The Jewish Dog (16 page)

Hush
,
bloody ticks
!
My body ached and I itched all over
.
The ticks laughed at me and drank on
.
The fact that I was scratching didn't interfere with their enjoying my warm blood
.
I tried over and over to get them off me
,
but it seemed that my helplessness was simply encouraging them.

Margo awoke from my rhythmic scratching.

“Is something bothering you?” her eyes asked.

I looked at her in desperation
.
“These ticks,” I wanted to tell her
.
“I think I'm going crazy.”

For a moment
,
I could almost hear her speaking in human tongue
.
Really? Could it be? I looked at her
,
but she didn't respond
.
She was deep asleep again
.
I couldn't understand – how could I be talking with her while she was sleeping?

If only we could speak in human tongue
,
I thought
,
what would I tell her?

I closed my eyes and felt Margo's paw resting on my forehead.

Love cures me and gives me strength,
I would tell her
.
I wondered if that would impress her
.
Every time I look at the moon,
I would add
,
confessing to her
,
I can sense a greater power that draws a sad howl from the depths of my heart.

The clouds parted and displayed the moon in all its paleness
.
Margo
,
who may not have been asleep at all
,
turned her ear toward me
,
asking to hear more
.
I sat up straight
,
patted the ground with my front paws and howled
,
directly into the heart of the moon.

Early the next morning
,
before the shops opened
,
two men dressed in black approached the newspaper on which we had spent the night
.
One of them threw a juicy
,
fragrant sausage onto the ground
.
Margo cowered from fright
.
She took several steps back
.
I was so hungry that I simply ignored her warnings
:
“Don't
,
my friend
,
don't be hasty.”

The pangs of hunger in my stomach
,
which had shrunk so its walls could almost touch
,
had driven me out of my wits
.
The temptation was too great
,
and I didn't hesitate
.
I blocked out Margo's warning and began chewing
.
The excitement over this free meal was so great that it blinded my other senses and I didn't notice the odd aftertaste.

And behold
,
the sun was setting
,
and a heavy darkness came over me
,
and a fainting lethargy slackened my limbs.

“Caleb, Caleb, where art thou?”

The Heavenly Dog appeared to me in a blazing torch and a smoking furnace.

“I am here,” I barked
,
“I am here!”

“What seest thou, Caleb?”

“I see a seething pot
,
filled to the brim with flesh.”

“Not a pot,”
the Heavenly Dog corrected
,
“but a furnace. To this furnace your people will come, those you love and cherish, and they will be enslaved and tormented for many days. And I will judge the nation who will torment and kill and burn and suffocate and behead and hack and slash and gash. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.”

More was hidden than revealed
.
The Heavenly Dog was speaking to me in riddles
.
“Explain yourself,” I tried to say
,
but though my jaws were moving
,
no voice was heard.

CHAPTER 22

I
awoke with a terrible headache
.
I looked around.

Where was Margo? I leapt to my feet and barked like a mad dog
,
a great and mournful bark.

Margo was gone.

I am in a cage! I am caged and Margo is not with me.

It was hard to stand up straight
.
I was still dizzy and my legs were failing me
.
I tripped over the rusty bars of the cage
.
I am in a trap, that's what a cage is
. A cage is the worst of all fates.
I barked on and on as I tried to stand
.
I barked until my lungs ached and I collapsed
,
drained
.
Where is Margo? Was she captured too? What would a dejected dog like her do, left all alone in the world?

Although my senses were still blurred
,
I stood and stuck my snout
in a space between two of the bars
.
Even a pinscher wouldn't be able to pass through these corroded bars –
indeed, I am caged.
Trapped.
A tiny, filthy cage, three strides wide and four strides long.
I paced from wall to wall like a captive lion
.
I looked around
,
examining my new surroundings
.
There wasn't much to learn
.
My cage was one of a long row
,
well-arranged as in a large prison
.
The noise was deafening
.
There were hundreds of dogs as unlucky as me
,
barking all around me.

