Bone Day
by Prettywitchiusaka
The day
was May 27th , though one could never tell that from
inside the actual pound. Within the pound, the only true light source
was a artificial, comforting light. The space was tailor made to have
a set of twelve cages on each side, with two or three dogs kept
inside of each. Sadly, their light source stretched so far, leaving
very little light to stretch into each cage. At least the dogs had
enough room to move around in, the only thing that closed off their
freedom was a wired, steel door. Many dogs slept during the day,
though there was the occasional dog who would whimper or play for
most of their waking hours.
Though
really, what did any of this matter to a Shepard Sheepdog such as
Spot? Right now, she only had one goal in mind; food. Happily, she
began to bark, panting rather heavily as her brown, shaggy tail began
to wag back and forth with the speed of a whip.
In
front of her stood a boy named Lewis, who looked no older than
fifteen. He wore a brown hat on top of his short blonde hair, which
thankfully, fit his egg-shaped head. His face was very innocent
looking, with such big, blue eyes, and freckled cheeks. Today, his
white t-shirt was wrapped around his army green overalls, and his
bottoms were tucked rather carelessly into his brown boots. He was
fairly short, even gaunt for his age. Though, he was strong enough to
scoop up a healthy dose of what he dubbed sloth, and dump it into
Spot's bowl. The shaggy dog took one look at this, and merely fixed
her gaze back on the young boy.
“Gimme
more”, Spot said.
Of
course, he only heard her words as a barked reply as he put his hand
on the steel door.
“Sorry
Spot; I can't give you anymore”, Lewis tried to explain to her.
As he
said that, she began to to whimper, as if she were in pain. She even
sat herself on the floor, with her hind legs stretched out as she
began to stare at him. Truth be told, he did his very best not to
look in her direction. Yet somehow, he eventually found himself
staring right into those big, innocent brown eyes of hers.
“Oh,
okay. But just this once”, he assured her.
Digging
the shovel into the container, he then slapped another heavy dose of
sloth into her bowl before he closed the steel door. Seeing the extra
pile of sloth in her bowl, Spot began to pant heavily as she brought
herself up on all four legs. Wasting no time, she dived her muzzle
into the bowl and began to eat, scarfing down the food as if it were
her last meal.
Behind
her though, sat her “roommate”; a German Shepard named Alexander.
His sandy coat was fairly neat, with a large black spot covering his
back, even tinting his pointy ears. His was also fairly short, save
for his bushy tail. His face was long, with a firm muzzle and black
circles circling his brown eyes. He was slightly over weight, though
he was still in enough firm shape to defend himself.
Right
now, he watched his new “roommate” from where he was laying down.
Though as he did, he could only sigh as he watched her consume so
much food.
“You'll
eat anything, won't you”, he asked, catching her attention.
“I'm
just happy to get food”, she replied.
“Suit
yourself' real meat's better anyway”, he explained.
“Aww,
aren't you happy when you get food”, she asked.
“Not
that stuff, that's for sure”, he replied.
Suddenly,
the cage door was opened once more. It was Lewis with another pile of
sloth.
“Here
you go Alexander”, the boy said as he slopped down a pile of sloth
intro Alexander's bowl.
As soon
as he saw Lewis place that bowl i front of him, the big dog's
behaviour changed; he began to pant heavily, his bushy tail began to
wag in a swift, whip action as the boy closed the steel door once
more. With not a second to lose, he jumped on all fours and dove his
muzzle into the bowl, scarfing the food down as of he had not eaten
in weeks.
“See”,
Spot asked him.
Upon
realizing his behaviour, he merely shrugged at her before sitting
back down on all four legs.
“So,
are you settling in well”, he asked.
“Yeap;
it's kind of fun being here!...I just wish we could go outside”,
she explained.
“Don't
we all”, he asked.
“Here
you go Bonnie.”
Hearing
that turned the “roommates” attention in the opposite direction.
It was Lewis, who was now tending to the little shitsu puppies. He
would put a very small portion of sloth in each of their bowls,
ignoring their constant barking as he did so. Though he did stop to
find out what was on his pants, it was a little shitsu named Sasha,
who was busy sniffing his overalls. This made him chuckle as he
picked her up and brought up to meet his freckled face.
“Hi
Sasha”, he said, unable to keep his laughter in as she gave him
puppy “kisses”, hearing the little pup's name however, confused
Spot.
“Did
all the dogs here have people” she asked.
“No,
he just likes giving us names”, Alexander explained.
“Hey,
keep it down in there, will ya”, said a voice Spot did not
recognize.
Sure
enough, both hers, and Alexander's attention turned to face a young
man known as Dave. Dave was much taller, and looked no older than
twenty. He too wore a brown hat over his short, black hair that
framed his slightly rigid looking face. His face was free of
freckles, and his unusually coloured black eyes sparkled with
confidence. His white tank top however, were tied around his worn
out, blue overalls which were not even tucked into his black boots.
