A Dog Lives by Maxanand

Copyright@MaxAnand.
ACT I, Scene 1.
Two friends are walking side by side on a beach and talking and watching two dogs play in the sand.
First man: How happy they look, so carefree. I wonder what it feels like to be a dog.
Second man: It is dreamlike. Very real while the experience lasts. And like everything in life, you have to finish what you start.
ACT I, Scene 2. A doggie opens his eyes and finds himself in an opulent house. He scratches himself, gets up, sniffs the air and walks where his nose leads him. It leads him to a plate with cookies and cake on the dining table. He consumes some and licking his lips gets down & hides under the chair when he hears the lady of the house shouting at him at the top of her voice.
Lady A: Get down you stupid dog. That was not for you. Why do you have to take that which is not yours. You want cake. I'll give you cake. Just let Kabir come.
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The doggie cowers further under the chair. When the lady picks up the plate to replace it, she accidently spills the rest of the contents on the floor. The doggie quickly gulps the one that is nearest to him. The lady is infuriated. She kicks him.
Lady A: I could have given that to the maid. You don't deserve to be here. I'll have you thrown out. Always eating, always hungry.
She huffs and puffs away to another room.
ACT I, Scene 3. The maid returns home with the infant after a walk. She leaves the baby in the pram and rushes to the kitchen, as the lady of the house is still away. She goes to the refregerator and pours herself a huge glass of milk. While she drinks the milk, the doggie comes and observes her and growls. She does not like it.
Maid: What are you growling at? It's not your milk I'm drinking. Get out of here.
Just then, the electricity of the house goes out and it turns dark. The maid strikes a match and lights a candle and throws the matchstick on the floor. The pram is nearby and that catches fire from one corner. The doggie sees that and barks furiously at the maid. The maid, thinking that he is barking at her because of the milk, shouts at him and leaves for another room.
Maid: Shut up! Shut up you noise polluter, or I'll give you a nice hard whack.
The fire in the pram has increased by now, even though it is limited to areas near the floor. The doggie looks at the fire and the pram and then at his water containing mug. He whines and whines, but the fire just burns. The doggie finally puts his foot inside the mug and after two tries, successfully manages to spill the water on the fire, dousing it. By this time, the infant has started crying due to the heat. When Lady A returns, she gets miffed because the baby is crying, and the dog is barking and there's a burning smell and the maid is not in sight. She yells for the maid.
Lady A: Kanti, O Kanti Bai. Where have you disappeared, leaving the baby in the dark.
The doggie is constantly barking and jumping upon her in excitement. She doesn't like it one bit and gets angry.
Lady A: You stupid dog, jumping and barking unnecessarily again. Today I'll show you.
She grabs him by the collar and turns him out of the house.
Lady A: There, that does it. Don't you come back to the house no matter what. There's no space for you here.