I was surrounded by steel bars
 . .
 
.
and then suddenly
,
from within the snare
,
I had an epiphany
.
I remembered my dream and the Heavenly Dog
.
I felt as though something within me had changed – but what?

My sight had become more focused
,
but that wasn't the only change
.
My awareness was heightened.

I ceased thinking of myself and started thinking about Margo
.
There was a prayer in my heart
,
and I now knew to whom I must direct it
.
O Heavenly Dog, please keep my Margo safe!
The fact that I would never see her again was crystal clear
,
casting a cruel and sobering light on the world
.
Lines of light and shadow striped my fur
.
I looked around again – what on earth was this place?

I closed my eyes and prayed for another stupor to descend.

A deep inner voice whispered that I must renew my strength
,
but I had no idea what for.

Closing my eyes didn't help
.
I knew very well that when I opened them
,
Margo would not be by my side
.
The cold concrete I was lying upon dashed my hopes that this was all just a bad dream
.
I eventually curled up in resignation next to my empty food dish
.
This is my fate
.
So it has been decreed and so it will be
.
I immersed myself in thoughts
.
I could now see the story of my life laid down on the axis of time
.
I wondered how many dogs were able to do that
.
Here is my history unfolded
:
I was born on a padded carpet
,
surrounded by petting and happiness
.
If it were up to me
,
I would have stayed in Kalman and Shoshana's house forever
.
I had learned the hard way that my fate was not determined by my wishes
.
I began feeling a little queasy
.
Much time had passed since I last thought about my puppy days
.
From there I had traveled
,
by German decree
,
to Frank and Greta
.
I tried to remember one moment of joy in that house
,
but came up blank
.
My attempts to escape had failed
.
After that
,
I moved to the Dürer house
,
with sweet Georg who treated me so well. . . 
.

A certain tension spread through all the cages and cut my reminiscing short
.
All the dogs in the pound stood up at once
,
barking loudly
.
The reason was soon clear – chow time
.
A fat man wearing a stained white apron came in
,
pushing a cart with a large cask filled with a fragrant mixture of rice
,
grain
,
and small strips of meat
.
He ladled servings into the food dishes of my fellow inmates
.
All my deep thoughts about my fate made way for more basic urges – I would finally have food in my dish – and
,
oh
,
how hungry I was!

A large female with a foxy face and a pointy snout was sitting in the cage across from me
.
She seemed defeated
.
Even when her dish was filled with a serving of the concoction
,
she approached it suspiciously
,
sniffed it
,
and went back to sitting in the corner
.
The cage on my left was inhabited by a thin dog with a long tongue
.
He seemed upset with his living conditions
.
There was an arrogant look in his eyes
,
and his wrinkled nose made it plain that this food was not up to his standards.

The food server reached my cage
.
He had a wide smile and fleshy lips
.
He looked like the kind of man in whose company his fellow humans weren't interested
,
and who therefore spoke most often with us quadrupeds.

“Ah
,
you've woken up
,
good morning!” he greeted me cheerfully
.
“You were drugged too
,
hmm? Those National Socialists know what they're doing
.
Come
,
let me pet you
,
I'll give you a nice serving
.
I'll put lots of food in your dish
.
Stand up
,
eat
,
you have to be strong
.
Soon Doktor Plachtner will be here
,
and you don't want Herr Doktor to think you're a worthless wimp.”

I gorged myself on the food as the chatty fat man watched me
.
Then I drank from the bucket in the corner of my cage.

“Aha,” he said
,
when he saw how I was licking the bottom of my dish clean
.
“You have quite the appetite
.
You must still be hungry
.
Maybe I'll give you some more.”

My eyes told him that I thought that was an excellent idea.

“Okay
,
come here
,
I'll give you an extra serving.”

Before I started on my second serving
,
I thanked him with a lick.

