Someone to love me

Someone to Love Me







    I live in a barn all day.  I am not allowed to be with the rest of my family.  I have three brothers and one sister.  Ever since I was born I have had to live in the barn away from everybody else.  I do not know why.  The man with the cowboy hat and raspy voice says that I am not like my brothers and sister.  I am not normal.  I do not know what he means when he says that.  He kicks me and yells at me all the time.  He is mean to me.  I get scared when he comes around and I try not to do anything wrong so he won’t hit me.

    He is not mean to me when he is with the nice lady.  She has a nice voice.  She feeds me and makes sure I have a blanket to keep me warm.  She even lets me see my brothers and sister when the man with the cowboy hat is not at home.  I am allowed to run and play with them.  That is so much fun.  We run all around the yard and play until we are very tired. 

  As soon as the man with the cowboy hat comes home I have to go back into the barn.  It is so lonely in the barn.  I do not understand why I have to live in the barn when everybody else is in the house.

    I am just like every other dog.  I run and play.  I bark when someone I do not know comes around.  I love the man with the cowboy hat even though he does not treat me good.  It really does not make any sense to me.  I do not bite the man with the cowboy hat even though I want to when he kicks me and calls me names. 

    One day when the man with the cowboy hat was not home and I was allowed to be with the other dogs, I asked my brother why the man with the cowboy hat did not like me.  My brother said, “Because you only have three legs”.

I replied, “Isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?”

“No”, my brother said.  Look at my legs.  See how I have four legs?”

“Yes, I do.” I said.  “I was born this way so why does that make me different?  If I was supposed to have four legs wouldn’t I have been born with four legs and not three?”

My brother said, “I do not know why he has such a problem with it.  You keep up with us when we play and you can fetch the ball.  You even get the ball before I do sometimes.  I heard him tell the nice lady that you were a freak and he didn’t want you living in the house.  She talked him into letting you stay in the barn.”

“She is nice to me.”  I said.  “Maybe if I am real good he will change his mind.  I will do tricks for him.  I can dance around in circles.  I can sit up on my back legs.  The nice lady taught me how to do those things.”

My brother said, “It is worth a try.  We miss you.  Good luck”.

    The next day I decided that I was going to impress the man with the cowboy hat.  He came up to the barn and he yelled at me like he always does.  He told me that I was no good.  He told me that he hated me.  I was not normal and that he did not want me living here.  Even though he yelled at me and kicked me, I did my best tricks for him.  My ribs hurt from him kicking me but I did the tricks better than I had ever done them.  All of a sudden he bent down and looked at me in the eyes.  I was smiling at him even though I was scared of him.  He told me he was going to take me for a ride.  My tricks must have worked, I thought.

    I was so excited.  He had never taken me for a ride.  My brothers and sister always got to go for a ride but not me.  I was left here in the barn all by myself.  The man with the cowboy hat must like me or he would not be taking me for a ride.

    I jumped into the car wagging my tail.  He put me in the back seat.  I was in the car.  We were going for a ride.  This was so great.  We drove for a little while and the car stopped.  The man with the cowboy hat got out and let me out of the car.  I did not want to get out.  It was dark and I did not know where I was.  He yelled at me to get out and I still did not move.  He finally picked me up and threw me down on to the side of the road.  He got back in the car and left.

    It is so dark here.  I am scared.  I do not know where I am.  How could he just leave me here?  I did not know what to do.  I thought that if I stayed where I was he would come back for me.  If I left this spot he would not be able to find me.

    After a long time, I decided that I should try and find him and the nice lady.  Maybe if I started walking I would pick up their scent.  I started walking down the dark road.  I could not smell them.  They were too far away from me.  I had to keep walking.  I had to find them.  I started to get very tired.  I needed to take a break.

    As I sat there trying to decide which way to go, I started to wonder why doesn’t he want me?  What did I do that was so wrong?  Doesn’t he know that I was born this way?  Doesn’t he see that there is nothing wrong with me?  I can run and play.  I can see and hear.  Just because I have three legs does not mean that I am not a dog that needs to be loved.  I have so much love to give just like my brothers and sister. 

    Maybe it would be better if I was not here at all.  The man with the cowboy hat does not want me.  The nice lady has not come to find me.  My brothers and sister have forgotten about me too.  Why should I go on living?  There is no one who wants me.  No one would miss me if I was gone.  I would not have to hurt anymore.  I decided that I did not want to be alive anymore.  Eventually a car will have to come down this road.  I can lie in the middle of the road and let the car run over me.  I found a spot in the middle of the road and lied down.

    It was quiet for a long time.  I just laid there.  Waiting.  Finally, I heard a car coming.  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.  It was soon going to be over.  All the pain would be gone.  I was ready to go.  I do not want to be here anymore.  Please just run over me and make me go away. 

    I heard tires screeching.  It was such a loud sound.  The car swerved and missed me.  I jumped up and saw the car crash into the telephone pole.  The front end was smashed in pretty badly.  There was a very bad smell in the air. 

    I saw a person in the front seat.  As I got closer to the car, I could see something dripping down the person’s face.  The person was hanging out of the window.  I went to where the person was and licked his face.  He did not move.  I started to bark but he still did not move.  I grabbed him by the shirt and began to pull him.  I ripped the shirt and a piece of the shirt was in my mouth.  I grabbed his arm and began to pull.  This time he started to move as I pulled.  I pulled and pulled.  I was using all the strength that I had and I finally got him out of the car.  He fell to the ground.  I pulled him all the way across the street.  As I got to the other side, the car blew up.

    The man started to move.  He sat up holding his head just looking at the flames.  He looked over at me and smiled.  I smiled back at him.  He started to pet me on the head.  He had such a gentle touch.  I curled up next to him and licked his face. He kissed me on the head.  I felt so warm inside.  I had never felt such love before.