His body had a firm build, with strong arms exposing growing muscles,
and a fairly built chest.
Up
until this point, Lewis was unaware of Dave's presence. Upon turning
to meet his confident co-worker, the boy noticed something; he had a
big bag slung over his left shoulder.
“Oh,
hi Dave. Is it that time again”, Lewis asked.
“You
better believe it kid”, Dave replied.
Slowly,
he slung the bag off his shoulder, and into his hand. This caught
Spot's attention almost immediately, causing her to sit on her rear
and stare at the big bag rather attentively. Soon enough, the
young
adult began to empty the bags goods onto the floor, where each item
landed with a clang. As Spot watched, she could not help but begin to
pant heavily, even allow her shaggy tail to wave violently back and
forth once more. What she saw on the floor were bones, and an entire
pile at that. Unbeknownst to her however, the disruptive noise caught
the attention of Alexander. From where he lay, he raised his head up
to discover what was happening.
“Must
be Bone Day again”, Alexander said, his reply catching Spot's
attention as she turned to face him.
“Bone
Day”, she asked.
“Yeah;
everyone in awhile, the people bring us a big pile of bones that we
get to choose from”, he explained to her.
“Ooh,
that sounds like a lot of fun”, she replied.
“I
guess; but there's always one special bone in the pile”, he said.
“One
special bone”, she asked.
“Yeah,
it's got a special mark on it. The dog with that bone gets a special
surprise”, he further explained.
“What's
the surprise”, she asked.
“No
one knows”, he replied.
Spot
remained silent towards that remark, though it did not take long
before her eye caught something else.
Slowly,
puppies of all breeds and sizes began to walk out of their cages. It
did not take long for them to see the bone pile, and upon doing so,
they trotted towards that pile as fast as their stubby little legs
could carry them. Wasting no time, every last puppy dove into that
pile of bones, excited just to merely get one. Of course, there were
instances in which two puppies wrestled over one bone. Though given
each puppies individual strength and size, none of these bouts lasted
very long. Not long after, almost
every
puppy had their bone. Seeing this, both Dave and Lewis began to shoo
the puppies back into their cages. The same procedure then happened
with the smaller dogs, though they were not as rough when
it came
to wrestling for bones as the puppies were.
Once
they were back in their cages, it finally came time for Spot and
Alexander to claim their bones as they watched Lewis open their steel
door. Very similar to their fellow big dogs, the two “roommates”
quickly retrieved their bones and retreated to their cage. Once they
were back inside their dimly lit space, Alexander simply lied down
again as he proceeded to chew on his bone. Spot however felt her
shaggy tail whipping faster the more she sunk her teeth into the
bone. It was firm, yet juicy, probably the juiciest one she could
recall ever having.
Spot's
eye however, then caught Lewis. He was over by the Shitsu puppies
cage again, though she noticed that he seemed to be picking up their
bones.
“You
lookin' for something kid”, asked a voice which startled Lewis,
turns out it was merely Dave.
“Oh,
hey Dave. Sorry about that, I thought I lost something down here.
Guess I didn't”, Lewis explained.
“Right”,
was all Dave could say to the young boy, something Spot noticed as
she watched him from her cage.
“But
he didn't lose anything there”, she observed.
“Don't
worry about it; he always does that on Bone Day”, Alexander
explained to her.
“Really”,
she asked.
“Yeap.
In fact, he's even tried to stop Bone Day a few times”, he
explained to her.
“Ah,
nothing but trouble in that...Little whippersnapper”, replied a
voice unfamiliar to Spot, though one Alexander knew all too well.
Their
attention turned to a cage on the other side, one that contained an
old Akita dog with white fur, and creamy brown spots stretching from
his ears to his furry tail. His muzzle was coloured black, though his
black spots came in between his golden eyes. Despite his appearance,
the dog looked very sleepy. In fact, one might never guess he was
really eight years old.
“Hey
Sanosuke”, said Alexander.
“Hi
Alexander. I'm guessing you're the new one around here, right”, the
old dog asked Spot.
“Yeah,
I am”, she happily replied.
“Well,
how nice for you. Is this your first Bone Day”, he asked.
“Yeap.
I just want to know why that boy said something he didn't mean just
now”, she explained.
“He's
always doing that. That kid just doesn't appreciate what we like
that's all. First, it's no more Bone Day, than he'll probably change
our drinking supply to whenever he feels like it. It's just something
you don't mess with, there's always been a Bone Day, ever since I was
a pup”, he explained.
“Really”,
she asked.
“You
better believe it, girl”, the old dog replied.
“Personally,
I wouldn't mind a few changes around here”, said Alexander.
“As
long as they keep the food, I'm happy”, Spot remarked.
“Of
course you'd be”, the German Shepard remarked.
