The hiss from the girl beside him made him look at her. He shook his head at the raven haired girl hidding her face behind her hands.
"You should have brought an umbrella if the sun bothers you that much." he suggested.
"Ugh, who brings an umbrella for a two minute walk. And who told this damn thing to shine this hot today!" she complained begrudgingly at the sky, unable to look at the sun directly.
"What did I tell you about cussing?" Edison pressed his lips into a thin line to look intimidating, "You are too young and a girl. Act like one!"
Dorrie looked away from Edison's glare with a pout. The sizzling sunlight seemed to be boiling her skin and Edison was adding to that by his temper. It wasn't her fault that the humidity was cuss-worthy.
Her eyes wandered to the opposite sidewalk. The hot weather had dried the soil to the point of being dust that blew on the roads. 'The dusty roadside was whimpering? It must be suffering in the heat like me,' Dorrie thought, having picked up the tiny voice from the other end of the road.
She was going to move on with that thought when a lump of dirt caught her eyes. A lump of trembling dirt.
"Edy," she called out uncertainly, "What is that?" and took slow, cautious steps towards the thing.
The closer she went the better she could see. The Dirt-lump was a small puppy with a brown furcoat adorned with a lighter shade of chestnut dots. It was hidding it's face behind a foreleg. It was trembling.
It jerked up suddenly after sensing her proximity. And the pair of eyes she saw melted her young heart into a chocolaty puddle. This was the most beautiful pair of dark brown eyes, big and watery. But lonely.
Dorrie grinned at the sight of it, "Aw, look at you, you're so cute!"
She wanted to run forward but was afraid to scare the already shaken pup. And so she took slow deliberate steps to reach the puppy- her hand raised before her to beckon him and assure him that she meant no harm.
"Are you hurt, little guy? Come here, let me see." she soften her tone when the puppy still cowered away from her in fear. "I am not going to hurt you," she coed and reached her hand out to pat the dark furry body of the animal. This time it didn't try to move away rather went completely still, with stiff muscles. She ran her hand through the slightly coarse hair and could feel the furball calm down with that.
"Edy! Look at this! See how cute this is." Dorrie turn back at Edison with a vigour that was previously drained by the hot weather.
Edison smiled at her eagerness to show him the puppy and went to her. He bent forward with his hands on his knees, "It is dirty," he said while scrutinizing the dog.
"Maybe because nobody owns it?" Dorrie spoke out.
"Hmm, it does look like a stray."
Dorrie jerked her head to look at Edison, "Then I'll look after him! I'll bath him, I'll give him food and I'll sleep with him!" the idea seemed to please Dorrie greatly for her eyes turned to crecents with smile.
Edison saw the bubble of happiness over Dorrie's head burst and the light in her eyes dim and gloomed him as well. Dorrie's emotions always affected him this way, who knew why. And to find out the reason behind her all-of-a-sudden deflation, he asked, "What happened to you?"
"Ma papa won't allow a pet. Papa doesn't like them." she sighed in regret.
Edison looked at her then at the dog. His emotions undecipherable as he kept staring at the dog and formulating things in his brain. But he consoled Dorrie, "Maybe someone else will pick it up," in a distracted tone
"Yeah let's go." she took her hand back with difficulty and ripping her eyes away from the chocoball was harder than anything. But at the end she had to leave though it brought her no pleasure.
The rest of the day Dorrie was going around with a dark cloud looming over her and it made his heart rain tears. Dorrie's sadness strengthened his will to do what he had been planning to do.
Three days went by with Dorrie staring at every puppy on the street in hopes of seeing the chocoball again and Edison had to drag her away every single time to continue on their way. But she saw no sign of him ever again. It was like the puppy had left this side of town completely or he didn't exist to begin with- not possible when bother of them saw it.
Dorrie still thought about those big brown eyes sometimes and felt bad for the dog. Like right now when the pine trees surrounded her and there was no Edison to be her companion.
She was waiting for Edison in the park near their home. It was a children's playground with layers of pine trees surrounding it, she never came here before meeting Edison. She had no one to play with before Edison. After her fall from the tree, Edison remained adamant about not going there again. He didn't want her to break her leg after going another time. One time was enough lesson for him.
She had ventured into these woods before with Edison and they found a small clearing among the trees which became their hideout. They would meet there every day and do whatever stuff they wanted to do.
But this day the place was different. As Dorrie walked around the tree, she saw a small wooden doghouse- the shape and size suggested that. 'Dorrie's pet' was curved on a piece of wood, pinned above the door.
"Bark," came from behind the tree the doghouse was built against and a small figure came, constantly swinging his tail.
"It's you!" Dorrie laughed in disbelief.
"What?" she heard Edison from behind her. She turned around to see Edison frowning in inquiry.
"Look at this! The brown furball is here! Someone placed him here for me?" Now Dorrie was confused. Why would someone give her such a cute puppy and not show themselves.
Edison couldn't keep up with Dorrie's whirlwind changes. One second she was chattering away in excitement and the next she was contemplating. He will get a whiplash pretty soon, he was sure of it.
"Possibly left behind because they couldn't look after him anymore."
"Probably. Anyway, just look at how cute he is!"
She was back to fawning over the pup and Edison was relieved she let the topic go. He watched her appreciate his hardwork with delight. His heart fluttered at the thought of her liking what he did but as he opened his mouth to confess it, nothing came out. He didn't know how to put it into words and so remained silent while a 'Mr. Stranger' took all the credit.