. This shouldn't have made me as mad as I was. My litter mates had done plenty of things that made me angry, from Truman eating my food, to Jack making us have to go inside because he couldn't go very long on his leg.
But for some reason, this hatred was so much more powerful than anything I had ever experienced. Maybe it was because I had never been a disappointment before, or mabe because I felt like that disappointment was wrongly placed.
But that spark of fury slowly burned into a wildfire. And that wildfire destroyed everything in its path, showing no mercy for anyone.
I stormed around the house, keeping my tail low and ignoring everyone who tried to make contact with me. I didn't join them in play, I didn't eat at the same time as them and often I missed feeding times all together because my hungry brothers and sisters ate my food.
And when the strange people appeared at the house one day, I did not run p to greet them like my siblings did. I merely sat on my blanket, with my white tail wrapped around my paws and my fur laying flat.
It was a tall man with long, long arms and long, long legs. He had a bright white smile but dark skin, much darker than Ma, Dave and Roxanne. His voice sounded different, like he wasn't used to speaking the human language.
"I am heading back to Bali in a few days and I bring puppy with." the man said.
"Are you sure you can bring them with you? I thought airports had rules against that?" Ma questioned and glanced uneasily at Dave.
"I have own plane." the man smiled, "I bring whatever I need."
"I see, well then come meet the puppies." Dave grinned. He seemed happy about something. His usual smile was replaced with a mischievous one when the man said 'own plane.'
Dave picked up Truman, "This is Truman, he's our biggest of them all, probably because he eats so much. He's rambunctious and a bit of a troublemaker. He's always stealing the other pups food." Dave chuckled and the man laughed along, although he didn't exactly look impressed.
Dave seemed to notice the look in the mans eyes and set Truman down, he pointed to Phoenix who happily greeted Truman by licking him on the snout. "That's Phoenix. She's Truman's best friend and the two are inseperable. She's probably the most mature of the six- I mean five."
"I wouldn't want seperate them." the man said, "I only want one puppy."
Ma introduced Dewey next as loving, sweet and compassionate but Roxanne quickly butted in and told the man that she poops on the floor all the time. Ma shot her a glare but moved onto Jack.
When the man saw Jack, his whole face lit up and he leaned down and scooped my brother in his arms. "Hello little one." Jack responded by licking him on the face and the man laughed loudly.
"That's Jack." Roxanne said and Ma looked at her worriedly, as if she was about to ruin his chances at being adopted as well. "the vet said that he was gonna die but he lived! The vet also said he would be crippled forever but that's probably not true too."
"Well, the vet is probably a very stupid man." he stranger chuckled, "this ones a fighter, that's for sure."
"Would you like to meet Snowy before you make your decision?" Ma asked and the man nodded, but didn't put Jack down. Ma led him over to me and I sat up straighter, hoping to impress him. "Snowy is a very...protective dog. Even though he's only a few months old, he is the type of dog who would kill if it meant protecting his owner."
The man wasn't even paying attention though, he was too busy tickling Jack to even bother with me. I let out a low growl that went unheard by everyone.
"I made choice." the man grinned, "I bring Jack home."
"That's great!" Dave smiled, "I knew Jack would be perfect for you. Why don't you come into the kitchen so we can discuss his medication and how to care for him properly?"
"Yes, yes. Of course." the man reluctantly set Jack down and followed the other humans into the kitchen. I could hear what they were saying but didn't understand any of it. But all too soon the man and my family had come back into the room with a big box, full of toys, food and other things that Jack used.
The man picked up Jack and stared straight into his eyes, "Are you ready to come home?"
Jack gave a bark of response and the man chuckled. "Good."
Dave helped the man carry the box to his car while he held Jack. I ran to the seeing hole and looked out, watching as Jack was placed into the car and then the man joined him. I watched as the car drove away, disappearing into the distance.
I didn't understand what was happening at the time, I thought it could have been like the time Dr. Keith took Jack but little did I know, I would never see Jack again. To this day, I don't know what happened to Jack. He was just...gone.
And my brother and sister soon left as well. Truman and Phoenix left next, to a family with three kids, and many more people came to look at me and Dewey as well. Dewey wasn't getting adopted because Roxanne kept on saying things that made the strangers look unimpressed.
But for some reason, I just couldn't get adopted. Was it because I didn't play like my brothers and sisters? Because my white fur wasn't as pretty as theirs? Or because whenever someone came, I always somehow manage to snarl and bark?
But finally, someone came along. They were old, much older than Ma and Dave. Their legs were stiff and their hair had turned white. When they came, I trotted up to them and watched them curiously. They walked so slow...
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, it's nice to see you." Ma greeted them.
"Yes, you too dear." Mrs. Cartwright didn't look very happy to see Ma, judging by the way her nose turned up and she sauntered by.
"We are looking for a puppy that will protect us from burglars. We had a break in just last week and we realize that could have been avoided if we had someone to warn us." Mr. Cartwright explained.
"Ah, I know the perfect match." Dave smiled and started walking towards me. He picked me up and carried me back to the couple. "This is Snowy, he's protective and loyal. The perfect guard dog."
"Hm, not a very attractive one, but I guess he will do." Mrs. Cartwright sighed. "We'll bring him to the groomers and I'm sure they can do something with him."
"Right.." Ma didn't look like she liked these people. "Well, we can give you him today with all his toys-"
The man looked at the slobbery tennis ball at his foot, "No thank you." he said distastefully. "All we want is Snowball. Nothing else."
"His name is Snowy..." Roxanne muttered under her breath, quiet enough so the Cartwrights couldn't hear.
"Anyway, would you like cheque or cash?" Mrs. Cartwright asked, pulling out a strange, chew toy looking thing from her bag. Before anyone could answer, she spoke up, "Cheque it is then."
The old woman started scribbling something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Ma. "Pleasure doing business with you, dear."
Dave hooked a leash to my collar and handed it to the man. What? We're they giving me to these nasty people? No, no, no! You can't do that!
Yet, the man pulled me along, out the door and towards his car. He put me in the back while he sat in the front. I peered out the back through the seeing hole to watch Ma and Dave's sorry looking faces as I was driven away.
My days of laying by the fire were over.