Chapter 4. Alone again
Another hour or even more passed. It began drizzling.
- Bonnie, baby, are you all right?
- I don’t know, Luke. My eyes, legs, and apparently even tail hurt. Yesterday you
promised we would arrive by this evening, - answered the lap-dog almost inaudibly.
- Well, this evening has just begun. As you know, some evenings may be very long.
That’s the one we have tonight.
- If I ever return home again I will miss you, Ginger and even Freddie the coward so
much. It’s great we’ve all met. But it’s so unfair that you, such a wonderful dog, live in the
streets...
- Don’t worry about me. I’ve already told you, I’m quite content with my life and would
not wish for anything else, - answered Luke confidently.
The rain got heavier and they could not talk much.
- Bonnie, hold on tight. You will be home soon but I have to go faster, - Luke
encouraged the lap-dog, knowing well that sick Bonnie would not be able to hold much
stronger and, therefore, there will be no quicker pace for him.
This long gloomy evening was made even longer by wet streets, rare car horns
blowing, large puddles and constant autumn rain. There were fewer people and cars in
the streets. The police shepherd carrying a wet, small, sick lap-dog on its back was still
going on directed by a sixth sense...
The pain in Luke’s leg grew very strong but he ignored it moving on and on,
thinking only of his duty to get Bonnie home. Luke was also hungry and awfully tired. He
saw that the night was near.
“The main thing is to get to the house! Even if Bonnie doesn’t see any lights in her
windows, we can always spend the night in the garage but at least we will reach our
goal.” – thought Luke and this thought kept him going at the moments when he could
simply stumble and fall.
Night came. At least Luke decided it did. He had been going for such a long time
and was already so exhausted still there was no sight of Bonnie’s district.
“Could I have been mistaken? Could I have taken the wrong direction?” – flashed in his
mind.
Strong smart Luke who was so tired and almost exhausted was ready to stop when
his sixth sense told him that the district he needed, the one with tall buildings, clean
streets and nice smells lay ahead of him.
He made it! He reached his goal!
Bonnie who had been very quiet lately, suddenly raised her muzzle up and said
quietly but gladly:
- It’s my home! I feel it is nearby. These smells – I know them from my childhood...
Luke knew he was not mistaken because Bonnie could not make any mistakes here.
- Bonnie, baby, I know you are very weak but maybe you could raise your head and
tell me where to go? We are so close to your house now, you must know this place well...
– asked Luke carefully.
- Luke, I have never walked on the sidewalks here, also it is dark... – was all the lap-
dog could answer.
“So, what turn should we take: left or right? Or, perhaps, keep on straight?” –
thought Luke when a police car sped by them.
“What could possibly happen so late?” – flashed in Luke’s mind. He got some
strange feeling. In a minute, he heard a woman’s voice or, more precisely, a loud cry:
- I don’t care about the hour, I don’t care that you don’t look for lost dogs, I care
only for one thing – my little girl, my beauty, my precious who disappeared! – and the
woman burst into even more tears.
Luke was hardly dragging along when he felt Bonnie trembling. Suddenly she
jumped down to the sidewalk.
- It’s her! It’s my mistress! Her voice! It’s my home, Luke, here, around the corner is
my home!
Bonnie tried to cry but could make only some quiet hoarse sounds.
Quite unexpectedly for Luke as well as for herself she walked. She took a step then
another one and minced along till they reached the turn.
- Now I recognise it too. There is that garage on the other side. I ran out of it when I
first saw you and managed to snatch you from under a car, - said Luke thoughtfully.
In spite of the late hour, a crowd was gathering nearby. Everyone tried to sooth
Bonnie’s mistress but to little avail.
- I’ve been home for two hours now without my precious baby! She disappeared,
just disappeared. The maid did not have her; I have already fired her all the same. But
what happened? What happened to my little girl? Maybe she was stolen? And if she’s
lost how can I find her now? I have already phoned everyone I know. What can I do? How
can I go on without my precious?! – she was weeping loudly and wiping her eyes with a
handkerchief.
The people were telling her something but she was shaking her head seemingly
refusing any help.
- Bonnie, baby, the long-awaited moment has come! Go now! With the last of your
strength, go on. She will know you at once. You are not a white beauty with a big pink
bow as you used to be but you will be taken to a vet tomorrow. In just a few days, you’ll
be fine and in a week, you’ll become the same pretty Bonnie! Go, go on now! – Luke
repeated several times.
- Luke, I must thank you a hundred times but it will not be enough anyway. I will miss
you, Luke, do you hear me, I will miss you. If you ever need anything you know where I
live, come and stay. Good bye, Luke! The best dog in the whole world... – Bonnie went
back with her muzzle to Luke and he saw she was crying.
- Don’t show what has become of you all at once. Your mistress will think you have
been replaced! – laughed Luke trying to make the hard parting easier.
