A story that contains love, trust, and betrayal.
"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to...
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A rainy day in New York was followed by a rainy night. I know... shocking! Anyway, let's go to the juicy parts. . .
In a local neighborhood, that doesn't need to be mentioned, my mother was having birth to me. There were a few friends beside her and they were helping her. At least, they thought they were helping her. But in truth, they did everything they could, which wasn't enough.
The birth was taking place under a tree and a pond, beside a not so looking good neighborhood. But that was alright! I guess. . . That's what it means to be a stray animal. You sleep wherever it's possible and if they throw you out, you try to find something better than this.
This is an unhealthy way of living and something better than being in the same conditions (if you're lucky) but almost always it's worse. Way worse. . .
But enough about the unhealthy lifestyle of stray animals, I' am sure you know what we're up against. So, let's move on to my life's beginning. . .
The pain was a lot to bear and the help that was provided to her was very little. We're not humans nor did they have someone expert to help her. So, the obvious thing happened. . .
And I was all alone. Dad was nowhere to be found (not even sure if he's alive). For the first three years of my life, I have been constantly moving from one place to another with some of my mom's friends.
We slept under tents, ditches, parks, pavements, hallways, doorsteps, anything you can think of! Although sometimes (most of the time) things ended badly for us. Most people do not like stray dogs to be anywhere near them or their houses so they would kick us off. Kicking us of your property is understandable from someone's perspective, BUT, the way they did it. That, that was bad. . .
I will always remember that one lady that was screaming her lungs off at us and then kicking us in our bellies. That kind of pain would last for days when I was little. The good (or the bad thing) was that after a while, I was used to that kind of behavior. . .
Until one day. I still remember this day. . . I remember it like it was yesterday when it was a little more than a week ago. . .
"You have to escape this way of living," Bargas said to me.
"What do you want me to do? I'm scared! I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life" I protested.
"You won't be" Bargas reassured me. "Your mother wanted for you something more than this life".
"She didn't want me to have the same life as she did, isn't that what you mean?".
"Yes, it is. You deserve something more than being a stray dog in the middle of a big city with no place to sleep and no place to make your family".
"Bargas don't pressure him" Alida scolded him. "He will do what he must and he knows it is time for him to do it".
"I don't know what you want me to do".
"We want you to do what you want and not what humans dictate to you," Alida said. "We want you to stop listening to signs where they exclude you from entering a place and live free".
"Yeah" Bargas supported this statement. "This is what I, Alida, and your mother want for you to have. To live free as you want and do whatever is it that you desire".
"How will I begin?" I asked them with frustration.
"First you must leave and learn to live on your own" Alida said.
"I don't know how to do that!" I yelled.
"You'll learn. First, you must leave and find that out for yourself" Bargas said.
"Why are you abandoning me?".
We're not abandoning you. We're too old to protect you. That's why you must learn how to do that for yourself" Alida said.
"Okay" was the only thing I said as I finally understood. "But can I stay with you one more night?" I begged them.
"Okay," Alida agreed.
"If you want it" Bargas added.
And that was the last thing we said that night. We slept on a very common pavement in front of a pizza store. I managed to catch a good few hours of sleep until it happened. . .
"Wake up!" Bargas yelled.
"You have to wake up" Alida continued.
"What's happening?" I asked nervously.
"The only thing I' m afraid of". That was the only thing Bargas managed to say.
I turned to Alida for elaborations:
"The one who picks up stray dogs is here".
"This late?" I asked.
"People must have noticed how many stray stray dogs are living in this area and informed him" Bargas explained. "I know we should not have stayed here" he yelled out of frustration as he watched the car getting closer.
It looked as if he was a shock. It looked like everybody was in shock. All the stray dogs in the neighborhood remained calm, not moving, and silent. Thinking of a way to overcome this. . .
"We didn't know" Alida tried to calm him. "How could we have known?".
Then, the simplest thing came to Bargas. The most archaic but most of the time saves-worthy method.
"We need to run. Now!" yelled every dog out there.
As a very good dog, I followed that command and ran. I run like the world was on fire. I kept running when that bad man was snatching every stray dog on the street. I didn't stop running when that man caught Bargas and Alida. They were too old to run faster. But I was younger and I was able to run like the wind. Alida knew that. She knew that because that was the last thing she said to me:
"Don't stop running".
I took that advice into account. I embraced the last words I heard coming out of her mouth and followed that advice. Several days and nights-or, according to the human measurement Alida said that there is-ten days later, I keep running. Right now as I'm struggling to sleep under a tent on a rainy night, I always am aware of my surroundings, always ready to start running. . .