“You're a nice dog,” he said
,
petting me generously
.
“All the other dogs run straight for the food and pretend that I don't exist
.
Take good care of yourself
,
you
!
When Herr Doktor comes
,
be very alert
.
The Selection Doktor is as important as God – he determines your fate
!
Listen closely
,
doggy,” he said
,
furrowing his eyebrows
.
“When Herr Doktor looks at you
,
don't look down
.
Look him straight in the eye
.
Growl like you're the surliest dog in the pound
.
Herr Doktor likes them strong and bloodthirsty
.
You don't know this
,
but this here is merely a transit station
.
The strong and lucky ones will be taken through professional training and will be placed in our security forces
.
The weak ones will be taken to hospitals to help medical students practice their surgical skills. . . .”

His concern was touching
.
I guessed by his look that he didn't suspect I could understand what he was saying
.
If I were in his shoes
,
I wouldn't suspect anything either
.
How could he know that the apparition of the Heavenly Dog had bestowed me with wisdom?

When I finished eating my second serving
,
I continued surveying my new surroundings
.
Despite the numerous transitions in my life
,
this time it was harder than ever to acclimate
.
The pangs of hunger had subsided
,
but it was hard for me to exchange the wide open green plains for this small cage which couldn't even fit a Seder table.

The man pushing the cart paused by one of my neighbors
.
The neighbor was a ginger dog with white eyes
.
When the man dished his food out
,
he called the dog by name
.
“Ah
,
Pierre-Toulouse
,
how are you this morning?”

Pierre-Toulouse replied with gruff barks
.
I peeked at him – something in his barks seemed unconvincing
.
He smelled like one who had been spoiled in his youth
,
but he barked like a fighter
.
It was clear
,
however
,
that his barking greatly impressed some of the dogs around him.

Next I set my gaze upon a small dog with reddish eyes
.
Her belly was swollen and she smelled of gestation
.
She lay there as one who accepted her fate.

Footsteps could be heard approaching from the path that crossed the pound
.
It was the Doktor
,
walking through and examining my fellow prisoners
.
The Doktor had two assistants
,
and both wore white coats
.
They each held a binder and obediently wrote down everything he said
.
The three walked from cage to cage
.
When the Doktor was welcomed by a ferocious canine outburst
,
he motioned with his right hand
.
If he was welcomed indifferently or with a wagging tail
,
he motioned with his left.

Doktor Plachtner and his escorts reached my cage for my moment of truth.

“And how about you
,
my friend?” the Doktor asked as he clanged on my cage bars with his pencil
.
My response was a great assault
,
bloodcurdling growls
,
and blazing looks that demonstrated my aggressive qualities.

“When this one bares his fangs,” the Doktor said to his escorts
,
with just a dash of humor
,
“it is terrifying enough to stop England and Russia in their tracks!”

The escorts smiled as was their duty
.
It seemed the three had fallen for my charade
.
The Doktor motioned with his right.

After my cage
,
they went to Pierre-Toulouse's cage
.
He who had barked so loudly before received them submissively
.
He walked meekly toward the Doktor
,
showing his readiness to accept the Doktor's mastery.

The Doktor came by the next day and lifted Pierre-Toulouse by the scruff of his neck
.
I felt sorry for him
.
His sad look broke my heart
.
Pierre-Toulouse was shaking all over as he looked at the Doktor with droopy ears and his tail between his legs
.
Pierre-Toulouse was placed in a large cart along with the rest of the weaklings and cowards.

The devil does not buy a soul without a body.

We were loaded – canines in cages – onto a truck
,
and set off on our way
.
As long as the truck kept to paved roads
,
everything was fine
.
On the dirt trails
,
we got bumped and bruised all over
.
It was hard to steady ourselves against the rocking truck
,
yet the trip was interesting
.
We passed many rivers and creeks
.
Women were out washing clothes and fishermen waited patiently for their lunches
.
The world slowly turned dark
.
The sun began to set and the shadows stretched until they disappeared
.
The very last beams of light shone on the fences of the Central Training Facility for Guard and Assault Dogs.