ACT II, Scene 1. In the cold, damp night, he steps away from the door / gate of the house. One final time he wimpers and walks away from the house with a heavy heart. He walks on, crossing territories marked by him, on his previous walks, safe on the leash, knowing that the human at the other end of the rope could and would keep him safe from doggies whose territories he was treading. Tonight, he does not feel safe. He is not safe. But he must walk on. So he walks; across colonies where flee infested roadside romeos lurk, across parks with drooling psychoes, across huge black rivers swept with light, where huge monsters with heavy growls run at high speeds behind each other, trying to catch the one before it and then the one before that; crazy. He soon figures out that in order to be safe, he has to be with the people and walk with them, follow them, for they knew when it was safe to cross the black river. And when the humans walked, the monsters just stopped. So the doggie walks. He walks until he is far from home and has even forgotten which way home lies. Tired, of sadness, despair, homelessness; lovelorn and dejected he sleeps. (Montage) He dreams dreams of being a young, happy puppy, playing with his master. Playing fetch in the garden. Going for car rides. Sitting on the lap and chewing the tie or licking the masters face. And then, while it was alright one day to be chewing ties and socks and shoes, the second day it was not. And then 'No' became a common word and he was always hearing it. He was sitting and some pigeons came and sat on the wire. And he ran to them screaming, cause he was so excited and
wanted to be friends with them, and he heard a high pitched 'No' emanate from the house, as the birds flew. When the monkeys came, he could not contain his excitement. He hadn't seen such lovely creatures before. What agility and what power and what balance and no fear! They looked so daring and brave that he ran up to them, wanting to congratulate them on their abilities and say:
Doggie: Wow! You guys are great. Could you please teach me some of these fine things you do.
But they didn't understand him. They just flashed him their teeth. He was just saying to them:
Doggie: Come on, don't be angry. Lets be friends and we'll play.
But they didn't understand his barking. The master chained him up, telling his wife;
Man: This way he'll be kept in control. No more fighting with monkeys.
The doggie was hurt. He wanted to scream.
Doggie: I just wanted some friends.
But it was no use. He had got the message. No one was interested in what he wanted to say. None ever understood. He put down his head and sulked.
ACT II, Scene 2. He hears the flutter of wings and opens his eyes, and just in time too, for he catches a pail of water flying towards him and while still sleepy, he jumps aside with dexterity and the water misses him by a whisker. He runs away from there and while running, catches a glimpse of the culprit, who appears mad and furious and searching for a stone. He is not much welcome on the streets. Gangs of street dogs can't tolerate him due to territorial issues and humans and their young can't tolerate him because of their own fear and paranoia. A group of passing schoolkids, throw stones at him, some yell, others find sticks and throw those. He hates this behavior, this misunderstanding, but he remembers that he can't make anyone understand anything. So he just concentrates on finding a good place. He finally finds a place after much growling and baring of teeth. It is under some bushes which he makes sure are unmarked and don't come under the reign of some other canine character. After adjusting the mud and the grass a little bit, he lies low and tries to sleep.
ACT II, Scene 3. The sun sets and the city quietens down. The doggie is still reluctant to come out of his hiding spot. So he lingers on. Then suddenly he hears a human cry. A cry for help. He understands the tone of despair in the voice and becomes uncomfortable. He doesn't know what to do. He himself is in need of help and now someone is calling him for help.
Old Man: Help!

