Buddy's Diary - February 15: Trust Broken - Simple Stories in English | Historias en Ingles

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February 15 – Trust Broken

I’m not stupid. Duhhh!!! Obviously, I know not to pee or poo indoors! And I think Girl knows it, too.

Every hour, the big screen goes BLING-BLING-BLING, and she takes me down to the grassy patch. I wait, I hold it in, and then I do it outside where she wants me to do it. Typically, all our days go well. But sometimes, the screen doesn’t go BLING-BLING. Sometimes she forgets.

Or worse. Sometimes she’s making food.

When I need to go, I whine. “Take me out! I need to pee! I don’t want to do it indoors!” I whimper. But she misunderstands me. “Patience. You’ll get some when it’s ready!” she says. But I’m not talking about the food! I want her to take me downstairs! But she doesn’t get it.

Like that day when Ms. Green was here. I call her Ms. Green because she wears green. I like her a lot. She is always so sweet to me. She coos, she makes funny sounds, she uses a baby voice, and she always, always greets me when she arrives.

Ms. Green doesn’t live here. She comes three times a week. The first time she entered, I was shy and wagged my tail hard from afar. But by now, I’m used to her. She comes for a little while, pours water and smelly pink stuff all over the floor (I’m not allowed down when she does that; I have to sit on Girl’s lap all the time and not move). And then she makes loud noises—CHOP CHOP and BANG CLANG THUD—in the kitchen. After a while, nice smells fill the air, and then food arrives! For Girl. And for me.

Well, Girl doesn’t trust me to hold it in, so she always either ties me to my little white chair next to her chair and keeps an eye on me, or keeps me on her lap while I nap. When she walks around the apartment, she carries me. “I can’t put her down. If I don’t look, she might pee!” she told Ms. Green one day.

So sometimes Girl takes me to the kitchen and holds me while pointing out things to Ms. Green. Ms. Green chops lots of smelly onions that make my nose itch and my eyes tear. Girl holds me. I don’t mind it too much. Most of the time, I just dangle quietly, letting her carry me around. As long as Girl is with me, and I feel her heartbeat and warmth, I don’t mind where she takes me.

But today something Bad happened.

When Girl is alone with me, if I pee on the floor by accident, she cleans it up. She typically scolds me, sometimes half-heartedly, sometimes firmly. But she seems to understand I didn’t do it on purpose. Sometimes she even says, “Ahh…. that’s what you were crying about! Oh dear,” or “Oh… I forgot the timer again!” and doesn’t scold me at all.

Ms. Green is the only one who enters our home. No one else comes in and out. So I’m super-duper excited to see her. Today, Girl was holding me as usual while talking to Ms. Green. Earlier, I had made a puddle. Girl had cleaned it up while Ms. Green was cooking.

“You’ve got to punish her,” Ms. Green said firmly. “You have to hit her hard each time she does it. After a few times, she won’t do it again!” Then Ms. Green came to me and half-shouted, “A punishment for you! A punishment!” raising her fist. Her voice scared me. I lowered my tail, wagging it uneasily.

“No, don’t scare her,” Girl said. “She is already trained. She just sometimes can’t hold it in long enough.”

But Ms. Green didn’t think Girl was training me well. As Girl watched her chop things, Ms. Green said, “Do you know how I trained my kids? You have to be firm with them. Just like with a dog. When my son was eight, he stole twenty-five cents from my mother. You know, boys at that age. So do you know what I did?”

She stopped chopping and broke out into a wide, proud grin. Her voice grew louder, proud and boastful. She walked over to the stove and motioned proudly. Girl tensed, suddenly uneasy.

“I tied his hands to the stove, and then I turned it on.”

Girl’s arms tightened in alarm all around me. Her face tensed, a look of horror filling her eyes. Her smile vanished. Ms. Green didn’t notice. She continued, proudly, laughing at the recollection. “I left him there. Tears were streaming down his face. He struggled, he screamed, he begged, he cried. He was TERRIFIED.” She laughed.

Girl was very quiet. She didn’t say anything for a moment. “My mom ran out of our home screaming, ‘You’re crazy!’ unable to watch. But I didn’t let him go.”

I felt Girl’s heartbeat quickening against my furry back. “Does he… still have his hands?” she asked.

“Oh yes! He can use them. It just burned all the skin off them at the time,” Ms. Green chuckled. “But it worked. He never stole again and he’s not a criminal.” She went back to her work, and then she looked at me. “You have to teach them a hard lesson so they don’t forget! That’s the only way to get them to do what you want!”

Girl quietly retreated with me. She held me tight on her lap and said nothing.

But a short while later, Girl washed her hands and went to the balcony, leaving me behind. The food was ready and it was about to be brought out. I couldn’t wait! But oh… dear… something else couldn’t wait either. I felt it. The pressure, the tightening, then the explosion. Hot yellow liquid all over the floor.

Ms. Green’s eyes fixed on me. They became cold and hard. Her smile vanished. She approached me. I wagged my tail eagerly, fully trusting her. Her hands came for me. I leapt up excitedly. Playtime?

WHAM!!!

Something extremely painful suddenly happened. I was shocked. I let out the loudest shriek I’d ever made. OW! OW!!! OW!!!!!!

What was that? Why did she hurt me? My nice friend! What… what did she do that for? And then I went completely limp with fright and shock.

She carried me out to Girl, who looked up, concerned. Ms. Green smiled innocently. “She peed on the floor,” she said.

Girl took me. The moment Ms. Green vanished back inside, Girl anxiously looked me over, parting my fur and inspecting all of me. “What happened to your nose?” she murmured. “What’s that black spot here on your nose? Did you get burned?”

But I couldn’t tell her where it hurt. I was so shocked and frightened by the sudden jolt of unexpected pain that I just lay very still. I didn’t move. I didn’t make a sound. Girl frowned. She searched for the cause of my shriek but couldn’t find it.

After that, for the next week, Girl didn’t let me out of her sight when Ms. Green was around. And after that sudden, unexpected shock of pain—that betrayal by a close friend—I didn’t trust anyone’s hands.

For an entire week, whenever Girl’s hands came near me, I sprang back in terror, tail low, ears high, on very high alert. Even if she was just placing my food dish on the floor, I retreated in fear. Whenever she reached for me to pet me, I leapt back like a bee had stung me and eyed her wearily from a distance. If my second-best friend could hurt me so badly for no reason… might all humans be unpredictable and dangerous? Might Girl also do that to me?

Any sound, any rustle, any movement sent me scampering in fright to hide. It was a very bad week.

But then… Girl handed a bunch of rustling green paper things to Ms. Green. Ms. Green thanked her, beaming. Girl looked guilty and sad; her voice was low and heavy. “Thank you for always doing a wonderful job.” She said softly.

Ms. Green did not come back. Ever.

Another week went by before I finally forgot the Very Painful Thing that happened that day. Eventually, it slipped out of my mind, and I stopped jumping and running from shadows. I realized Girl would never hurt me and her hands were always safe.

I relaxed, and Girl held me close. “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” she murmured. I snuggled up to her chest and fell asleep.

I believe you, I said.