closeup photo of dog lying on the ground

Belly I am, A Dog’s Monologue

I am trying my best to walk. I know I am going to die. A warm hand grips me. I look up and see a boy bending toward me.

Boy takes me to his home and gives me food and a rubber slipper to chew on. “I’ll name you Belly”, the boy says. Boy’s sister comes to meet me.

“Hi! Belly”, she says, stroking my black fur. “You are a pretty bitch”. Wau? I speak. Girl smiles. I am dreaming today, I think. Surely, no one would pet me! But when I open my eyes, I am on a basket boy made for me. A door opens and the boy comes in, ‘Hi Belly, come on and meet my family.

I follow the boy. The boy climbs a staircase. I follow. Two men and a girl are there. They lower me into a tub full of water. I swim for some time. After the bath, I go exploring outside the house. I am dancing in joy finally having been in a home with a family. Suddenly, I fall into a river. I swim to the bank but I can’t climb the steep cliff to the boy’s house. Luckily, a woman picks me up and gives me to the boy.

Soon I know loads about children. They give me bits of food. One day a terrible thing happens. When I am playing with this kind girl, I bite the girl’s leg instead of the bottle we are playing with. The girl howls and goes back home.

All night I can’t sleep. I bite my favorite child, surely, she’ll hate me. The next morning, I see the girl, and she smiles at me. She gives me a grand breakfast. I wag my tail. She pats me. I am awestruck by her kindness. I make silly jumping and say, ‘Wau Wau!