THE DOBERMAN

            It was just another day. Day like many days before and many days after. Usual day for people and for dogs… for the whole world.

A Doberman, leashed by a short leash, growled and barked at an young pair that was passing by.

A woman jumped away and her husband told her: “That damned dog! I bet that guy doesn’t feed it properly just to make it even more aggressive!” He picked up a rock and threw it at the Doberman. He didn’t hit it but at least it made him feel better. The dog snarled and tried to chase that man, but after few steps a strong leather leash stopped him. The dog’s expression changed…

Like it realized that his world was restricted by the length of the leash. Dog sat down and growled as the young pair was going away.

            Then it looked into its bowl. Yeah, that man was right. Master didn’t feed him enough and there wasn’t even the slightest hope the matter of dog’s diet would improve. The Doberman was slim and it was very good example of malnutrition. Well… a lot of people claimed that his master is just abusive and cruel, but the Doberman didn’t agree. He loved its master, although all what was his master doing for it, was just feeding it with a leftovers and kicking it occasionally. Its master had been ‘raising’ it since its puppy hood and the dog was grateful even for the treatment like this. It saw numbers of homeless dogs so it was happy that it had at least place where to sleep.

            Dog’s ears twitched when the door opened and the master came. The man looked at his dog which whined and tried to jump on his chest wagging its short tail.

“Bastard! Down!” Man shouted and watched how the Doberman sat down and whined.

“Are you hungry?” He asked then and looked at the dog’s bowl. The Doberman licked it’s maw but man laughed. “I suggest you not to be… because… YOU ARE GUARD DOG AND NOW YOU ACT LIKE PUP! AND THERE IS JUST ONE CURE… NO FOOD TODAY!” The man shouted and walked away cursing. The Doberman came closer to the bowl and at least he licked the bottom of the bowl trying to find remains of his last meal. But it was nothing that could make his hunger even little bit smaller. Actually, it made him hungrier.

Even other dogs were afraid of the Doberman. They didn’t trust him and were afraid of him. Their fear was multiplied by the fact that they didn’t know his name. And to be honest nobody cared about it. For them, it was just the dog which meant danger. And they were convinced it was better not to talk with it. So the Doberman didn’t know a new family moved to the street where it and his master lived. And the new family brought a new dog, Starlett. She was a German shepherd dog and she  began making new friends soon. And because she was nice to everybody, she had a lot of friends.

            But there was somebody she was interested in more than anybody else. Each dog she had met warned her of the Doberman. She hadn’t heard single nice word about that dog. Everybody was describing him as a bloodthirsty monster and a heartless killer. Starlett couldn’t understand this. She was strongly convinced that a bad and evil dog simply couldn’t exist.

            One day, she was walking with her very good friend, a German shepherd Tim. They were talking about everyday matters. Starlett knew Tim had been honest and straight to her all the time, so she decided to ask: “Tim, please… tell me something about the Doberman everybody here is talking about.”

Tim raised his eyebrows and sighed: “Well, I suppose you know all what you need, no? The Doberman is the worst thing that-“

“The Doberman? Tim, he has a name! You keep calling him the Doberman like he is a monster without a name! Like you hate him so! It’s like you don’t want to know him better!” Starlett sighed. But Tim just smirked: “Look, Starlett, we haven’t bothered with asking… every time we want to talk to him, he attacks us! And yes, he isn’t quite popular around here. And… you shouldn’t care about him.”

They made few more steps and then Tim stopped. The house, where the Doberman was staying, was near. And Starlett knew it, too. But she was determined to at least look at the Doberman. Tim sighed but he stayed and watched Starlett going along fences. She was closer and closer. A well kept hedge was suddenly replaced by plain wooden slabs. Two or three were broken in their halves, so Starlett could look inside. And she saw something she would never forget: A thin Doberman was lying in front of something she supposed was a kennel. But crude and in really bad shape. She didn’t care about it, though. The Doberman took all her attention. Its ribs were visible; its body was bruised… and from its mouth was dripping something that looked like a blood. Starlett sniffed trying to figure out what it had in its bowl. Weak scent of leftovers and … well, lets say, because the lack of better words, it was really disgusting food.

