“…Thank God, it’s Friday!”- exhaustibly I said as I dropped my body to the old reclining rattan chair in the high school faculty room of La Salle Academy.
“Oh yes… it’s Friday”-gleefully chorused the teachers inside the room, with grin on each faces.Everyone looking forward to a restful week-end as a holiday.
It is Friday, my favorite day of the week where I have few loads to teach and my classes end in the morning only. I’ll be free in the afternoon, where I got ample time of checking papers and rehearsing my Drama Club for an incoming production until late in the afternoon.
Suddenly the phone ring and a colleague near the phone picked it up and greeted the caller.
“It is yours, Sir Boy!”- with grin, sir Danny gestured to hand me the phone. “…from home.”- he added as I come closer to get the phone.
It’s from my sister and I sensed, she seems bothered. She reported: “Find ways to save Princess… she’s with the city impound. She’s got caught wandering on the street this morning just while you left. I was told by our neighbors… they’re going to make her a pulutan…” – then she sobbed. My elder sister turned sentimental, a site I cannot afford to see, so immediately I replied: “Okey…! Okey…! I’ll find ways.”
As I put the phone to its receiver, I hang clueless on what ways should I find to save Princess. My colleague must have caught the sudden change of my emotions that they asked:”…Got a problem, Sir Boy?”
I nodded. “It’s my pet dog… she’s got caught by the city impound men wandering on the streets this morning.”
“Oh boy…! – Sir Danny gasped… “You’ll be charged for that!...You better pay fines or you’ll be jailed.”
“…perhaps, we can afford the fines… but jail, no.-I said feeling terrified. “My sister is so worried right now. She was told by our neighbor that the dog will be made a “pulutan" by the impound personnel.”
“That’s possible, Sir”- intrigued one of the teachers listening to our conversation. “The impound is just near the city’s slaughter house.”- he added, as fear gripped me more when I heard his last two words. Much more terrifying were the different versions I heard from experiences the teachers around me shared.
Terrorized, I became speechless. Like my sister, I turned sentimental as I tried to recall how did Princess get to the streets? Before I left to school this morning all the dogs had just been fed for their breakfast. Customarily, we untie them from their chains after each meal so they could do their rituals inside our lawn garden. While playing, they could have a fair sunshine bath before they will be tied back to their kennels. I live a distance of 40 meters away from the highway. A foot road of 40 meter connect my residence to the highway and seldom our dogs get astray to the streets.
Princess doesn’t have kennel and was never tied to a chain. Being the most beautiful dog at home, she stayed upstairs with my sisters. She was their company in watching TV and in doing kitchen chores. She love to watch tv shows. She didn’t miss an episode of “WalangHanggan.”
I love Princess. She stand so regal and queenly with her heads high up and her furs from the neckline to her tails, so thick white and curly. She walks as if she tip-toed with her limbs criss-crossing each other forming like an x. She moves like a ballet dancer or a queen of the Hawaiian dancers. She loves to be a decoration in our sofa in the living room or be shot by flashes of camera. She must have the instinct of a model. She is the cutest gift from my niece when we lost a black spaniel about two years ago and I call her Princess.
As I was waiting for a vehicle that would take me to school this morning, I saw our gate open and Princess got outside. She gave a blank stare to my direction and I thought she could not recognize me. As the vehicle arrived, I got into the car hoping that Princess would get back inside, but I was wrong. She must have followed me.
From the different versions and tales of experiences that I have heard, I learned that most dogs brought to the impound were no longer the same dog once taken back home after their captivity. According to Sir Danny, his dog could no longer recognized them after it was caught. Perhaps, because of the trauma, it went insane.The dog bit his only son. They sent the dog back to the impound. They cannot afford the euthanasia offered by their neighbors who have rifles.
“You should not let your dog stay long in the impound or she will become as fierce as most dogs brought there. They become fighters. They fight and fight.” Sir Danny advised: “ Today is Friday and tomorrow will be a holiday for all government offices. No one would feed your dog there. Your dog will starve until Monday if you will not take her out today.”
