The Bitch

It was around half past eleven or twelve and, after a lot of absinthe, I wasn´t too friendly anymore so I decided to go home.

I left the bar, i got around the corner and I went to the small square where the tram had its last stop. I sat down on a stone wall. I don´t know for how long I stayed there but suddenly they appeared. They were about seven or eight dogs, big and unclassifiable dogs. They were walking slowly, taking their time, at that time when they owned the city. There were quite some packs of dogs roaming through the city, dogs without a boss, dogs with nothing to do, dogs sunbathing, dogs arguing, dogs chatting. It is said one day someone put them on a boat and they were sent to an island close to the city. It is also said the dogs came back.

So there we were, the dogs and me. I don´t know if they noticed me but they didn´t give a sign about it. I spent quite some time looking at them. That one was the boss for sure, sitting, tired, observing the rest. He stood up and started walking, gradually the rest went after him. And I, like I didn´t have anything better to do, went after them. We left the small square and we went down that street I never remember the named, the musicians street, the one that has a hats shop at the corner. One of the dogs turned at the first intersection, I think it said some kind of goodbye or something. We kept going down the street. I, of course, as the intruder I were, I kept my distance, I had seen those dogs fighting.

When we arrived to the tower, this one was one of the favourites places for these packs to meet, we made a stop. We stayed there for a while. I was sitting on a stone, 25 meters away more or less, I kept watching the dogs. The boss was sitting again, impassive to the games of he rest, yawning, absorbed, looking at nowhere. He shaked his head, becoming the leader again and he started walking again.

Three of the dogs stayed there.

I stood up, I decided to go after the boss. My head was as diffused as the absinthe I drunk, I leaned on a lamppost looking for the balance I lacked, I took a deep breath and I kept carring out my stupid mission.

We went down a street parallel to the musicians one, a narrow street, with old houses with clothes hangin out from one side of the street to the other one, a street with rusty grilles and broken windows, a steep street, dark and wet. Suddenly a stairs appeared, a stairs I´ve never seen before, there two more dogs left us. I took a deep breath, we were three left. I didn´t have any clue where was I, not even what time was it. I didn´t know anymore what the hell was I doing. With no ability to force me to do something else I kept with all the thing. We went down, down and even more down and suddenly I noticed we were only two. A shiver ran through my whole body, the boss and me, me and the boss, scouring the most filthy alleys.

The dog started to walk slower, I don´t know if it did it because it was alone, without anybody to guide but itself or because It knew I was there, it always knew it and it wanted to make things clear for me. I was scared, I swear I was fucking scared. All of a sudden the dog stopped and it seated turning its back on me. I turned a bit looking for a place to lean on and I ran into something, I fell down and that something was a pile of garbage bags. I didn´t move, I raised my head a bit just to see where the dog was. It stood up and it was coming towards me slowly. I bowed my head and I breathed slowly trying to decelerate my heartbeat, I closed my eyes and I ducked even more, I wanted to look even smaller. A few seconds after I opened my eyes again, the dog was two meters away from me, showing me its theeth and its ears were backwards. I could smell the dog, it smelled awfull, it smelled like being wet even being dry. I closed my eyes again and I lowered my head even more showing the back of my neck, and I stayed in that submissiveness for a long time. I could smeel its breath, I could notice its wet nose in my neck and I realised it was a female. It was a bitch and I had meddled into her matriarchy. The bitch putted its snout under my chin and it raised my head, now I could look into its eyes although I avoided it, I was quite scared still. It licked my hand, I don´t know yet if it did it because it liked the taste of what I mashed or just to wash the disgusting smell around me. Now I was more stinking than she was.

She called me to stand up, well, that´s what I thought. I did it slowly, I din´t want to scare her nor provoke any distrust. She looked at me while I tried to take all the garbage off. It didn´t work by the way, most of it were liquids and stuff you could mash, smelly stuff. When I thought I was clean enough I looked at the dog and nodded, like saying I was ready to go wherever we were going. This situation wasn´t absurd anymore. It was stupid, I know.

We kept walking, I didn´t care anymore about the route, I was happy, the dog accepted me as a bitch, she offered me her protection and her knowledge. Her route took us to the most exclusive garbages, to the most unimaginable corners. The city seen by two bitches.

I was tired, we had been several hours hanging around the streets. She seemed to understand my exhaustion, she turned into an even narrower street, she crossed a door without door, she went up a stairs with more holes than wood and we arrived to a room with some clothes on the floor, well, old clothes, some shoes and more stuff. She lied down and I did the same. And there, in that nauseating enviroment we slept.

When I opened my eyes, she wasn´t there, I don´t know for how long was I sleeping but there was quite some light on the street. I woke up, I stretched, I smelled myself, I got disgust of myself and I left the room. I went down the stairs, with light they were even more scary, I went to the street and I looked to both sides trying to find myself and I saw her. She was sitting, sunbathing, relaxed. I went towards her, I scratched behind her ears and she looked at me. Few seconds after she started barking, she fidgeted, she became agressive. I didn´t understand anything, I turned around and I saw some dogs were getting closer. I became alert in case the newcomers decided to attack us but then I understood I was the intruder, the barkings were for me, the rejections were for me. She allowed me to be bitch for one night and our relationship was over with daylight. I wasn´t welcome in her matriarchy anymore. You to your house and I have mine. And that´s what I did.

Text: Vanesa Pomar

Art: Miguel Sp

Contact: vainillap@gmail.com