A Story

                   Under the deep blue sky that was breezy and still was a grass field in the midst of all things. Andros gazed down at the field, alone, feeling at peace with himself. The recent turn of events had given him a great deal to think about. Lost in thought, he had forgotten that there was a creature that was silently lurking about. Andros didn’t need to look back to know that it was his faithful companion, a small black dog that followed him around wherever he went. His thoughts were suddenly painted with the memory of his encounter with the dog.

                   Andros was on his errands throughout the village. First, as usual, he visited Johan whom had provided to his family as well as the rest of the village with milk every day in exchange for ten pennies. Next he skipped through the narrow allies that interconnected Quimbasa quietly humming as he arrived at the well. He was meant to collect a bucket of water then return home but there were a group of the elder boys clustered around the well, shouting and laughing. At first he had thought they were bullying some poor unfortunate boy that had got in their way. But as Andros had come a bit closer, he saw that it was not a boy but a jet black hound that they were tormenting. They were beating it, throwing stones, shouting at it and laughing. He being one of the younger children of the village could only stand in a corner and wait for it to be over. As the long moments of torture passed, the boys decided that they had beaten the dog beyond recognition and destroyed most of it and left, sniggering to themselves obviously pleased with their work. Andros quickly ran over to the dog and tended to its wounds and thus their friendship started.

                     But that was a long time ago. Now Andros was bigger and forced to work very hard because of his family’s poor condition which left to him a little free time allotted to gaze and wonder upon the world and its mysteries. The dog was now nuzzling him, clearly in need of his attention. It was now darker, indicating that his time was up. Gathering his thoughts, he flashed back into reality to find that it was chewing in his worn up shoes. Another pair, ruined. ‘No boy! Bad dog, don’t chew them up again! Heel! Heel!’ he shouted. The dog sat straight up and looked back at Andros. Sighing, he replied to the look, ‘Fine then, we’ll get back to work. Shall we?’.