I want to thank you for your very kind reviews. I honestly never thought I would get such a response. Once again, if you decide to grace this little story with a review, I ask that you be honest in your critique. Thank you.
Once, when you were very, very small, a dog appeared in the garden of your home. It was just a scrap of a thing. Missing an eye and with one leg shorter than the others. The dog was, quite frankly, the most pathetic thing you had ever seen.
However, you knew what your father would do with it. You knew that he would grab it by the scruff of its neck and carry it to the garden shed. A rock would be waiting. And a sound like hard candy falling on the pavement followed by a yelp would flow out of the shed. A part of you did not want that to happen. Did not want to hear that noise. But another part. A part that was growing, latching on to you, that part did want to hear that noise. That part wanted to see that rock fall.
But your father never took the rock to the dog. Instead, he tied the dog up to the largest tree in the garden. He asked you to help him build the dog a house. And you learned to feed the dog. And fill its bowl with water. You pet it. You threw sticks for it. You took old rags and tied them up and let the dog tug and chew them.
Several years later, the dog died. It was an almost silent death. Under that great tree. With only the wind to sing it to sleep.
Ever since that time, you have always noticed dogs. If you can, you toss them the core of the apple you are eating. Dogs, you could say, are your friends. They are your only friends really. In fact, you know very well that if you pick the right dog. If you pick the dog that holds its tail high. That has other dogs following it. The dog that dashes in front of horses. The dog that grabs at ladies skirts. That dog. If you pick that dog, and feed it enough to keep it alive. If you do not kick it. That dog will serve you well. That dog will keep its eyes, its nose and its lean and muscular body following the target you pick. And if you keep that dog hungry? Angry? Oh, that dog will tug at the lead, will drool and snarl and growl. That dog will keep a man in his place.
The fact that you have three such dogs. Three dogs that are angry, tired and hungry. Three dogs that follow your every command. The fact that you have three, oh it is very very convenient. Especially when you have a man that must be kept in his place. A man that you worked so hard to capture. A man who is a doctor.