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Балбес
Stanislav Vostokov
Dummy
Almost every family in our village had a dog. Only shopkeeper Timofeev didn’t have one. But finally he decided to become a dog owner. When his shop was closed he went to Moscow and bought a dog of suspicious breed.
“What kind of breed is it?” asked Anna Petrovna, when the shopkeeper walked his purchase past her house.
“Look at it! What kind of breed you can expect here,” said Timofeev, “His name is Dummy.”
“Well, it is ok. Maybe it is a good guard dog.”
The shopkeeper shrugged, “We’ll see.”
And pretty soon, we saw it. That night, when the whole village was asleep, Dummy started to howl loudly and kept howling till morning.
In the morning Anna Petrovna ran to Timofeev’s house to scold him.
“Why are you torturing the poor dog?”
“How am I torturing it?” said Timofeev resentfully.-
“Awfully,” said Anna Petrovna.
“I didn’t even touch it!”
“Then maybe it is sick.”
“I don’t thinks so, it just ate a whole bowl of soup.”
“If it howls again, I’ll report it to the police!”
The next few days the same story happened again. Dummy howled at night, and somebody came to complain in the morning. The shopkeeper was ready to cry.
“You should return it to its owner,” said Mitrich, “It is Baskerville hound of some kind.”
“How I the world would I find his owner?”asked Timofeev.
“Well, at least take it to the vet, since our village has a permanent lack of sleep because of it.”
Timofeev didn’t have anything left to do but take Dummy to the vet. Even though it was a work day he locked his shop and took Dummy to the city on a commuter train. They returned only in the evening.
“Well? What did the vet say?” asked Mitrich
“The vet said that it is not sick,”said Timofeev gloomily, “ but he has one defect.”
“ What kind of defect?” asked Mitrich.
“A speaking defect. It cannot bark, but it howls instead. We cannot treat it anyhow...”
“Wow!” said Mitrich in astonishment, “Well, let it be. Maybe we will get used to it.”
When village people learned about Dummy’s impairment, they felt sorry for it and always gave Timofeev something delicious for the dog. They got used to its howls at night, because they knew Timofeev was not hurting the dog , but that Dummy just barked like that.
And here is what happened next. In three months, at night, two robbers broke into the store next to Timofeev’s house. Dummy noticed something wrong and sniffed. And then he howled so terrifying that even those who got used to it were frightened. The thieves got scared to death. Horrified they ran away leaving irons and buckets they stole behind.
From then on the whole village gave respect to the dog. They started bringing even more delicious food for Dummy to eat.
The policeman who came after the robbery failure asked Timofeev to sell him the unique dog.
“No!” said Timofeev.
And he did the right thing. There was no other dog with the special speech defect in the whole world.
Dummy
Almost every family in our village had a dog. Only shopkeeper Timofeev didn’t have one. But finally he decided to become a dog owner. When his shop was closed he went to Moscow and bought a dog of suspicious breed.
“What kind of breed is it?” asked Anna Petrovna, when the shopkeeper walked his purchase past her house.
“Look at it! What kind of breed you can expect here,” said Timofeev, “His name is Dummy.”
“Well, it is ok. Maybe it is a good guard dog.”
The shopkeeper shrugged, “We’ll see.”
And pretty soon, we saw it. That night, when the whole village was asleep, Dummy started to howl loudly and kept howling till morning.
In the morning Anna Petrovna ran to Timofeev’s house to scold him.
“Why are you torturing the poor dog?”
“How am I torturing it?” said Timofeev resentfully.-
“Awfully,” said Anna Petrovna.
“I didn’t even touch it!”
“Then maybe it is sick.”
“I don’t thinks so, it just ate a whole bowl of soup.”
“If it howls again, I’ll report it to the police!”
The next few days the same story happened again. Dummy howled at night, and somebody came to complain in the morning. The shopkeeper was ready to cry.
“You should return it to its owner,” said Mitrich, “It is Baskerville hound of some kind.”
“How I the world would I find his owner?”asked Timofeev.
“Well, at least take it to the vet, since our village has a permanent lack of sleep because of it.”
Timofeev didn’t have anything left to do but take Dummy to the vet. Even though it was a work day he locked his shop and took Dummy to the city on a commuter train. They returned only in the evening.
“Well? What did the vet say?” asked Mitrich
“The vet said that it is not sick,”said Timofeev gloomily, “ but he has one defect.”
“ What kind of defect?” asked Mitrich.
“A speaking defect. It cannot bark, but it howls instead. We cannot treat it anyhow...”
“Wow!” said Mitrich in astonishment, “Well, let it be. Maybe we will get used to it.”
When village people learned about Dummy’s impairment, they felt sorry for it and always gave Timofeev something delicious for the dog. They got used to its howls at night, because they knew Timofeev was not hurting the dog , but that Dummy just barked like that.
And here is what happened next. In three months, at night, two robbers broke into the store next to Timofeev’s house. Dummy noticed something wrong and sniffed. And then he howled so terrifying that even those who got used to it were frightened. The thieves got scared to death. Horrified they ran away leaving irons and buckets they stole behind.
From then on the whole village gave respect to the dog. They started bringing even more delicious food for Dummy to eat.
The policeman who came after the robbery failure asked Timofeev to sell him the unique dog.
“No!” said Timofeev.
And he did the right thing. There was no other dog with the special speech defect in the whole world.
