We started walking again and I tried to forget this last, scary remark.
After a while, the guard arrived with our lunch. Still scared, I buried my head in the bowl I shared with the girl-dogs.
In the meanwhile, the sky had become thick with clouds.
"I'll come to get her later " I heard William saying to Miss Yu. "I am busy in the afternoon."
I was still eating: I felt the light caress on my ass, and I when I raised my head I saw his back as he was leaving.
We started again our stroll. Some thick raindrops started falling. Miss Yu opened an umbrella, but the girl-dogs and I were exposed under the rain, which started getting heavier and heavier. Walking on all fours started to become difficult and unpleasant. Our hair was becoming heavy and plastered to the head. Wendy and Mandy were nervous and Miss Yu put the leash on all of us and needed to pull now and then when we slowed down.
Puddles were forming on the path and sometimes we couldn't avoid stepping in them and the dirty water stuck to our calves and arms, or sprayed into our faces.
My good humor had been completely spoiled by Old Wang, then by William's departure, and now by this long, unpleasant walk under the incessant rain. The sky was getting darker and darker. We stopped near a fountain to rest, but while Miss Yu found repair below a small canopy, we were left in the rest position, under the rain. We looked at Miss Yu pleading for mercy and she looked back at us, but she didn't relent.
After a while we restarted, it was the longest walk I had so far at the Compound. Finally, I realized we were heading to the parking lot where I should meet William. However, when I arrived, he wasn't there. Miss Yu patted my head, secured my leash to a pole, and waved me goodbye.
The girl-dogs didn't react when she pulled their leash and drove them away. They didn't have the strength to acknowledge our separation. I saw their white asses swinging away, hit by the rain.
Even if it was not so late, I guess it was about five o'clock, it was very dark and a light lamp on a pole was turned on just above me. I assumed the rest position and I started waiting patiently for William.
People who were going to the clubhouse looked at me, behind their umbrellas. Nobody seemed to pay attention or care, just somebody whispered and smiled; these were people who used to mind their business. I felt like an abandoned mongrel. I was starting to feel cold and hungry.
Every time a car approached I raised my head, hoping that William would come to rescue me. As soon as I understood it wasn't him, and the car lights, turning, lighted up in a flash my naked body, I lowered my head, disappointed.