Fear gripped me again. Starvation will cause insanity to my dog. “I must save Princess right now!”- I told myself firmly.
I went to the principal of our school and begged to be excused to fix the hassles relating to the captivity of my dog. In as much as I don’t have classes anymore, I don’t have to prepare any activity for a class, the principal was kind enough to let me go.
I went from bank to bank to find which ATM doesn’t have an off-lined machine. I must prepare myself, in case I’ll be fined or be charged. Luckily, I didn’t scout so much. I found an automated machine teller readily.
I do not know the way to the city impound. I asked some taxi drivers and I realized the place is too far and in a remote suburb of the city. I took the taxi. The driver brought me to the place and gave me some kind of conversation.
“You can easily get the release order of your dog if you have some connections there.”
“Connections?” “What do you mean?”- I asked.
“Well…if you know somebody inside, the papers will be released immediately, and so is your dog.”-he said. “You know in the government offices, you have to bear delays from accessing signatures of the boss. If they are not around, you have to wait for quite a long time.”
“Is that so?”- I asked again.
“Yes, and If they are not around today… you go back on Monday.
“God!... – I gasped as I calmed myself in a silent prayer…”let this Friday be my day!”
Finally, we arrived. After paying the fare, I thanked him and bid him farewell as he wished me good luck.
At the office, I was entertained. I was advised of keeping well my canine that it won’t risk people when astray. I was interviewed regarding my dog’s immunization and treatment so I recited accurately the dates of immunization and the vets that took care of them. The man was happy and declared my dog isn’t a threat. I was charged of fees and was given the order of release. I was brought to the cell and saw Princess on top of the table, eating her pan de sal given by the caretakers. At the floor ground, there were dogs of different bred caught by the impounders. Some were staying there for a week unclaimed by their owners. They were barking at each other.
“Princess!” – I called trying to over run the noise of the dogs. She heard the call and gave me a stare… a blank look. I found no emotions. My heart throbbed of fear suspecting my dog was in trauma. I repeated the call as I waved my right hand.
“Princess… It’s me!” She recognized me and wagged her tail.
The caretaker recognized me as the owner and told me that my dog is good and well-behaved. I felt elated. ”She doesn’t eat the pan de sal on the ground. She isolates and doesn’t mingle with the other dogs, that’s why she is on top of the table.” I smiled and said: “She is really a princess.”
When I bid her to come, she jump down to get out of the cell. She didn’t mind the barking. Instead, she walked unperturbed crisscrossing her limbs gleefully towards me. She licked my hands as I touched her head. She kept wagging her tails feeling her freedom restored.
The place is still far from the highway. No passenger vehicle ply in the area except for those specially hired like the taxi I rode earlier. The caretaker signaled a habal-habal to bring me to the highway. It is a motorcycle driven by a man who ferries passenger to a special ride under an agreed amount of payment.
I carried Princess as I set behind the habal-habal driver. When the motor started, Princess yelled and struggled to let loose as her limbs started kicking the man at the maneuver. As the motor speeded towards the highway, Princess kept yelling and her legs kept pounding at the back of the habal-habal driver. The motorcycle stopped.
“He doesn’t like me?”- ask the driver with an annoyed emotions.
“Sounds like that…” I smiled as I replied.
“Okey… said the man seemingly affected by the joke I said. …“Then, you might just as well hike from here to the highway.
Remorseful to have said an unpleasant joke, I handed him fifty bucks which he did not refuse while I requested. “Get us a taxi when you met one in the highway, please. And he said: “…I’ll try.”
Princess and I walked towards the highway for a few minutes when a yellow cab spotted us.. It went towards our direction. When it stopped near us, the driver peep at the glass window and said: “The Habal-habal man told me you want a taxi?” I nodded…”Yes…with my dog.”
The man looked at Princess and later he said: “No Problem…” as he pointed to me the door knob of the taxi.
As we travelled home, I felt so exhausted as I reclined to the rear seat of the taxi. I uttered: “Thanks God… it is Friday.
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