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Spooky

Dave Callahan


ay 1

  It was one fine sunny morning in the month of December; we were all waiting hungrily for our breakfast in the backyard, so that we could finish it and go to sleep again; as everyday our routine had been "Play, Eat and Sleep". My Pet mom came with a bowl of our favorite food but instead of feeding us in the backyard she took me and Stacy inside the house whereas Brutus, Leo and Buddy were left behind. Once inside the house I was fed with more pedigree than usual which made me so happy; few minutes later a big argument broke out between my Pet Mom and Dad; I ignored it as it would happen every day for one reason or other.

  They do fight but this time it was different. I tried to overhear the conversation to see whether it's about Mickey and Maddy but it was about me and "Stacy"; Few days ago, “arrogant" Mikey and "Mad" Maddy were also taken inside the house and was sent on a vacation with a person who was not familiar to us.But I was so happy not to see “Mikey" again as he always fought with us for each and everything. Suddenly a big crate was kept it front of us, which gave us more anxiety as we were afraid that we are being taken to "Vet" for vaccinations. Initially I and Stacy refused to go inside but on seeing more pedigree inside the cage we went inside the crate only to see doors of it being closed by Pet "Mom”. They were still fighting and arguing among themselves which made us more anxious as they didn't fight when we were being taken to Vet on several occasions in the past.

  Generally we would go in our Sister’s car to the vet but today we were taken to a neighbor's house; my real mother barked at me & Stacy said something but we were not able to hear "her" clearly. Our crate was boarded on to a truck which was twice the size of the car, our sister had. Our Neighbor’s son who was very close to us helped in boarding the crate to the truck; I expected my pet dad to accompany us but for some reasons he didn't board the truck. It was the first time we are travelling through that way as it was way different from the road to Vet's place. All we could see was buildings which were so big in size and dwarfed our home in comparison. There were no trees too; in short words it can be described as a concrete jungle.

  The truck in which we were travelling came to a halt after some 30 minutes of travel near a desolate under constructed building. As our neighbors’ son was de-boarding us from the truck, we saw our neighbor speaking to an old man indicating us. We were puzzled and shocked as our neighbor and his son soon left both of us there in the company of that old man .We also started to feel asleep as we were tired after the heavy morning breakfast we had at home. After a little nap, we were woken up by the noise of crate being opened by the old man. He took both of us inside a big dark room which had only one window and chained me to one of the wooden poles there and in the Opposite pole it was “Stacy”; He left us there in the dark and banged the door in like beating another person. We had a bewildered look on our faces as this is the first time we have been chained as our pet mom never bothered to chain or keep us on leash as we roamed freely inside the fence which was around our house.

  I soon started feeling thirsty and looked around for water in a bowl as my pet mom used to keep water for us in a big bowl but there was no bowl in the room. Soon I barked to get the attention of someone who might be nearby but it fell on deaf ears as we were inside a big room. Meanwhile Stacy was more frightened than me as she was so timid and soft right from her birth itself. I tried to comfort her by saying that our parents would come back but she was not willing to listen and her fears came true as there was no sign of them even after the sun set. The Old man again came in the evening and switched on the only source of artificial light and once he switched on it,he shouted at us and started beating us with a small stick all of sudden for no reason. Little did we realize he is beating us for defacing and urinating in the same place. But after that he provided us with some 3-4 biscuits to me and Stacy, but she didn't touch any food as she was eager to go back to our home.

  Day 2

  I was not getting any sleep in the big room as it was very cold out there when compared to the warmth we had inside our home at night. Some strange creatures flew by us and also we heard some hissing sounds which made me scarier than ever in my entire life. We howled and cried yearning for attention but none came to our help as there were no houses in the surroundings, even though the building was very near to a road. Every vehicle which passed through the road woke up us from our sleep as we thought it might be our neighbor with whom we can hitch a ride back to "home”, but it was not to be.

  We slept for few hours that night but we were suddenly woken up by showers from the sky, Since the room had "No" roof, Big Hailstones hit me badly such that I thought I may die soon but the stone shower stopped after few minutes much to the relief of myself and "Stacy”. Had it been our home, my mom and dad would have never allowed us to get drenched like this and hit by hailstones, as once it starts raining they would take all of us inside a separate room and we will be put to sleep in the cushion sofas. Even though we got drenched couple of times when they were at work, once they came back they cleaned us with towels and gave hot milk to us so that we won’t shiver but here it was diametrically opposite as no one came to our help. We were shivering and waited patiently for my pet mom to come up and dry us with a towel not knowing that she is far away from the place where we were.

  In the morning instead of old man, a young man who was similar to my brother came inside the room, but unlike my brother who cared and showered us with all the love in the world, this young man shouted and scolded us. After him ,came a group of people who were similar in stature to my neighbor’s son, On seeing them Stacy started howling and barking as she was always afraid of more people. Unable to bear her barks they started beating her with a small stick which made Stacy more frightened. Due to Stacy's irresponsible behavior, we were not given any food that morning. I eagerly waited for the old man to come as I thought he may provide us with some food since he always showed some kind of affection for us.

  The old man came in the afternoon and as soon as he got inside, he provided us with a small bowl of milk which we emptied immediately. We started sleeping soon after we had milk as that was the first milk we had in the last 24 hours whereas back home we used to drink milk three times a day.

  After that they released us from the chains so that we could relieve ourselves. We got frightened when we went outside of the room as there were more people there. Once we relieved ourselves we came back inside the room and slept for rest of the day. The Old man again came at the night and released us from the poles; we went around the place sniffing around so as to find a way back to our home. We were able to find the gate through which we came in but we could not get past the gate as it was larger than we had in our home. We tried to jump and get across the gate in order to go back to our home; but our attempts were futile, so again I and Stacy made back to the room where we were provided with food by the kind hearted old man.

  Day 3

  As the sun rose, someone came inside and unchained me from the poles and took me to the truck which was waiting outside the gate; there they chained me at the top of it in such a way that I won't fell down; I was able to clearly hear Stacy's bark from inside asking me not to leave her alone; I ignored Stacy's repeated barks, as I was more eager to go on the truck as this truck was similar to my neighbor’s which made me believe that I will be back home soon. But at the same time I was sad to see “Stacy" was not travelling with me. And when the truck started its journey ,For the first time in last 2 days, Fresh breeze hit my face and body which brought in so much of joy to me; All of a sudden, the truck came to a screeching halt to the sound of noisy crackers which were being blasted to celebrate a wedding, those crackers sounded like 1000 dogs barking together and it frightened me like anything, luckily it came to stop after sometime and the truck again continued its onward journey .With ev
ery passing minute, I was getting happier as I was going back home.

  As the truck went near my home, I expected it to stop but it didn't; It sped past the street without giving me a chance to look at my home but I was able to hear my pet mom shouting at mischievous Brutus. I howled and barked to get attention of my pet mom so that she can pull me out from the truck, but the sound of the truck's engine silenced my high pitched "cries”. The truck continued its onward journey and went past some lush green fields which were more similar to the meadows in front of my home. I used to escape sometimes along with Brutus through the narrow gates to play in the meadows .Once we were done with our fighting; we will get back inside the home before my pet mom comes back from her work. Though my dad and sister also start early as my pet mom they come back very late from work whereas my pet mom always comes early so as to look after us. Every day we give her a lot of trouble despite that she always looked after us very well.

  My heart became heavier and heavier as the truck raced