. My brother and my sister were already there – the ones I had traveled with in the darkness. I was delighted in their misfortune, because now it was their turn to travel alone in bags, in complete darkness. Then, when nobody was looking, we ate some sausage that had fallen on the floor. We had one more fellow-traveler – a smart black puppy, a Newfoundland which was a born diver.
In the morning I woke up in a car. We were going by taxi again, but this time the trip wasn’t long. Some people gathered in a dog-breeding club to have a look at us. So, this was a puppy show. We were chasing each other in a circle; then it was breakfast time and we were led to have some food. My mistress tied a striped lace scarf around my ears, so that they wouldn’t touch a bowl. She was talking to the people who were crowded around us as if they had never seen a dog eating. Then a strict lady gave her a certificate of good growing – for a pedigree dog named Apostle, pink puppy-like colouring, the right bite, not rachitic. She was also awarded a medal as a good dog-keeper. Back at home she showed it to all our guests. The Zubenkos gave me a lot of biscuits and kissed me all in turn.
When I became six months old, I began going down the stairs myself. Before that I was allowed only to go up. Her father carried me down, so that I wouldn’t harm my hind legs. But by the fourth month I had grown up to her knees and weighed about 25 kilos. I was going down the stairs myself and was walked with grown-up dogs.
Then in May she went to the sea. She cried and said that she didn’t want to go anywhere, but she had to. Her father walked me. He was the chief of her pack, and I obeyed him. She sent me a letter. Then in June she came back and we were together again. She would tell everybody that when I was little, I used to tear newspapers and magazines in pieces and even gnawed her Literature textbook once. Then she would always add that she had sent me a letter from the seaside – it was only a sheet of paper she had held in her hands. When she came back, she was stunned to know that I had hidden this sheet under my sleeping place and growled at her parents, when they would approach the secret place. Only she was allowed to take it back.
For some reason it seemed unbelievable to her.
-3-
She came back from the sea and we moved house. We went to the city where I had been at my first puppy show. Almost every weekend we spent in trains. Dog shows, exhibitions, the days of my breed. She sewed a special chest collar for my medals. My grandfather had been imported from abroad; my father was a champion of an international exhibition. My future was unclouded – I was a promising dog. At least, the referees said so. She always listened to their comments, but did everything the way that she thought was right. She kept me in good shape. Every day there was a two-hour walk, vitamins and diets. Once a week she took me to dog fights. She liked it when I was fighting. She liked it when I was winning. She used to put something stinky and disgusting on my wounds and say with a put on indignation, “Apostle won over Robar again, imagine that!”
