Obedient's Dog Trick

Obedient rode the bus to the animal shelter on his sixteenth birthday by himself. He had never ridden the bus by himself before, so he was a little nervous about it, but it turned out be easy. He had the bus schedule tucked into his coat pocket, with the bus number and departure time for his stop circled carefully in pencil. Standing at the bus stop, Obedient checked the schedule, but didn't have a watch, so he didn't know if the bus was on time or not. The bus was empty, except for a fat lady with a baby and an older man who had a cane propped across his seat, hanging out into the aisle. Obedient had to walk past the man with the cane to get to a seat and he couldn't help bumping the cane. The old man didn't bother to move his cane to make it easier for Obedient to get to a seat. He just watched Obedient struggle around the cane that was sticking out into the aisle. Obedient sat down a couple rows behind the old man and stared at the back of the old man's hairless head. Obedient didn't like the old man.  Obedient thought he would add the old man's name to the list, but since he didn't know his name, he would just put down "Old man on bus".

Obedient walked slowly down the row of rusty gray cages, looking for a dog to take home. He didn't touch the cages and he was careful to walk around the puddles of urine or cleaner or whatever it was that pooled on the smooth cement floor. Obedient was afraid of getting dirty. Father wouldn't like it if he got his clothes dirty. Obedient just walked slowly down the row of cages, stopping in front of some, glancing into others as he passed them by.

Obedient had never owned a dog and he didn't know how to go about choosing a dog, so he just looked, hoping to find one that would suit him. The smell made his nose itch and the non-stop barking gave him a headache, but Obedient didn't care. He wanted a dog and the smell and the noise was a small price to pay. Obedient looked at the dogs and couldn't decide. Father always made the decisions, this was the first time Obedient had ever made a decision by himself and he wasn't very good at it. He was afraid of making the wrong decision, so he didn't make any. He just kept looking. Some of the dogs jumped up on the cage door and barked, some turned in a circle, some sat and stared. Obedient walked up and down the row of cages, slowly at first, then faster. He couldn't choose a dog, there were too many to pick from. The lady showing the dogs was no help. Obedient didn't like her.  He would add her to the list too.

Obedient finally eliminated all the puppies. He didn't want a puppy. Then he eliminated the dogs that jumped and barked. They wouldn't work. The barking didn't seem right. Obedient didn't want a barking dog. He didn't think he could train a barking dog. Obedient wanted to teach the dog a trick, and if it barked, it would ruin the trick.

Obedient had been planning for this day for exactly two years, three months and two days. Obedient had been planning on bringing home his dog ever since he had asked Father if he could have a dog like the one he saw in the road that day as he walked home from school two years, three months and two days ago. Father had, as usual, responded with a slurred non-answer answer.

“Maybe. Maybe when you are old enough”. Father always said that. “Maybe, when you are old enough.” Even when he asked Father to tell him about his Mother, Father never answered directly.

“Not today. Maybe when you are old enough”, but it seemed like he never was old enough since he still didn't know anything about his mother.

But today was different. Obedient was old enough. Obedient was sixteen and that meant he could have a dog.

“How old is old enough?” Obedient had never pushed Father for another answer beyond the standard “Maybe” but he couldn't get that dog out of his mind, the dog lying in the road, not moving, with the back leg pointing in the wrong direction.

“Sixteen” answered Father. “Whatever, just not today.” Father sipped from his bourbon filled coffee cup, staring at Obedient, daring him to ask another question. Father just sipped from his cup and stared at Obedient until Obedient dropped his gaze and stopped asking questions. Father thought the outcome of that short discussion decided, and so did Obedient. They just didn't agree on what that outcome was.

Obedient didn't care if the dog was old or young or big or small. Obedient was looking for a dog that reminded him of the dog in the street. As he walked up and down the row, he had narrowed his choice down to the big brown dog and the old yellow dog. Each reminded him a little of that day when he cried over the dog in street that wouldn't move. The big brown dog or the old gray dog, Obedient just couldn't decide. He was sure he could teach either dog the trick.