Again that voice. It is faint, but it is real. Suddenly his training days loom before his eyes, and he sees his trainer down on the ground, with a couple of guys around him, and the trainer is saying,
Trainer: Help!
It gets too much for him, and he, forgetting his fear, his despair, his pain and his suffering, launches himself in the direction of the sound. When he reaches there, he finds an old man, struggling with two muggers, who are roughing him up and trying to take his wallet out from his pocket, and laughing and being silly. He comes straight out from the darkness, like an arrow shot by a marksman and pins one man down and looks into his eyes with all the emotion that has been building up within him, and he appears to be in a murderous rage and dangerous. The mugger is chilled to the bone with this surprise attack and he urges his mate to get out of there.
Mugger 1: He'll kill us both, mate. Let's just get outta here. Forget the oldie. I can't stay here any longer. I wanna go.
Such is the fear in his eyes that his mate can't say 'No', even though he thinks he can take on the dog. The doggie is in between the old man and the muggers. The old man quickly gets up and runs away.
Mugger 2: OK, but we'll teach him a lesson.

Saying so, he gets in his car, reverses it and bangs the poor unsuspecting doggie down, and then drives away. The doggie's failing consciousness and closing eyes manage to see the muggers and the old man flee in opposite directions. Darkness envelops him.
ACT III, Scene 1. Sirens of Ambulance blaring. Voices of two men talking to each other.
Medix 1: Serious Condition. Don't know whether he'll live. Medix 2: Too much blood loss. He'll need a blood transfusion asap. Seems like his hind leg is broken badly. Medix 1: And he seems to have bit his tongue when the car hit him. That's where he lost the blood. Watch out, he's coming around.
The doggie comes around and sees two men taking care of him. They are gentle with him and one of them even pats him on the head. He likes them and manages a weak tail wag. Then he loses consciousness again.
When he comes around again, he is lying on a flat cold surface with lots of lights around him and he feels a very severe pain in his leg and mouth. He sees a lot of tubes around him and people in funny clothes. Then he hears a lady's voice and his first reaction is to run away. He tries to stand up and pull away, but he can't move. He has no energy. The lady reaches the doggie's side. She pets him on the head.
Lady R: Good doggie, good doggie.
He immediately realizes that this lady feels love for him and that he need not be afraid of her or try to run away from her. He relaxes and lets them take care of him. He recovers fast and develops a special bond with the lady, following her all around, anticipating her requirements and sometimes getting them right, like getting the morning newspaper. She's also quite impressed with his manners and intelligence and does not mind even when due to his enthusiasm he gets in her way.
ACT III, Scene 2. One day, many years later, while the lady sits in her rocking chair and the doggie sits near her, a worker comes to the lady.
Worker : A small kid has come to adopt his first puppy. He is with his father. Lady R:
Show them in. A first puppy is always a special gift for a child. I'll take them on the round.
She meets the family and when the little boy sees the doggie for the first time, he instantly falls in love with him.
Boy: I want him.
The doggie by now has recognized the family. They are the same family who had turned him out of the house. He is afraid of them, but somehow manages to overcome his fear and go meet them. The man also finds the doggie familiar.
Man: Something seems familiar about him. Where did you get him? Lady R: Oh! We got him on a cold morning. He had been hit by a car. He was critical, but now he's fine. Man: Bruno.
The doggies ears perk up and he gets all excited, glad that his previous master was able to recognize him even after so many years. The man also gets excited and plays with him and pets him. He gets emotional.
Man: My sweet pumpkin, how we looked for you everywhere, but couldn't find you. We couldn't even thank you for saving our sons life. We only discovered the burnt pram the next day. We threw the maid out, too. She had been stealing from the house. Meena was also so sad at having treated you badly. She wanted to apologize before she passed away, but it's too late now. How we missed you. How I missed you, Bruno. You were my best buddy. Will you come back with us. Can we take him please. Lady R: That choice rests with Bruno, or Sam. We call him Sam here. If he wants to go with you, he can. You can ask him again, while I am not in the room. He's gotten rather attached to me.
She gets up and leaves the room. Sam exits with her. Lady R comes back and Sam is right behind her.
Lady R: I don't think he wants to go back. I think he considers this place home now. (To the child) But you are free to visit him whenever you want to. (To the father) The first family to the puppy is his home and life. Only if he has witnessd much pain, will he not want to go back to them. But that does not mean that he doesn't love you anymore. He has just moved on, and so should you.
ACT III, Scene 3. Beach, sunrise, one jogger with one doggie, jogging along. Another jogger joins the first one with
his doggie. 1st Jogger: I had a wierd dream last night. 2nd Jogger: Let's keep the dreamy stuff for dreams. Did you have fun? 1st Jogger: Oh yes! I had a blast. It was all so vivid, it's strange. You know that question I asked you, yesterday, about wondering how it felt like to be a dog. 2nd Jogger: Yeah! I remember. 1st Jogger: Well! Now I know.
--------------------CREDITS----------------------------INTERVIEW OF MRS SINGH----------------ROUND OF THE ASHRAM WITH MRS SINGH----------------MEET SOME SHELTER ANIMALS AND KNOW THEIR STORIES------------

A Dog Lives by Maxanand

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Copyright@MaxAnand.

She huffs and puffs away to another room.

The doggie was hurt. He wanted to scream.

Doggie: I just wanted some friends.

Old Man: Help!

Mugger 2: OK, but we'll teach him a lesson.

Lady R: Good doggie, good doggie.

Boy: I want him.

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