10: The Dog Shelter
The dog was heading to the small alley at full speed without a single clue where he was going for. He only knew that he needed to run as far and as fast as possible. He turned left and right as if he was chased by a motorbike gangster. In fact, there was just a motorbike taxi driver looking at a dog running around with a backpack in its bag.
Kaew reduced his speed after running for a while. His double coat made him feel worse as if he was burning in hell right now. People in the area were staring at this big dog toddling around with saliva dripping from the corner of its mouth. It looked so unusual and unsafe for the community.
"Mom, look! A dog with a backpack." A little girl was trying to approach Kaew.
"Don't get near it, sweetheart! It might have rabies. Look at his mouth dripping." A mother grabbed her daughter so tight before pulling her away.
"Who did this to it, putting a backpack on its back like that?"
"…" Some Bangkokian just couldn't be bothered over one random dog.
Who could have thought that the Thai Bangkaew was screaming at himself in his mind right now? Kaew, you idiot! Why couldn't you just stay in a heaven-like place like that, huh? Don't you like AC and a swimming pool?! But he had his reason for doing this.
Kaew's throat was getting dry. He was now in the middle of a small alley. It was too hot that he decided to take cover under a guard house at the front of the condominium entrance.
The security uncle who was listening to the radio paused for a second before turning stiff as he glanced at the dog laying down. He didn't want to scare the dog away. The big dog gasped as it was out of breath. Its black and white fur looked polished, unlike any other stray dogs he would normally see on the street. Besides, it had a backpack on its back too.
The security uncle met with Kaew's eyes, trying to read each other's minds. Well, since the uncle didn't chase him away, he decided to finally settle here. The country music along with Isaan dialects through the radio sounded fun and cheerful. Though Kaew heard noises in his ears all the time, his brown eyes were slowly closing. He fell asleep, all exhausted.
Until…
Nggg!
Kaew whined, terrified as the muscle at the back of his neck was grabbed so tightly out of the blue. The Bangkaew was lifted from the floor. All he heard was shouting noise following the sound of metal crashing. His surrounding was too overwhelming that he couldn't figure out what was going on.
Suddenly, Kaew was pushed into a crate. A man in a khaki uniform closed the cage quickly, Bam, in harmony with the barking sound in the background. The crate was too low that Kaew couldn't stand when he had a backpack on his back. However, he couldn't lie down as it was too cramped.
"Officer, there're another two in the 4th alley."
Kaew heard someone sharing the information before the car door closed. Kaew and other dogs were captured in the dark. He heard the engine start and the car moved in the other direction.
I'm screwed! What time is it now? If I'm trapped in here during the sunset… I don't want to imagine what's going to happen next.
Kaew! Are you a dog or a donkey!? Why are you so stupid? Now I can neither stand nor lay down. This is so warm and so uncomfortable. The car was probably heading to the bumpy road, plus the suspension system was malfunctioning. The dogs at the back of the car were all worn out in their tiny crates. Kaew's head crashed into the top of the crate that he cried out so many times.
Kaew could smell different scents from these dogs and it was overwhelming him that he wanted to throw up. He sensed the fear and anxiety in the air. And for Kaew, this was the longest and the worst journey as if it was an endless ride ever.
The chaos started again. They arrived at the dog shelter and all crates were carried out to the shelter. Some dogs barked and tried to bite these officers while some were shaking out of fear. And Kaew was too confused to do anything.
His brown eyes took a glance at the one-story building. He heard more dogs barking from the inside so he assumed that he would be kept in one of the dog shelters within the district. He got a grip of himself, wagging his tail and acting like a poor lost puppy as he noticed that aggressive dogs were still kept in crates while the non-aggressive ones were let out.
It took a while before Kaew was grabbed in the back of his neck again. The officer threw him into a one-square-meter concrete shed. Well, at least it was better than that hacking crate.
"What's this?" One of the officers took Kaew's backpack away.
"Nggg… Nggg…"
"Probably from this dog's owner? Hey, this Bangkaew could have been lost. It doesn't look like a stray." Another officer came to check on the dog. But before Kaew could do anything, they shut the door and disappeared.
The poor werewolf walked back and forth anxiously. The smell of waste around him made him frown on his nose. His sense was way more sensitive than any other dog. The atmosphere was full of different scents and feelings from these dogs… There were probably more than ten of them here.
