Things had been downhill since then.
She was kidding! Haha, see what she did there?
She was exploring the world and expected the ups and downs. Like the sun! sometimes it disappeared for a bit, whether it be because of nighttime or just because of clouds. But it always came back, and it was always there-even if you couldn't see it!
So even though she was super super hungry right now, it didn't matter. The people she was hiding next to would through out food soon. The people who lived here had alot of things-including food. They even had other people working for them!
Her stomach growled so ferociously she actually looked over her shoulder for a raccoon but quickly curled up in on herself. She had gone days without food, and only drank dirty street water for breakfast. She uncurled herself, but it did little to expand her.
A once powerful frame the could dash miles and not tire out, trembled when shifting positions. A smooth golden coat that captured the sun and all eyes was dirt brown. Long curly fur catching dust and debris like a cloth. Dry mud caked her hindquarters, and her fur matted and clumped together. A twig rested on her head and her head rested on her paws.
Honey brown eyes roved over the trash-pit. She had checked it before and nicked her nose on a broken piece of metal. She would have to be more careful next time.
A hunger pain struck her again and a whine escaped her maw. She quickly silenced it hoping the people didn't hear.
But no matter how hungry she got, she could never bring herself to hunt. She had plenty of opportunities to. She saw raccoons, opossums, and squirrels on the daily and in her top shape chasing them down would have been pup's play. Even as she was, the creature walked right past her or even up to her-they knew she wouldn't hurt a fly.
But she couldn't help but noticing one thing about all these animals-they had each other. The squirrels and ground chipmunks were always chattering with another, and the opossums slept upside down together! And she thought that was the greatest thing. It made her wish her tail was like there's she she could sleep upside down too!
And despite her rather impressive bulk she had not scared the farmer. At this point, she was bigger than her mother and this helped in scaring people away when she couldn't move quickly enough.
But she didn't want to scare people away anymore.
She wanted to be like those opossums again. She wanted others. Exploring the world was amazing but what good was it if it wasn't with somebody else?
The view of the ocean from the cliff took her breath away, and the sea air clung to her curly fur for weeks-not that she minded. The mountains were the biggest things she had ever seen in her life! While she didn't go to far into the desert, the endless sand had impressed her, and the endless sand hills were even better to roll down then grass ones!
Oh, who was she kidding? She was never alone!
The sun was always there, reflecting on her fur!
It make a beautiful sunset on the ocean, and framed the mountains like the pictures in peoples homes. The sand place only amplified it's beauty.
But you could only play chase so many times with your own tail before you got dizzy...
And her fur didn't reflect anymore...
BANG.
Her ears twitched as one of the workers brought out a garbage can, as they were called. She wondered what they would have in it? Some bones again? Bread? OH! Scraps of meat?!
They dumped the contents, and she knew it was race against the raccoons.
Those people had thrown out half an entire turkey. As soon as the door shut she was on it, legs trembling with the strain of picking her way through the muck. Clamping her teeth around the rib-cage she half-carried, half-dragged the roast back to her den.
And dug in. She knew the sun would come through for her!
It was the most delicious thing she had eaten since her mother brought back ham for them when they were just puppies. She was digging in to this turkey the same way she had dug into that ham. It brought back memories of licking each others teeth clean after finishing and a little wrestling and chase before bed. Before they laid next to each other for warmth.
The turkey didn't seem as good now.
She shivered as another gust of wind swept through the wooden fence and under the porch-where she laid in an old cardboard box. The heat from the house was nice, but she missed laying next to somebody. The cardboard box wasn't as soft or fluffy.
But it was nice. It was comfortable to curl up in too! The box was a pretty brown and smelled kinda like the sheep. Did they maybe pack cloths in here?
So wrapped up in devouring her meal, she didn't notice until it was too late.
A small chubby hand patted her head.
She froze, heart beating and cheeks bulging. Was it those pesky raccoons!?
She looked up, and her own warm honey brown eyes connected with a peoples.
it was far, far too late to run. Her mother knew best, and that was to stay away from peoples. Peoples had hurt her mother when she was un-forever-sleep. And she didn't get that either. Her mother was nice and pretty who only wanted to care for her little ones. But this was a little peoples. He had to be if they could fit under here with her. Drool trickled down his chin(just like her brothers) and his hair was the same dusky brown as her sister's used to be.
But... this little peoples wouldn't hurt her. He had patted her head, Kinda like how her mother used to nuzzle her.
Could this be her friend? She loved friends! Well, she never had many-actually none, but maybe things were changing! She had gotten this turkey and maybe this could be a friend! The sun pulled through!
The little persons patted them again, looking at the turkey in-between her front paws. He smiled and ran for a second. She finished her meal-waiting patiently. The little persons came back with-WATER!
He cupped his hand and poured some in and she lapped like she had never lapped before. This was worse than that one time in the desert. Oh, what a true friend! Her mother knew a lot, but certainly not about this persons.
From that day on, the little persons visited her. He was very chatty and called her...dogo? He brought foods she had never eaten before, foods the human workers had never eaten before! She thought about going to share some with them, before realizing they were big peoples. Big is bad.
So she stayed in her box.
The little boy had been kind enough to get warm water and wash off most of the dirt. How nice! It didn't fix the really matted parts, but it sure was something. And it was sooooooo exciting! Because she was one big secret!
He tip-toed around the back steps and crawled under, and only staying long when it was dark. And she came it out when it was dark too. And while it wasn't the same as running in the meadows with the clear blue sky, she was just glad to have a friend.
He seemed busier now. For sure he fed her at least once a day, but as he said during one of their many one sided conversations(her mother said she was special to understand the language of peoples) that a thing called 'tutors' had come and were forcing him to 'learn'. He explained it to her at the tilt of his head, and she wasn't sure what was so bad about it.
He had to take some time off to avoid getting caught. They weren't supposed to interact with mutts or whatever.
"Dogo?" He called into the darkness.
"Hello my Friend! I am so glad you're can play again!" She yipped quietly. She still lived under the house so she had to be careful.
"I just passed a super hard test! C'mon-lets celebrate and go outside!"
Go...outside?
But what if the people saw? And she was still kinda week from the dirty waster she had drunk awhile ago.
Oh what the heck!
"I'm coming!"
The air was lovely and cool on her warm fur, and she had forgotten just how much fun it was to cut loose and run. Running was the most freeing, powerful thing in the world. She may have stumbled a few times, but there was no power quite like running next to her friend. The only few other things that could compare was running in the meadows, and-when she was really really young-running with her siblings, fighting off the angry male.
She circled around, following her friend back to the porch. It was probably a good thing, because she couldn't go for much longer. Maybe if she got out more...
"Goro, where are you? I wanted to say how prou-GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!" The woman yanked her friend away and pushed him behind her.
Oh no! How could she say she meant no harm? That they were just playing? If she convinced the lady maybe she would play with them and friend could come out more!
"We were just playing! It's okay, you don't need to worry."
"GET BACK NOW!" She shouted over her sons reassurances of her docility brandishing a shovel she had pulled out of nowhere.
She stood petrified to the spot.
Thwump! It thudded against her side and the howl of pain scared the woman causing her to whip the sharp edge right onto her face.
"ARRFFFH!" She howled in agony. Make it stop! Please! She whimpered, backing away and ran lopsidedly, her friends hysterical cries following her.
She was alone again.