The Dog I Will Never Forget

The dog I will never forget

Beginning the war in my country, my village was full of people from other villages.
Their homes were burned and demolished, and
they were forced to leave and run from the enemy. They brought their animals with them:
cows, horses, sheep, even the dogs. Everybody
was hungry and there was not enough food to feed
the people, or their animals.

Very few of the refugees stayed in my village, most of them moved deeper inside the free territory where the grenades could not reach them. They took the cows, horses and sheep with themselves, but they abandoned the dogs. Since the dogs were not much of a use and their owners could not feed them, they just let them go.

My family owned horse and the cow. It was a blessing to have a cow at the time, because cow can feed the whole family. Milking the cow was my job because my mom was busy doing other things. Every morning and evening I would have to go to the shed to get the milk.

One morning, when my bucket was full and I was getting ready to go home, I heard a whining
sound. I looked out the door and noticed a
little puppy walking towards the shed. It was
raining and the puppy was all wet. He stopped
and started looking at me still whining.

“Where did you come from, little buddy?” I
asked in surprise.

He was looking at me with his only one eye. His other eye was closed, and it seemed that he did not even have it.

“Oh, my god, you pour little thing. Have
you been hurt?” I asked again like he could
answer. He waved his little tail, still looking
at me and whining. He was hungry. His little,
skinny body was shaking.

“Here,” I said, “I’ll give you some milk.
God, I hope you can eat.”

Quickly I found the bowl my mom was using to feed the kittens. I poured some milk in it and put it on the ground.

“Come and eat, little buddy. This is
all for you,” I said smiling.

Slowly he moved his skinny little legs and
started eating. I touched his head and started
scratching him behind his ears. He seemed to
like it. When he was finished he waved his tail
again and slowly walked away.

After that day, he was waiting for me every morning and evening to feed him. He was starting to gain weight, his belly was getting rounder and when he walked he looked like a balloon with four legs.

Days have passed and I got married, so I
moved out of my parent house. I lived in the
city with my husband. A year later I got a
baby. I had nothing to feed my baby with, and
there was not any baby formula available. I had
to move back and live in my parent’s house and
feed my baby with cow’s milk. I was back to my
old duties, helping my mom with the housework.

It was winter and the weather was very cold. One day I had to go to the shed to feed the animals. I passed some hay and turned to go back home. When I was closing the door I saw a big dog standing about two yards away from the
door. I got so scared that I could not move.

There was something about that dog, something that made me shiver. He was just standing there and looking at me. He was not barking or attempting to attack me.

It was like he was saying, “Hi. Do you remember me?”

He moved one step closer to the door.
I instinctively stepped back. My heart was
pounding. Was he going to attack me? But no, he was just standing there and looking at me with his only one eye.

“My God, you are still alive. You have
survived,” was all I could say.

It was him, the little puppy I fed a year ago. He is alive and big. I could not believe it, he was just so beautiful. I would have never
recognized him if it was not for his eye, the
only one eye he had. We were just standing
there looking at each other and then he turned
and started walking away. Before a moment he was gone.

When I got home I asked my mom, “When you go to the shed do you ever see a big dog with only one eye?”

“No, I have never seen any dog there. Why?”
She asked.

“There was one today,” I said.

Several months later my city was occupied
by our enemies and we were forced to leave.
We left our homes and moved far away to another
city. I have never been back home after that,
and don’t know what happened to all the people
that never made it to safety. I’ll never forget
that day and I sure will never forget the brown
one eyed dog, and the only dog that I was ever
friends with.