The Dogless Village by Anastasia Kogteva

In one of the small villages

in our country, there are no dogs at all. It is abounded of different cats, black, red, plain, with stripes, big, small, and so on. But dogs. There are no dogs, no puppies, the presence of which is usual for the villages. This was the secret of this place.

Poor people, who did not know about this! If they bought a dog, it immediately disappeared. The worse outcome was when it slowly died in their hands, and they had nothing to do with this.

Despite that, yesterday the new family in this village decided to buy a puppy for their daughter. When the neighbours heard the barking, they couldn't believe this. One old woman with an unpleasant experience hurried to tell them about their mistake and to reveal the mystery of this place.

They got here in their car without the daughter not to let her see the present. The father takes out the dog bed, two packages of food, and bowls while the mother holds this white little fluffy creature, which barks so cute as though it pretends to be an adult dog. They are surprised to see the afraid woman, running up to them, limping and panting.

“What`s happened, madam? Do you need some help?” father asked.

“Probably you need it!” answered the woman bending over due to lack of breath.

“Oh! Darling, I couldn`t imagine that we have such kind neighbours!” said mother to her husband and turned to a frightened woman, “We would be grateful if you carried our puppy while we take everything from the trunk and brought it to our yard.”

Smiling she holds the white puppy to the neighbour. Having seen its innocent little black eyes and small tongue hanging from his smile the woman starts to cry. Through tears she said:

“It is unbearable pain for me to see this baby! You must rescue him now!”

“But from what?” wondered father. He looks around and sees some cats walking around them and looking at the puppy, “From cats???”

“Actually, I am not sure from who to expect danger. I know that this can sound strange since I also haven`t believed this nonsense. And I still regret it. I`ve seen your puppy and resembled my Lucy. My lovely Lucy! We moved here seven years ago and immediately noticed that there are no friends for Lucy. But I didn’t find it strange, I just joked with my friend from the place I lived earlier: ‘Jane! Can you imagine? Lucy is the only dog in this village!’, and she answered ‘Lucy can be the real dog queen! If she born some puppies, it will be the Lucy dynasty.’ Then I got acquainted with an old man nearby my house, who told me a legend about our cats that killed all the dogs in the village. I found the story fascinating, but still not real. I thought that he is probably a madman.”

“So, what happened to Lucy?” asked the mother taking the puppy more closely and looking with fear at the cats.

“The first five days everything was okay, and she even played with cats, or I thought so. But on the sixth day, Lucy barely came to me to the kitchen whining. She was all scraped, and she had a deep wound bleeding on her neck. That was so scary! I immediately started to treat it. When the blood stopped, we got on a train. I lost her. The strange thing is that Lucy died not because of blood loss but poisoning, as the doctor said. Like the snake has bitten, but there were no marks.”

The woman sat on the bench and holds her head. The couple does not know what to say. The neighbour goes home having said nothing.

“Darling, what do you think about it?” asked the wife.

“Maybe the cats are really wild here and think they are the leaders. So, we should be careful with them and not let them get close to us,” the father answered.

***

One month passed. The happy six-year girl plays with her little fluffy dog in the yard. She throws him a red ball and says, “Take it to me, Yuki!”. He is very small but understands how to play with her, so he pushes a ball toward her with his nose.

“Mummy! Let me go outside with Yuki, pleaaase! Please! Please! Please!” she asks every day.

“That is too dangerous. Only if you go with me or dad,” answers mother.

“That`s too boring!!!” says the girl frowning and puffing her cheeks.

The daughter always listened to her parents, but this time her desire to go out with Yuki prevailed. So, while mum was in the garden and dad chopped firewood, the little naughty girl managed to escape. She was already taught that cats are dangerous, but there were no cats around, so she felt absolutely safe.

A few steps forward were made, and she sees a granny with an ice cream in her hand walking toward her. The girl didn`t like her face, it is looking quite angry. Her eyes are small and hidden under the huge eyebrows like grey clouds, and under these little eyes, there are two bags as though she hides something in them. Her face is in wrinkles, two of which hang over her thin lips that are trying to smile but didn`t succeed. She wears ordinary granny clothes, a dress with flower print and a knitted coat. Her hair resembled Yuki, as fluffy and white as he is, and the strawberry ice cream in her hand looks enormously delicious, so she didn`t run away.

“Girl, don't you want ice cream? It will melt now, but I can't find my granddaughter.”

The child ran up to her and grabbed the ice cream. Having tried the top, she shouted, “Thank you!”

“No need to shout girl. Do you want me to show you something nice?”

She nodded and they went to her yard, there are many cats. The girl was so scared that the ice cream fell, and she almost started crying.

“Don't whine!” exclaimed the old woman frowning, but she immediately changed her intonation so as not to frighten the child anymore. “You'd better come to her with me.”

The grey cat comes to the girl to wipe and purr, closing her eyes. “You can pet her, she will be happy,” said the grandmother.

The girl liked it and she decided to go and tell all her parents. When she came out, she sees worried parents looking for her and shouting. She happily runs to them and claims that cats are not scary but very soft. The parents are not happy but are glad that the girl was found and alive.

"Where's Yuki?" the father asked. The daughter was confused, looked around and began to cry. Everything was immediately clear. Her father took her in his hands, and they went home.

***

The daughter told everything that happened to her that day. The parents did not like the grandmother, so they decided to visit her to find out more about this strange lady. When they came to her yard, they saw the old woman surrounded by cats. When she saw them, she was very angry and so were her cats. This frightened the parents. But they just smiled to show that they were well-meaning.

The wife said, "Hello, neighbour! We've been living here for a month, but we didn't get acquainted." The man continued, "Yesterday our daughter was very impressed by the visit to you! She really liked the cats, and we would like her to have a new friend, because, unfortunately, her dog got lost recently."

"Come in!" the old woman immediately became kinder, "I'll make you a tea while you are choosing the kitten you like."

When they entered the house, they saw many kittens. Although there was a cat stench and a pile of fur, they did not show their true emotions. The man kept looking around and saw Yuki-like fur. He silently came closer and saw some blood on them. It scared him a lot. Suddenly a little white kitten ran up to the couple. Mom said, "Honey, look! It's so like Yuki! Let's take it."

"Great idea," he replied.

They drank a tea, said “Thanks. Nice to meet you! See you soon!” and returned home with a kitten that their daughter was delighted with. However, she was sad. The girl sometimes said something like "How nice it would be if Yuki was here, and we played together."

The parents discussed everything in the evening when the daughter was already asleep. They decided to sue the woman and asked their neighbour, who told about Lucy, to support them.

***

The neighbour gathered more people who knew about this grandmother's atrocities.

However, no one expected to see someone who would protect the old woman! It was her copy but a kind copy. They were as black and white or devil and angel.

When it was her turn, she said, “Yes, this is my sister. We've been arguing with her for a long time and haven't seen each other in years. But you should know she's innocent! The last time I saw her, she lived in her house with her one-year-old daughter and five cats. She was really happy! At that time the city was full of dogs, but they were not aggressive. However, one-day terrible things happened. When my sister was working in the garden, a group of dogs ran into the yard and maimed cats. Do you think this is not the reason for her crazy behaviour??? So, I will tell you more! When she heard her baby crying, she took a rake and started to disperse them, but they were too persistent and also bit and knocked her down. By the time they left her house, the child was no longer screaming, only the happy woman in the past was screaming in pain. She was lying and screaming, but no one came. The town was not so full then. She just has not seen the meaning of life! But somehow, she became more alive. However, there were no more dogs in the city. It seems that she has found a purpose in her life.”