Look at the white furball from the opposite shed. Some idiots must have thought it would be funny to draw eyebrows and glasses around that dog's eyes. But that dog, despite looking funny, was threatening Kaew with its teeth and fangs while peeing on the shed door marking its territory. The next one was a small white-fur dog, shaking with fear as if it was a small bird falling from its nest. There was the other big shed where they kept dogs with scabies. They were covered in yellow color as the officers applied skin ointment containing cumin on them.
The braking sound started rising at the same time, interrupting his observation. This one kind officer scolded those dogs to keep their mouths shut while pushing a rusty cart with plastic bowls full of kibbles and water. The atmosphere brightened up as he was feeding each dog until he reached Kaew's shed.
"Alright, you can have three, big boy! You're such an eating monster. That's why your owner can't keep up with you."
OMG! A giant St. Bernard lowered its eyes, its drool dripping out while inhaling kibbles in hunger. This wasn't an image of St. Bernard in Kaew's head at all.
The Thai Bangkaew wagged his tail and whined in his throat when he saw bowls of water and kibbles. He drank cold water out of the plastic bowl as he was really thirsty. It definitely boosted his energy. His brown eyes glanced at that Saint dog and let out a sigh.
His faith in dog gods had been… forever gone.
Dang you, Kaew! Who's going to you out of here now!? His mouth opened wide taking in kibbles that tasted like mud. He chewed hard.
He supposed that this was his dinner and it wouldn't take long until the sunset. He hoped that all of the officers would clock out and go home before he shifted. Then, he would try to figure something out.
But before Kaew could finish his bowl, his pointy ears arose as he heard something strange from the outside. It sounded like different cars coming in hot, the car doors closing Bam and the shouting along with the barking sound from the dogs.
His runaway mission was… entirely failed!
After less than 6 hours, there were three black vans and one operating team surrounding the dog shelter. The secretary who was leaving all of his today's duties behind to find the Bangkaew stepped out of the van and he was shocked by the unpleasant smell and the barking sound from the inside.
As a good responsible secretary, he needed to do whatever his boss asked of him. He sighed, giving a sign to the black-suited men on their standby mode while he was talking to one of the officers in khaki uniforms at the front of the office area.
There seemed to be some complications in order to get that Bangkaew out of the shelter. One of the reasons was that the dog didn't have a collar, so the secretary didn't have enough proof that he owned this dog. He didn't even have a single photo of this Bangkaew on his phone, to begin with.
The dog owners always had more dog photos than their own selfies, insisted the officer.
And when the secretary was looking for the dog, Kaew was just trying to hide his identity in the corner of the shed, not making a single eye contact or showing the affection that normal dogs would do when they see their owners.
"Well… I'm not actually his owner. But I was assigned to take him back." He took his white handkerchief to cover his nose while identifying the Bangkaew.
"Then, there's nothing I could do about it, sir. How do we know that you're not claiming that dog falsely?" The officer took a glance between the dog and the man in front of him.
"That dog has a backpack with him though. There are…"
The secretary shared the information on Kaew's ID card and explained all of the belonging accordingly, though he didn't mention the spying device attached neatly to the backpack. Eventually, the officer decided to let the dog go, along with the backpack.
The new complication was that… Kaew didn't move a single fur. He lowered his ears and his tail, trying to weigh himself down to the floor at the corner of the shed so no one could move him anywhere.
Waaa… How could I face Mr. Carl now? I would rather shift into my human form here when nobody's around and wait until I could escape tomorrow. Kaew whined inside.
The obedient secretary let out a big sigh as he was told not to use any violent methods on this dog. Though he didn't understand his boss at all, he took his phone and called Carl.
"Yes boss, we found the dog. But as you thought, he didn't move even a tiny bit." The secretary opened the speaker on his phone while having a conversation with Carl before leaning forward.
"Kaew…" the low voice on the phone was indifferent, not even a single trait of anger.
"Hamburger, BQQ, onigiri, alpacas, Dasht-e Lut desert, Dead Sea mud, Jaipur, Aurora, and your dreams… I've heard them all."
Kaew whined in his throat, his wet nose sniffing the phone while his ears pointed up. His bright brown eyes stared at the phone screen.
"If it's not too much to ask of you… Come back to me," said Carl before ending the call.
But Kaew knew that the man who was at the end of the line was waiting for him to come back home. If Mr. Carl had heard all of them, did it mean that he would really borrow his dreams?
The Bangkaew whined lightly in his throat.
Before walking out of the shed to the van on his own.