11
He woke to dogs barking. John shuffled under the blanket. It was a blanket that Valerie had given to him last night when she returned to lock the gag ball head harness back on him.
The blanket stunk. The frayed edges emphasized the rips thru out. But at least he had been kept warm. His joints ached from sleeping on the hard ground. He was contemplating two law suits against both Ashley and Valerie when the later walked up the path to the kennel. The dogs slowed their barking to a light whimper and much tail wagging.
Valerie had pushed a rolling, metal cart in front of her. On the cart were several cans of dog food and other items. She reminded John of an airline steward serving the passengers. But this certainly wasn't first class. He wondered if she had some coffee on the menu.
She was wearing a blue stripped tank top, black Avia sweat pants with a blue strip running down the side of each leg, and white sneakers glaring in the morning sun.
"Breakfast time," Valerie chimed. She opened the first cage door on the opposite side of the path containing the black lab, making John the last to be served, of course.
John admired Valerie's ass as she bent over in the cage in front of him. It was completely obvious how she had snagged herself a rich man. It made him wonder why Ashley didn't follow in Valerie's footsteps, instead going for a guy like himself. Intrusive thoughts entered his mind at the pleasant scene before him. If he truly was a dog, at least he was being treated as such by these two sisters.
As the lean, svelte Doberman Pincher chomped down on the food in his dog bowl next to him, he felt like an overweight, lethargic human-dog.
Then the woman got to him. She unwound the wire from the gate latch and opened the door. She walked in to ruffle his hair as she did the other dogs. She had changed her nail polish somewhere in the night to a light pink. Her fingernails scratched behind his ears.
"How's Frisky this morning?"
Frisky?
"Is Frisky a hungry dog? Huh?"
She again removed the ball gag harness so John could eat. "I'll have you know, Frisky, you have kept me hopping all morning," she said. "First I had to let the dog handler off for the next few days until I figure out what to do with you and that's why I have to feed you guys myself today. But he's an illegal immigrant so I'm sure he wouldn't care if one of our dogs was kind of..." she wrinkled up her nose at him, "... human. I mean, he wouldn't say anything. I think. Then I had to run and get a lock for your gate here. I can't have the dogs just leaving whenever they want. Can I? That would make me an irresponsible dog owner."
John was amazed how she could keep expressing her thoughts without pausing once while opening the can of dog food. Her fingers danced around the can opener as if it were a musical instrument.
"Of course," she said, "I had to get my oldest one off to school. That is always my first priority. A good education is vital. Other wise he might end up like you." She laughed as she poured the dog food into his bowl. It splattered over the side. Her long fingers scooped some of it back up over the top of the bowl. Standing back up she wiped her hands off with a towel.
John felt uneasy. Being tapped on all fours has made the world a much bigger place for him. Not only can he not stride on his hind legs to get around making his walking time take longer, but he was forced to look up to see people. Everyone. His size had been robbed from him. Valerie loomed over him like an imposing figure. Then she said something that disturbed him even more.
"Also today I got in touch with my lawyer," she went on, "Not the one my husband or his company uses, no...My lawyer. The one I use for little things my husband doesn't know about like if my marriage doesn't work out or something. He is good, let me tell you."
