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Dummy
by Stanislav Vostokov
From the “Rowan sun” collection
Almost in every yard in our village lived a dog. Only one person didn't have a dog, his name was Timothy, he was a store clerk. But either way he ended up getting a dog. On the weekend when the store was closed, Timothy went to Moscow for the farmers market, and in that very market he bought a dog, a very suspicious looking dog.
-What breed is this dog?- asked Anna Petrovna, when Timothy and his purchase walked past our yard.
- What breed! - said Timothy carelessly waving his hand, - his name is Dummy.
- Well, that's okay. Maybe he's a good guard.
The clerk just shrugged his shoulders.
- We’ll see.
And we saw really soon. On that very night, when the whole village was sound asleep, Dummy started howling like he was mad and howled for the whole night.
In the morning Anna Petrovna ran to Timothy to swear on him.
- Why are you torturing the dog?
- Torturing? - Timothy replied deeply offended.
- Horribly! - Said Anna Petrovna.
- I didn’t even poke him.
- Then maybe he is hurt somewhere?
- No, nothing hurts: you see, he just ate a whole entire bowl of soup.
- Look - said Anna Petrovna in a menacing tone, - if you don’t stop torturing him, I’ll sue you.
In the next few days the same story repeated again: during the night Dummy howled, and in the morning Timothy would be cursed upon by someone from the village. Poor Timothy was almost crying.
- You should return her to the owner - advised Mitrich.- It’s just like some kind of hound of Baskerville!
- Where will I find the owner now?
- Then at least bring him to the veterinarian. Or our village will get a chronic sleep deprivation.
Timothy had no choice. Even though it wasn’t the weekend, he closed the store, got Dummy on a leash and got on the train to the city. He came back only in the evening.
- Well? - asked Mitrich.
- The doctor said he is healthy, - said Timothy gloomily. - But he has one defect.
- Which one?
- Defect of speech, he can’t bark, instead he howls, and you can’t do anything about it.
- Really!? - said Mitrich clearly astonished. - Okay, fine, let him live, maybe we’ll get used to it.
Everybody took pity on Dummy once they found out he had a defect, and they brought the treats to the clerk so he could give them to Dummy. And indeed, little by little, everyone started getting used to the nightly howls, because they knew that Timothy wasn’t torturing the dog, the dog just barks like that.
And then this happened. One night three months later, two people crept into the store located on the other side of the clerk’s house. Dummy was the first one to sense something disturbing in the air. And then he howled so loud and terrifying, that even the people who got used to him jumped from their beds in fright. And of course the robbers, not knowing Dummy, almost lost their minds. They got so scared that they dropped all the irons and buckets, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
Since then everybody respected Dummy and started bringing him more and more treats. And the policeman who came to investigate this unsuccessful robbery said that this dog doesn’t have a defect, but an outstanding ability, and asked Timothy to sell Dummy.
- Heck no! - answered Timothy.
And of course he was right, because there is not a single dog in the whole wide world with such an unusual defect, defect of speech.
by Stanislav Vostokov
From the “Rowan sun” collection
Almost in every yard in our village lived a dog. Only one person didn't have a dog, his name was Timothy, he was a store clerk. But either way he ended up getting a dog. On the weekend when the store was closed, Timothy went to Moscow for the farmers market, and in that very market he bought a dog, a very suspicious looking dog.
-What breed is this dog?- asked Anna Petrovna, when Timothy and his purchase walked past our yard.
- What breed! - said Timothy carelessly waving his hand, - his name is Dummy.
- Well, that's okay. Maybe he's a good guard.
The clerk just shrugged his shoulders.
- We’ll see.
And we saw really soon. On that very night, when the whole village was sound asleep, Dummy started howling like he was mad and howled for the whole night.
In the morning Anna Petrovna ran to Timothy to swear on him.
- Why are you torturing the dog?
- Torturing? - Timothy replied deeply offended.
- Horribly! - Said Anna Petrovna.
- I didn’t even poke him.
- Then maybe he is hurt somewhere?
- No, nothing hurts: you see, he just ate a whole entire bowl of soup.
- Look - said Anna Petrovna in a menacing tone, - if you don’t stop torturing him, I’ll sue you.
In the next few days the same story repeated again: during the night Dummy howled, and in the morning Timothy would be cursed upon by someone from the village. Poor Timothy was almost crying.
- You should return her to the owner - advised Mitrich.- It’s just like some kind of hound of Baskerville!
- Where will I find the owner now?
- Then at least bring him to the veterinarian. Or our village will get a chronic sleep deprivation.
Timothy had no choice. Even though it wasn’t the weekend, he closed the store, got Dummy on a leash and got on the train to the city. He came back only in the evening.
- Well? - asked Mitrich.
- The doctor said he is healthy, - said Timothy gloomily. - But he has one defect.
- Which one?
- Defect of speech, he can’t bark, instead he howls, and you can’t do anything about it.
- Really!? - said Mitrich clearly astonished. - Okay, fine, let him live, maybe we’ll get used to it.
Everybody took pity on Dummy once they found out he had a defect, and they brought the treats to the clerk so he could give them to Dummy. And indeed, little by little, everyone started getting used to the nightly howls, because they knew that Timothy wasn’t torturing the dog, the dog just barks like that.
And then this happened. One night three months later, two people crept into the store located on the other side of the clerk’s house. Dummy was the first one to sense something disturbing in the air. And then he howled so loud and terrifying, that even the people who got used to him jumped from their beds in fright. And of course the robbers, not knowing Dummy, almost lost their minds. They got so scared that they dropped all the irons and buckets, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
Since then everybody respected Dummy and started bringing him more and more treats. And the policeman who came to investigate this unsuccessful robbery said that this dog doesn’t have a defect, but an outstanding ability, and asked Timothy to sell Dummy.
- Heck no! - answered Timothy.
And of course he was right, because there is not a single dog in the whole wide world with such an unusual defect, defect of speech.
