Dogs On A Boat

A storm hits. A boat runs out of fuel. The owners abandon ship. What about the dogs?

The Humans take us on their floating home to a place where the ground is blue and wet and larger than the green yard where we usually play. There are no trees or fields to dig. Other Dog gets sick easily. The Humans yell at him when he gets sick on the floor. The Humans are sometimes very nice and sometimes very cruel. I will never again forget to relieve myself on the newspaper in the corner, unless I want the paddle. Usually the Humans will pet us and play with us with the shredded blanket. I like those times.

 

When the sun goes behind the dark clouds, the Humans become quick and short-tempered, like Other Dog whenever I bother his eating. Twice the Female swats my hide with a paddle because I am standing too near. They are filling big yellow barrels with wet blue water. I do not understand. I can’t help but taste the water they spilled and I do not like the rotten taste of it.

 

Other Dog gets sick again. The Humans beat him and leave him outside of the dry area beneath the flapping sails. I am happy not to be in the falling water. There are loud rumbles that make my bones hurt. The Humans hush me when I whimper, but the Female does not stop petting me. I feel safe with them.

 

When it is light outside, we cannot find Other Dog. The blue ground is flat again and the Humans are speaking to their machines�"it almost sounds to me like barking. They sit with me and do not look for Other Dog. I cannot smell Other Dog but I can smell bad chemical odor coming from the bottom of the boat. I wonder if that has something to do with why our floating home is not moving.

 

Later, a big floating wall comes to us with hundreds of windows and big smoking towers. Other Humans come to us on a different floating machine and they take the Humans and the Humans leave me. I cannot see them very well, but I know that they have gone into the floating wall, and I whimper and I watch the floating wall fade away. I d not understand why the Humans left me. I do not like that they left Other Dog outside and let him disappear. I do not like to be alone.

 

On another day, a white bird lands on the railing. I want to eat it but I cannot catch it. I can smell the food the Humans give me�"the bag is somewhere in the dry area, hidden inside something that only the Humans can open. I start scratching at the door that I think the food is behind. The bird watches me from a pole too high for me to reach, resistant to my growling.

 

When I finally get a paw through the hole I’ve torn in the door, I tear open the bottom of the food bag and spill pellets across the floor. I have never tasted food so sweet. My body trembles in pleasure and I swallow as much food as my body can take. Within minutes, I’m curled up on the floor and asleep.

 

I wake up when I feel something licking my face. In my dream, it’s my mother, bathing me before I play with my siblings on the day I am picked by the Humans. I have not seen her since. When I wake up, I expect to see her, but instead I see Other Dog. He backs up and sits. I quickly greet him with a few licks and a curious look. He must have been swimming after us the whole time. He is shivering wet and looks weak, so I show him where the food is and he eats.

 

He cannot explain to me what happened to him and I cannot explain what happened to the Humans. We go about our lives without question or complaint. We continue to use the newspaper, as trained, until it is too filthy. Other Dog chooses another corner for us to use. We eat less and less food each day. At night, we sleep in the dry area. In the day, we try to catch the birds that tease us.

 

We have run out of food. Clouds have made the sky drop water and the Humans’ floating home becomes a dangerous place to be. Other Dog and I are tossed around. I am struck in the head by a Human machine that falls from the table. The wind sounds like the howling of wolves. Other Dog is very hungry and thin. I have not slept in more than two moons.

 

The next day, Other Dog startles a bird and the bird makes a mistake�"it flies into the sail and it falls to my feet, frightened and injured. Without a second thought, I sink my teeth into its flapping body. I have never tasted blood. I feel the bird die in my mouth and I bring it to Other Dog and together we rip it apart.

 

Other Dog is looking at me strange. I was raised from a puppy with Other Dog and the Humans, sometimes cruel, were good to us most of the time. Other Dog and I have been friends for many years. I love Other Dog as much as I loved mother. I have not seen him look at me like that. It is how I looked when I watched the birds.

 

We are very hungry. The sound of my growling hunger is louder than the crash of water against our floating home. It has been many, many moons. The Humans have left us here forever. I cannot remember their smell. Other Dog has not moved very much from his spot in the dry area. Sometimes he growls at me for no reason. I do not think he can see very well.

 

Other Dog does not wake up in the morning. I lay with him for most of the day.

 

In the night, I howl at the moon and wish that the clouds will rain food instead of water. I wish that this floating trap will return to the land of Humans and petting and treats. I wish the Humans never stole me from my mother. I dream of those things and wake feeling sick. I am having trouble relieving my waste and this is upsetting. Sometimes I choke on my own spit.  

 

Some days later, I take a bite of Other Dog’s leg. It requires some tugging and I keep my eyes closed because I do not like to do what I am doing. I am hungry. His flesh tastes strange and I cannot get myself to take another bite. Soon it is too uncomfortable to sleep in the dry area with my dead friend, so I stay outdoors.

 

I think it will be soon that I won’t wake up and I will be like Other Dog. I wonder what will become of us. Will the birds come and eat us? I guess that it does not matter. I pick a good spot to lay and I slow my breathing. The sun is hot and soothing and it reminds me of mornings as a puppy getting drunk from mother’s milk and napping with my belly up to the sunlight.

 

I wake to the sound of the Humans, with Other Humans, arriving on a floating home in the dark of the night. I think I am dreaming. The Humans climb onto the deck and come to me with smiles and high-pitch happiness. I do not care. All is blurry. Everything hurts. I do not move when they pet me. When they pull me to my feet, I growl and snap at the Man’s hand. He swats my nose. I bite his fingers.

 

They leave me alone and go into the dry area. The Female cries when she sees Other Dog and I wince and then the Man covers Other Dog with a towel and I growl. I do not like them touching Other Dog. I do not like them for what they did. I do not like them for making me so hungry. With a lick of my lips, I stalk forward and block the Humans’ exit from the dry area, and as the blue water rolls, so does our home. The door slams shut behind me like the shot of a gun and I pounce.

 

The Humans try to stop me, but I eat them anyway. The Other Humans capture me with nets. I do not like this cage very much, but at least I’m not hungry.