LEXI, THE GERMAN SHEPHERD

This story is based on a German Shepherd who was abandoned and left to the mercies of a savage world. As requested by my dear friend Narayani, I'm recounting a version of what I can deduce to be closest to the truth of the backstory of the dog who I've named as Lexi in my version....and her encounter with Narayani who rescued her from this plight and did the needful. Here goes the heartbreaking story of Lexi:

The pain was searing and it cut through her sleep and her very existence day and night. Limping, she had found a place to crouch in some bushes when the sun bore down harshly on her. Strewn with sharp pebbles and rough grass, she fidgeted to make herself comfortable and closed her stinging eyes. But the pain on her jaw wouldn't subside and that in her heart, sliced her everyday like a fresh wound. 

How she missed her soft bed and the cooling interiors of the house. She missed Mika and Nikola the kind and playful kids of the household and she was the third child of the family, whom they introduced as their fur baby Lexi when guests came over. 

Mama had pampered her with fragrant bubble baths and expensive grooming kits. Lexi had thought the world of her mama as her lunch was fixed with warm milk and tasty food. 

The walks, the parks, the swimming pool, the toys…the cuddles while she fell asleep in their arms listening to the steady drumming of their heartbeats…

It all seemed like a distant past now, of a life gone by. Eleven years of hope, loyalty and an anchor to her mellow years roughly snatched away when they no longer fancied her.

On a bitterly cold December morning, their hearts too had turned to ice and the icicles jutting out impaled hers beyond belief. On an unfamiliar rustic road and an unwelcome territory, she had cowered away when the barbarians rained down sticks and stones at her.

Lexi, heavily bruised and aching from inside and out had found some of her own, stray ones to befriend and lay down her woes at their paws but it was not be. 

Fiercely territorial, they had growled menacingly at the newcomer. Flesh and muscle were torn away from Lexi’s jaws and jowls as the ringleader of the feral pack seethed with his razor sharp fangs bared and now coated heavily with her blood.

Shocked to the core, Lexi had never known a day of pain or discomfort as all her needs were met even before she wished for it. Wincing, eyes welling up, she had turned away and fled towards a shrubbery. 

Hunger pangs drove her in search of food towards the hutments again but a kind man shielded her this time, led her away and harnessed her to a fence until he could decide what to do with the poor mutt with a torn jaw teeming with maggots and her once fine, silken coat of fur riddled with open gashes and crusted blood. Lexi needed immediate medical attention, but there was no way to get her any aid.

Lexi whimpered and lay her head between her bruised paws awaiting death, but her guardian angels sent someone on the earthly realm to rid her out of this misery.

****

Yani hauled her grocery bags and took a detour along the stalls put up by the tribal women. It was unusual of her to do so, as she preferred to get home as soon as her errands were done and changing her routine was not something she did on the spur of the moment. There was a zoom meeting too in a while…what made her take that route today…

No sooner had she stopped wondering about this than she caught sight of a German Shepherd harnessed to a fence. Probably abandoned, Yani’s rage rose to the fore when she saw the battered dog.

As she approached the poor animal, Lexi sprang to her feet. Yani caught her attention by cooing to her in a soft voice. Lexi had heard a similar soothing voice in a different place and a different time. Seeking rain like the parched earth does for every drop of respite, Lexi sniffed the air and was content in knowing the lady was an animal lover too when Yani outstretched her hand.

She started talking to the kind man who had saved her from the barbaric mob. Yani had moist eyes when talking to the kind man whom she addressed as Anil Ji. Lexi could sense that they were discussing her. The lady fished out a phone and fervently started tapping on it to make a few calls. She hailed a passing auto and they gently heaved her on to it. 

Anil Ji hopped on and reassured the lady that he would take Lexi to a vet to be treated and then to a shelter. As the auto drove away, Lexi craned her neck to get a good glimpse of the angel in human form.

*****

A week into the ordeal of getting her wounds washed and minor surgeries done on her face, Lexi bounded back to good health with nutritious food and tender, loving care at the hands of the volunteers at the shelter. Her spark to live again was ignited by the selfless act done by Yani.

Come Saturday and Lexi always has her eyes glued to the gates of the shelter. That's when Yani comes to visit her with a stock of goodies and for sweet conversations. Lexi hears a similar drum of heartbeats now albeit from a different human.

The painful memories too will hopefully erase with time, but Lexi had never stopped trusting humans even in the bleakest phase of her life.

There is a lesson to be learnt here. Good things take time to reach you. They may arrive late, but they never miss their destination!

©️ Sangeetha Kamath 

Pic Courtesy: Image by Goran Horvat from Pixabay