Bonnie minced forward to the place her mistress was weeping bitterly with no comfort or
consolation.
“Bonnie has a fever but the way home is always easier. It will give her some
strength”, - thought Luke and for the first time in the last few hours he sat down.
In a few minutes, he saw the shouting woman fainting and falling down. Luckily, one
of the neighbours was a doctor. He put something to her nose and she regained
consciousness. What happened next was hard to describe because the woman started
weeping again this time with Bonnie in her hands...
- It’s a miracle, it’s awesome! My baby is here! My precious is alive! She is cold,
hungry and I think she has a fever. We will go home at once to get warm, to eat, to wash
my pretty doll. And a doctor will visit us tomorrow and my sweetheart will be healthy
again! And I will never ever go anywhere without her... – with these words the woman,
carrying Bonnie, went into the building. The crowd of neighbours soon dispersed.
Luke crossed the street. Moved on and stopped near the familiar garage. The light
was turned on in the fifth floor windows and he briefly saw Bonnie’s mistress’ silhouette.
“Baby is already at home. I took care of her...” – thought Luke. It was his last
thought before lying down on the sidewalk in front of the garage and falling asleep.
The roar of a motorbike woke Luke up several times during the night but he decided
he would wait for the morning before leaving this place. Or perhaps he just wanted to see
Bonnie again and to say good-bye.
The garage was opened early as usual so Luke had to disappear from the garage
owner’s sight. He ran into a narrow alley to wait for dawn. There were puddles left from
yesterday’s rain and Luke freshened himself by drinking some water.
By dawn he was sitting near the garage in front of Bonnie’s house, waiting. He had
not been wrong. In just a few minutes, a small white fluffy creature appeared in the fifth
floor window. The creature wagged its tail and rubbed its forelegs on the glass. It was
Bonnie thanking Luke once again. She said many other things he understood without
any words.
Lora, the beautiful collie, emerged in the second floor window. She greeted Luke
with a friendly nod.
“If Bonnie is able to jump to the windowsill she is better now and will be quite well
soon. I can leave...” – decided Luke. He nodded back to Lora and was telling something
to Bonnie by wagging his tail. She must have understood him too.
Then he suddenly turned and quickly ran away. He had been running for a long
time without any idea of his way. Did not even notice he had left the town. He was tired
and lay down on the shoulder of the road. Luke was alone for the first time in two weeks.
Now he could quietly think everything over. Nowhere to hurry. Everyone is at home and
everything is all right. But Luke was sad. He had never been so sad before.
“I can return to the shelter, but I’m already ashamed. What’s going on with me? I
have chosen such a life myself,” – he thought. Luke put his muzzle on the ground and
closed his eyes.
Luke suddenly had an urge to be near humans. He had never lived with anyone
before. When with the police all the dogs slept in separate cages and none had a
master. After two weeks spent with friends, he felt very lonely.
“I will not think of bad things. I’d better visit Paul and his guys, check on them, talk to
them and drive the bad thoughts away,” – decided Luke and ran towards the big city
dump he visited last with Ginger and Freddie.
He was passing by a big field when he sniffed a strong smell of food. It was a freshly
boiled bone straight from the soup. No wonder – he only ate it once or twice at the
shelter on big holidays.
“I will only look where it is, just sneak a glance and move on,” – he decided and ran
to the beckoning smell. Did Luke know that his friend Ginger also ran this way to get
some food for small starving Freddie two weeks ago? Of course, he did not. He did not
know what wonderful people lived in a small two-floor house either – the house that this
delicious smell of meat came from. But all dogs have a sixth sense that never fails them.
Luke ran to the house and stopped. He had never ever asked anyone for anything.
Was not used to it. So he just sat there for half an hour or maybe even more.
“I have to go. I am not a beggar, I am a police shepherd,” – he decided in spite of
hunger and his wish to live with humans. He stood up, shook and took a first step when
the door of the house opened slightly and a shortish man with a kind face appeared in
the doorway:
- I’ve been looking at you for an hour. Whose are you?
Luke barked loudly and wagged his tail.
- I see, - answered the man. – We will decide later whose you are and for how long
you will stay. Come in now, must be hungry!
He opened the door wide. Tired and hungry but amazingly happy Luke was shifting
from one leg to another – he could not bring himself to enter.
- What’s going on here? What visitor do we have this time? – Luke heard another
voice and a woman in an apron appeared carrying a ladle.
- Marta, look at our wonderful guest! – said the kind man whose name was Tom.
The woman looked at Luke closely and smiled.
- What are you afraid of? Come on in, eat something, rest... Nobody will keep you
here against your will, - she said and beckoned to Luke.
Luke climbed the stairs slowly and carefully. The door closed behind him. And so,
for the first time in his life Luke at last found a home...
