The day was bright and sunny, just the right temperature for walking. I was glad it rained, because resting my legs under the willow tree for a while restored most of my energy. Sandy was in an awesome mood, as always. She hopped along happily beside me, her tail wagging side to side and her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She was such a great dog, who would ever abandon a dog like her? I most definitely wouldn’t. Since we were many miles away, I decided we could walk on the sidewalk. I needed some social time, anyway. We moved onto the sidewalk and Sandy enjoyed being pet by all the people who passed by. Every time a hand was laid on her, her tail wagged harder and she had to have licked every single one. As for me, people asked me millions of questions about her. How old is she? Is she a pit bull? What happened to her? How come she’s bald in some spots? And I also got someone comments about her; everyone said what a great dog she was and how awesome she was. Little children came by and roughly grabbed her, Sandy didn’t show any aggression at all though, she just licked them and walked on. If I walked more than a couple feet ahead of her, she’d speed up and be at my side again. Only a few people were scared of her because she was a pit bull, and once she ran up to them and licked them, their fear was gone. We were on the sidewalk until night time, Sandy was so happy it cheered me up, too. Once it got very late and the sun went down, we worked our way into the woods once again and lied down under a tree just in case it rained. I fell asleep in no time, with Sandy keeping me warm.
The next day was warmer than the day before. We went onto the sidewalk again and everyone was busy already. People got up early in the morning to go to town to avoid having to wait in lines. I decided to go look around in some stores. Normally some of the stores wouldn’t allow dogs, but once they met Sandy it changed. It didn’t surprise me how much people loved Sandy, who could resist her? We entered a pet store and I started to look around. I saw the coolest light blue collar for sale, and it came with a free tag you could create. I tried to think if I should buy it or not, and decided I should. I created a tag with Sandy’s name on it and who she belonged to. She loved it, lifting her head high; she walked even more proudly than before. Some stores gave us free food, even the most expensive food stores with the best food. Thinking if I should eat everything then and there, I decided better of it and put all the food in the bag. It was great; Sandy was making such great impressions on people she was earning us more food, with no money down. We spend the whole day in town, visiting and talking with many people. Sandy said hi to everyone that passed by, and had to have gotten more than 100 pats on the head. Night time came quickly because we were having so much fun. Going behind the building, we followed what we did everyday, worked our way into the woods and fell asleep.
Every day after that was pretty much the same. Town, woods, bed, town, woods, bed. Food was running out pretty quick. We walked all the way to a dry city, one that was pretty much deserted. I walked down the sand road, sweating like a pig. Sandy and I drank lots of water, but we still had plenty left. A man came out of a gas station like looking house and said “Yo, boy, come ‘ere”. I stared at him thinking if I should go over there or not. Biting my lip hard, I walked over there, Sandy at my side. “Erm… yes, sir?” I said cautiously. “Whata boy like you doin’ here?” his language gave me a head ache. “Um… I don’t know. My senses led me here” I said. “No, I mean, where are your parents?” he asked me suspiciously. “I ran away” I said almost as if I was proud of it. “Ah” was all he said in return. “You wanna eat some food and wash soma that dirt Offa your body?” he asked me. I sure wanted to, but wasn’t sure about it, so I didn’t say anything. “C’mon in, my buddies are in there, too” I figured since I had the dog and everything, I could go in, so I followed him into his gas station like house. Two other men were at a little table in the middle of the room playing cards. “Yo, man” they both said like it was a regular thing having kids in their house. I nodded my head and looked around. It wasn’t the cleanest house, but it was okay. “What’s in that bag ya got there?” one of the men asked. “Food” I answered, and then the two men asked the man who led me into the house, “Who is this dude?” finally I felt like I was the first kid in their house. “James” I answered for them, “who are you?” “Tan, Jumna, and that’s Poppy ova there”. They had pretty weird names; which probably weren’t their real names. I giggled without a sound and started to walk around with Sandy, happy as can be like nothing at all was going on, walked beside me. There was a room with a toilet, sink, and shower; the bathroom, a kitchen, and 4 bedrooms. I longed to ask why there were four bedrooms when there were only 3 men, so I did. “Oh, that was Jokai’s room. He died last year” they said in humbled voices. “Oh, sorry I asked” I said as I kept walking around the house. It was small, but fine. The floor was sandy wood, and the walls were a white color and it was kind of poky looking. “Whatcha bring him in here for, Poppy?” they asked. “He gonna be our Jokai if that’s okay with him. He came walking down here where nobody walked in years”. “Why haven’t people walked here in years?” I asked politely, in my good, English language, unlike theirs. Their voices sounded like a person who hadn’t been around people in years. They shrugged and Jumna said, “Deserted”. “Why are all your people here then?” I asked, in a ruder voice than I had expected to come out. “This a our home land, ya no. And we aint leavin our home land. We got no right to, ya know? I mean, everyboda left and we don’t wanna. This is our home, know what I’m a sayin? Besides, we got it all to ourselves, ya sure mayba we gotta walk miles to get ourselves some food but whoa cares bout that? This is our home lank and we aint leavin” Poppy answered. I nodded. Sandy sat at my side and cocked her head at the men. Wondering what they were talking to her beloved savior for. She looked up at me as if to ask “Can we get on our way now? I am not used to sitting here this long! We’re usually moving’ by now!”, she wasn’t going to move without him. She didn’t want to be drenched and lit on fire again, she wanted him to protect her. I looked down at her and then looked back up at the men, made sure there was a lock on the door just in case, and said “Okay, guys, we’re here for a while, I’ll be your…Jokai for a while”. They walked out of the room and I looked the door, taking a deep breath, I looked around the room, Sandy trailed behind me sniffing everything.
A few days passed and life was good. I was fattened up and so was Sandy. I wasn’t going to get as fat as those chubby men I was living with though, no offence to them. So I tried not to eat even half as much as them. Sandy, on the other hand, didn’t care. She ate as much as she could.
I lived there until I turned 16 years old, 4 years of living with those men. My English got pretty bad myself. I had also changed – I had decided I was never going to play a prank or be mean to someone again. Life was too valuable for that – for both me and the people around me. I was missing school and still had the brain of a 12 year old, but I didn’t care at all. The town I had been living in with the men sure was deserted. Nobody came near the down, dust just floated in the wind. It was time to leave the town and the men though; they knew the time was going to come. Sandy was 8 years old and one more year and she wouldn’t be able to get back, the men had fattened her up so much! Tan, Jumna, and Poppy sighed and with tears, said goodbye. They each gave Sandy a giant hug and Sandy gave them all a slobbery kiss. I was broken to leave them, but my parents were needing me now, and since years had passed so fast, the police department would have forgotten about him by now. Winter was also coming soon; he would have to get on his way if he didn’t want to freeze to death on his way home. So, with a big sigh, Sandy and I were on our way.
Months passed – Sandy and I took more breaks than usual. It took longer than usual, too. Winter came right when he was getting nearer and nearer his old home town. It amazed him that he could find his way back home. Sandy had no trouble, she seemed to never get tired. And burned off a lot of fat the men had put on her, too. It was getting really cold, and snow was coming down. Two days until Christmas Eve. I wanted to get home on Christmas, surprise my parents and bring joy to them for their Christmas. I was determined to get there in time. Sandy and I walked and walked until they couldn’t walk anymore.
Two days had passed and it was Christmas Eve. I was near my house, but was tripping over my own feet. I was sick – pretty badly. Sandy was shivering and had a little cold. It was snowing and coming down hard, too. With a deep breath I fell on the step of a house, not knowing whose it was. Sandy curled up beside me and the world went black.
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