‘No…,’ Starlett gasped, ‘that’s not right… we shouldn’t be treated like this… It’s… It’s not supposed to be this way!’  

He looked back at Tim like she wanted to say: ‘Is he the monster all of you talk about?’ 

She saw just a broken and abused dog… and felt a great sorrow and a pity for it.

Her family treated her with the love and the respect, so she couldn’t understand this. She looked at the hole in the fence and realized she could get in. And she was really determined to do this, but the Doberman raised its head when wind carried Starlett’s scent to him.

“Who are you? Stay out of here!” He barked and Starlett hid herself behind the fence quickly.

And she knew it… she had the power to change this…

Later that day she was lounging on her bed in the backyard of her family’s house. It was time for the dinner and her master came with her bowl, soon. And her bowl was full of a warm delicious dish. She ate just a little bit and waited for the evening.

Evening came and she knew it was the right time. She grabbed the bowl, trying not to drop the food in it and headed to the house where she had seen the Doberman.

She was really lucky. The Doberman was sleeping and his master either wasn’t home or he was sleeping too for the lights in the house were turned off. Just the lamp on the street illuminated the whole scene. Starlett sneaked near Doberman’s bowl and filled it with food from the one she brought. She was about to leave when she took a better look at the Doberman. She really wanted to say: ‘Everything will be better…’ or to ask: ‘Please… what’s your name?’ or to nuzzle him softly, but she decided that wasn’t the best time for waking him up. So she went away.

Morning came and the Doberman yawned. He decided to check his bowl as usual ready for seeing nothing in it (as usual). But he was surprised when he found out it was filled by the best looking food he had ever seen. He didn’t care where it had come from and ate it quickly.

It was the most delicious food he had eaten in his life and wondered who had brought it. He knew just one thing. His master wouldn’t have treated him like that. His master thought the best food was no food and there wasn’t the slightest sign it would improve. So the Doberman sniffed around, but he didn’t catch any scent. But he was sure that the food didn’t fall from the sky.

            Starlett was happy inside. She did the right thing and she was ready to do it again. She spent the whole day with other dogs but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want them to know she was helping the one whom they considered to be the worst thing they knew. But when the evening came and her bowl was full again, she went to feed the Doberman. And again. The dog was asleep and the master was gone. And when she was leaving, she looked at the Doberman.

“I wish I knew your name…” She whispered and headed home.

            And again… The Doberman woke up in the morning and once again his bowl contained something different than nothing or slop. And he sniffed again. And it was there. The weak scent he had almost ignored the other day appeared again! He decided to stay up next night but he knew it would be hard. His master wanted him to be on guard all the time and the Doberman thought it was his duty. Anyway… it was his master… And that was the point. The master. Well, the Doberman decided to stay awake and to pretend his slumber.

And that scent… he wasn’t able to tell whose it was but he was almost sure he hadn’t smelt it before.

“So… who are you?” He murmured and looked at his bowl. And the bowl was quiet.

“I wish I knew your name…” The Doberman sighed and lay down.

The bowl was quiet but much louder.

            Starlett’s head was full of that handsome Doberman. Well, she blushed slightly… of course… handsome… but almost each young man is handsome, no? For short, she felt it was her purpose to help him. She didn’t know why, though.

“Hey, Star!” Someone cried. It was Tim with few other dogs.

“Wha-?” Starlett yelped a little because these two words had thrown her back into the reality.

“I say we are going to have a little party with others at the old house in the evening. Will you come?”

“Oh… uh, well, I… I am little bit tired and-“ she tried to make an excuse because of the Doberman.

“Come on!” young husky smiled at her. Well, now it would have looked like rude behaviour. So Starlett nodded. “I’ll be there. But… I don’t know where it is. I am new here…” she made the last