Chapter 5
After the sharply scented female fled in a flurry, the dog picked up on a change in the energy coming off the man. Before the woman came, it had been clear the man had been waiting for something, which had made the dog anxious. It had turned out to be the woman who reminded the dog of a thunderstorm. The man talked to himself as he paced in the same circles the dog had paced earlier. As he circled, he rested his arms atop his head and mumbled. After some time had passed, the man settled onto the couch, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes, his energy considerably calmer now.
The dog made a point of paying heed to people’s energy. It had saved him from more than a few beatings over the seasons. The man would be giving in to sleep soon, and once he did, the dog would be able to rest as well. He couldn’t sleep in the same room with strangers, not while they were awake.
He didn’t understand why he was here with the man any more than he understood why he’d been moving between human homes and confining cages in buildings filled with other dogs as far back as he could remember. A part of him longed to slip out the door the first chance he got and run and run and run. Another a part of him wanted to go back to the house and four humans he’d been with most recently. He could do without the anxious intensity of the woman and the calculated air of the man, but the young boys had been entertaining.
They darted about rather than parking themselves in one spot all the time like so many humans did. Their energy was always untainted and easy to read, and they moved through many emotions in a day. Playful, tired, angry, sad, hungry. They’d offered him bites of their food and toys to chew, and they never once swatted or kicked him or, worse, locked him in a cage. He’d even come to like their small, soft hands burrowing into his fur, so unlike his experience with other humans. Anytime an adult attempted to touch him, the dog darted away, and if he couldn’t get away, he froze in place until the petting mercifully ended.
In spite of his enjoyment of the young boys, the dog had not slept well in that house. His best dozes had been during the day in a patch of sunlight while the little ones were napping. Nights were too often pierced by the cries and needs of the boys and the snapping of the man and woman as they quarreled when roused from sleep.
As poorly as he’d slept there, it had been far worse in other houses, and most terrible in the house of one man whose meanness the dog could smell through walls. And he slept even worse in cages.
More than pettings by humans who he didn’t trust, more than beatings, the dog feared cages. He’d been trapped in them so many times, and sometimes for unbearably long. One of the dog’s homes had become nothing more to him in memory than a cage and a swift kicking anytime he was free of it. If the dog was never shoved into a cage the rest of his life, he’d never forget his dislike of them.
If there was one hopeful thing about this new place tonight, it was free of cages.
When the man’s breathing finally melted into the steady, even breathing of sleep, the dog hopped up onto the small table in front of him and gave him a thorough studying. It might not be for the dog to know why he was with this man now, but as far as humans went, this man didn’t fill him with dread the way some others had. Perhaps this was in part because the man had freed him from the vehicle that was no better than a cage.
He’d even given the dog something meaty and delicious to eat that the dog had smelled humans eating before but had never been offered, and it still sat heavy and warm in his belly. He wanted another one—or two—even if they made his belly cramp as badly as the time he’d been without water for so long that when he was finally offered it, he drank and drank and drank until his stomach threatened to burst.
Stepping forward, the dog balanced one paw lightly on the couch and leaned in closer to the man. Underneath the chemical scents lingering from what the man had washed himself with earlier—apparently he hadn’t gotten wet enough in the rain—his scent had an unexpected evenness to it, one that tempted the dog to trust him. The man’s hands were resting on his lap, and his head was still stretched back against the couch. The tips of the fingers of one hand still smelled of the woman’s blood who’d been in the vehicle with him.
When their vehicle smashed against a different one, the dog had only received a jarring, but the woman had gotten something as bad as the dog’s worst beating. Her body had gone limp, and the sharp scent of her blood had stung his nose. As far as humans went, the dog trusted her enough. She often came to the house, immersing herself in the play of the young boys, and sometimes offering the dog bites of food. After the crash, strangers had taken her away. The dog wondered where she’d gone and if she was okay, but such things as these weren’t for him to know.
The dog was still leaning in close when the man roused unexpectedly, sucking in a sharp breath and opening his eyes in the dim light. After jerking in surprise to find the dog so close, he cleared his throat. “Hey, there. You aren’t planning on eating me in my sleep, are you?”
The dog returned all four paws to the table and stared at the man as the man stared at him.
“Know what? I’m just about too tired to care.”
Abruptly stretching out across the couch, the man was asleep again within seconds. The dog watched him a bit longer, then jumped over to the padded chair nearby. He scratched at the soft fabric with his front paws and circled several times before curling up and resting his head over the side, one eye popping open every time the man stirred.
Finally, in the quiet of the night, the dog gave in to the exhaustion that had long been beckoning him.