12 Days of Fiction, Day Nine: Rover
There was a town by the sea. Every afternoon, Rover walked down the same pier and sat down, and stared out at the sea. Rover was small, white with black and brown spots. He had small ears and a funny tail that curved over his back. Every day, Rover stayed in his spot until it grew dark, and then he walked back home.
“What are you doing, Rover?” asked him a seagull once.
“I’m waiting for my friend Andrei,” Rover answered. “We grew up together. He left in a boat, and he told me I couldn’t come with him. But he also told me he’d be back.”
“Good luck!” The seagull cawed mockingly, and soared away to join her friends.
And that night Rover walked back home.
One day, as he was waiting, Anja the cat walked by Rover. He didn’t hear her, but he could smell her, so he didn’t flinch when she spoke.
“How long have you been waiting, Rover?” Anja asked.
“I don’t know,” Rover said.
“He won’t come back, Rover. He’s a human. They don’t mind about us,” Anja said.
“They do. They feed you and you have a home, too,” Rover said. “What happens is that you cats have no patience. You always live for the moment,” He paused in thought. “Except when you hunt. A little.”
Anja stayed there for a moment, but as it wasn’t sunny she felt uncomfortable.
“Maybe you’re right, Rover,” she said. And she left.
Rover had a dolphin friend, Skye. He used to ask her about Andrei.
“Have you seen my friend Andrei since we last met, Skye?” he would ask.
“No, Rover, I’m sorry. I haven’t seen him,” Skye would answer.
“It’s alright, Skye. Thank you,” Rover would say. And Skye would tell him tales from the sea, that Rover enjoyed until it was time to get back home.
Time passed, and Rover kept walking his walk down the pier. Sunny or rainy, cold or warm, he was always vigilant. Rover saw ships of all shapes and sizes, but he remembered the boat Andrei had left in, and none of those ships were his. Sailors greeted him and patted him, but they were not Andrei. So Rover would stay until dusk, and then he would sigh and return.
And so it was that one afternoon a sail appeared over the horizon. Slowly it grew larger, until the shape of a ship could be seen underneath the sail, and then figures of people moving on deck. The ship approached the pier and docked, and several sailors disembarked.
Rover wasn’t there.
One of the sailors looked around, a large sack on his back. He seemed to take in the smells of the town, or maybe he was regaining his bearings. Or maybe both. He walked off.
Andrei, because the sailor was Andrei, reached his home in minutes. He greeted his family and kissed his wife and daughter. Then he sat by the chimney, where Rover lied asleep on his basket. Rover was old, so old that he no longer left the house and walked down the pier. Andrei caressed his dog, sweetly calling his name.
“Rover, my friend. It’s me,” he said.
In his dream, Rover was merrily chasing a ray of sun in a hill of green grass, when he heard Andrei calling him. He looked, and saw Andrei appear behind the hill, and Rover ran and greeted him. Andrei kept calling his name.
Rover woke up slowly. He saw a man he did not recognize, but the man was caressing him, so he wagged his tail. Then he smelled him. There was sea, and fish, and what he knew was shaving lotion. But there was also tenderness, and affection, and ham sandwiches shared secretly, and long walks in the meadows beyond the town by the sea, and endless games of fetch.
Rover saw Andrei was weeping. And he wished dogs could weep, too.