Once he
opened the steel door to the shitsu puppies cage, Dave cringed as he
bent down and began inspecting the bones, feeling the sore muscles in
his back tense up as he continued to look for the mark. As he
continued his search though, he found his hand being swarmed by
numerous puppy kisses. This made him chuckle, even as he tried to
take the bone that belonged to Sasha. She was very resistive,
wrestling with Dave for a few moments over the right to the bone.
Eventually though, he just simply loosened her grip on the bone as he
began to inspect it. Surely enough, he had finally found what he was
looking for; a special black spot.
“Well,
looks like we got a winner”, Dave remarked towards the Sasha,
watching as she tilted her sideways as she heard him speak.
Without
a moments hesitation, he took the confused, almost nervous puppy in
his firm hands and picked himself up. What he did not know at the
time was that Lewis had not only seen Sasha in the young adult's
hands, but he also noticed the specially marked bone.
“Oh
no Dave, not Sasha”, Lewis said as he made his way over, catching
Dave's attention.
“Well,
she did win fair and square”, he replied.
“Yeah,
but-”
“Listen
kid, we go through this every time. It has to be done, you know
that”, he explained.
“I
know, but-”
“But
what”, he asked the silent boy.
“But...But...Just
look at how scared she is”, Lewis remarked.
Sure
enough, the small pup's whimpering could be heard amongst their
bickering. Their bickering however, had also caught the attention of
both Spot, and Alexander. Alexander could only sigh as he placed his
head to the ground, though all Spot could do was stare at this sight
before turning to face her “roommate” once more.
“Shouldn't
we help them”, she asked.
“It's
not our problem”, he replied.
“But-”
“Just
leave it, okay”, he commanded, leaving her at a loss for words as
he placed his head back down on the cold, hard floor.
Spot
could only stare at her “roommate” for awhile, uncertain of what
to do for the moment. Though that did not discourage her for too long
as she began to bark as loud as she would allow herself to. From
where he lay, Alexander could only watch through the corner of his
eye as he merely sighed. “This always happens on Bone Day”, he
told himself, how was this any different? Still though, she was
continuously barking, as if it were making a difference. He wasn't
quite sure why, but he eventually came up on all fours and began to
bark alongside of her. It was only their simultaneous barking that
caught the attention of the two bickering boys.
“See?
They agree”, Lewis said.
“Alright,
well would you prefer if I drew between them”, Dave asked.
“I...guess”,
the young boy replied.
“Alright
then, I'll do just that. Okay”, he asked as he placed the
frightened puppy into the boy's arms.
“Sure”,
he replied as Dave walked over towards Spot's cage.
Upon
seeing him, they ceased their unisoned barking. Something seemed off
to them both; Dave seemed more confident than angry as he began to
unlock the steel door to their cage.
“Guess
what guys? Today's your lucky day; you get to pick a second bone.
Isn't that great”, he asked them.
Upon
hearing that, both Spot and Alexander tilted their heads to the side.
Even as Dave walked towards the remains of the bone pile, they could
only stare as he threw in another bone. Once he did this, he gestured
for them to come over to where he stood. It took them a few seconds,
though eventually, they made their way over towards Dave.
Seeing
the pile, they slowly raised their muzzles towards the pile. Taking
in the boney scent, they eventually began to dig through the pile,
looking for just the right bone. It took awhile, though eventually
they each came out with a bone in their mouth. They then made their
way back to Dave, who crouched down to their level to inspect their
bones. Alexander's was merely an ordinary bone, though something
seemed different about Spot's as he inspected it. Sure enough, he was
right; there was a black mark on it.
“Well,
looks like our new comer's the winner”, said Dave.
“Really?
Yay” Spot squealed as her shaggy tail began to wag, she even began
to climb on the surprised looking Dave as she did so.
“Okay
girl, calm down”, he replied as he brought her back down to his
level, eventually strapping a collar around her neck. As he did, Spot
turned towards her “roommate”, who was merely staring at her.
“Aren't
you going to say something”, she asked him.
“I
don't what to say really”, he replied.
“Oh,
I see. Well, Goodbye Alexander, see you soon”, she replied as her
words were answered by silence.
“Yeah...Take
care kid”, he replied as he broke the silence.
Spot
could only tilt her head to the side upon hearing that, though soon
she felt the gentle tug of the
uncomfortable
collar tugging her along.
It did
not take long before Spot found herself being lead from outside the
comforts of artificial light, and into a dark, thin corridor. She
gazed at her sightings as she walked alongside Dave, both walls were
covered in squares, and the floor felt smooth. Eventually though, she
found herself in the light again as was led into a new room. For some
reason, Spot began to pant heavily again, her shaggy tail even began
to wag as she walked into the room. Though honestly, it was much
different from what
she was
expecting.
The
room was dimly lit, with towering tables on either side, one was even
in the middle. Something caught her eye though as she turned to look
at the right table; on top of it was a strange looking tube, with odd
markings on its side. What really caught her attention though, was
the shape, pointy end of the tube. Spot could only tilt her head at
this, just as Dave closed the door behind them.
The End