The big brown dog looked friendly enough, but was covered with bandages and raw, open sores on his face and shoulder. He was weeping clear fluid and his fur was wet from the fluid. His left ear was mostly missing, his left eye might have been missing, or it might have just been covered up with swollen flesh, Obedient couldn't tell which. The dog looked like he had been dragged under a truck and in fact, he had. The big brown dog didn't move from the corner of his cage, but he just stared at Obedient from his one good eye. Obedient liked the big brown dog immensely. He reminded Obedient of the dog in the street. That made Obedient happy. Obedient just looked at the big brown dog, comparing it to the dog in the street that didn't move. Obedient liked looking at the big brown dog with the scars and the missing ear.

The other dog that Obedient liked was once a beautiful dog with golden fur, but it was so old that it's fur was all gray and white and matted. Where the big brown dog sat in the corner and didn't move due to injury, the old gray dog cowered in the corner in fear. Obedient didn't know anything about dogs, but he could tell that somebody had beat this dog until all it would do was hide in the corner. The old dog didn't move at all, except occasionally it's whole body shivered. Obedient liked the gray dog too. It didn't look anything like the dog in the street, but it stayed perfectly still. Obedient liked that. The dog in the street didn't move either.

He couldn't decide, so he just walked back and forth between the cages, looking at the big brown dog and the old gray dog. The lady who was showing the dogs to Obedient told him that the old gray dog was a better choice since the big brown dog was still in need of medical care. That sealed it for Obedient. He said “I'll take the brown dog. The big one.” Today was his birthday and he was for the first time in his life feeling independent. He wondered what Father would think of that. Maybe when Father saw the dog do the trick, he wouldn't get mad. It seemed to Obedient that Father was always mad.

After Obedient paid the lady for the dog and filled out the registration form, she gave him a bag of dog food and a yellow dog toy with a squeeky noise-maker inside. She grabbed a leash off of the rack and hooked it onto the dog's collar, then handed the other end to Obedient. The dog held his left front foot off the ground and limped after Obedient out the door. Obedient started walking him home to Father's house.

Obedient had read the webesite with the bus rules and knew that he couldn't get the dog on the bus because he wasn't a service dog, so Obedient walked his dog home along the highway. The big brown dog couldn't really walk very well or very fast due to his injury. It was hard work and the dog was getting tired from the hopping. The few cars on the highway were flying by Obedient and his big brown dog, dust was flying up from the cars and sticking to the dog's open wounds. The wounds made the big brown dog look more like the dog in the street. That made Obedient happy.

Obedient had thought about the dog in the street every day for the past two years, three months and two days and he couldn't wait to get his big brown dog home. Obedient's mouth started to salivate. He had to swallow his own spit to keep it from running out of his mouth. Obedient thought about the dog in the street that didn't move and wondered if he could get the big brown dog to lie down in the street and stay still just like that. He knew he could. Obedient was happy, just thinking about it.

Obedient was so happy thinking about the dog in the street that didn't want to wait to get the big brown dog home. He wanted to teach the dog the trick now. For some reason he didn't understand, he had to teach the dog the trick this very instant.

Obedient saw a rock on the side of the road and picked it up. It felt right, about the size of a baseball. Obedient looked at the dog. The big brown dog was tired from hopping for the past mile.  The dog's front leg was so sore he didn't even try to put it on the ground, so he hopped.  His head was hanging low and he was panting. Obedient looked down the road for cars but didn't see any coming. He slowly pulled the big brown dog out into the middle of the street with the leash in one hand, the rock in the other.

Obedient was ever so happy, teaching the dog a trick, teaching him how to lie still in the road. Obedient taught him One-Two-Three times.  Obedient was so happy, he started to cry.  Obedient looked down at the big brown dog, lying perfectly still, not moving a bit.  He stood there for a long time, staring at the beautiful dog.  He loved his dog ever so much.  He loved him because it did the trick so well.  He loved him because he was such a good dog.

Then Obedient had a thought that terrified him so much he almost died.  Obedient looked up from the big brown dog and started to walk, then began to run as the thought consumed him.  His breath came in gasps as he ran back towards the shelter, afraid somebody else might get the old gray dog before he got there.

Maybe he could get the gray dog home to show Father the trick. Obedient was sure he could teach the old gray dog the trick.  Father would be so happy.