In Partial Fulfillment in English III

My Four-legged Teacher Submitted by: Khyle Khwences Caballero Jessie Benjs Monta Dexter Ryan Hofelena Ivan Nicolas Garcia

III- Saint Rose July 29, 2013

Something came out of the night, appearing suddenly in front of her; a big, golden dog, panting, his front paws tapping the ground in his anxious little dance. Behind him, tall cottonwoods in April bloom. Behind the grove, the San Augustine River, moving quickly, dark and swollen with spring melt.

The big dog appearing reddish by the moonlight and without a collar took a reflective breath around her bare thigh and studied her as he untangled the mystery of her sweat. And then with the eyes of ardent declarations, he looked at her saying “you need a dog, and I’m it.” “Men are dog’s best friends”, she whispered in his ruff, smelling his nutty aroma, with the hint of lanolin. “But that’s not true” she declared. “Because I’m your best friend even if I’m in the group of Eve.” and with that the dog looked at her with conspicuous trust. She is an eighteen year old gal whose name is Nagi Cabraeon. She has this four-legged teacher; his lessons weren’t about training, but partnership. They were never about method; they were about attitude. Her own golden retriever, named Sushi. They’ve been best friends ever since she found him at the San Augustine River while having a night stroll. And that was two years ago, but she can still feel the fragrance of the flowers that was in the bank of the river. They are in our favorite spot; overviewing the mountains that grows cottonwood trees. She lay on the grass with little bugs jumping on her denim shirt. The dog look elegant; his hair matted with some sprigs of grass and twigs, fifty-five pounds, his fox-colored fur hanging loose folds, waiting for that adult dog that would be. “You look dashingly handsome sensei.” she addresses him as a teacher in Japanese. “Do you know how many times you told me that?” his eyes seem to say, his flank against her chest. “That’s how many times I mean it” and together they slept in the silent rhythm of our hearts. She woke up feeling something was lost. Something was taken away from me. She looked around and she realized what was wrong. Her dog, her four-legged teacher was gone. She got up and looks around, no sign of sushi. She begins to get nervous. She got up and started looking for him. Some may think that she’s over reacting. But NO. She knows it when sensei just went around for a walk; when he just wants some dog-and-himself time; even when he wants to go and socialize with the other dogs. This feeling she never had before, it’s like someone just stab her straight to the heart. Painful, and unbearable. She ask the by passers if they had seen a golden retriever, fifty-five pounds performing his little tap dance. They all said no. She was about to lose hope when a red haired girl with freckles told her she saw a reddish dog; somewhat weighs fifty-five pounds going through the woods in the east. Nagi thank her whole heartedly, she ran and told Nagi good luck. She ran at a full speed towards the east. She can sense that Sushi had been in these woods. The smell of his nutty aroma still lingers in the twigs of the trees. She ran through a path that she doesn’t know where it is going to lead. All she knows is she got to find her dog. Nagi was almost convince that she was in the wrong way when she saw something that made her energy come back. Her senses sharpen as she sees a somewhat rusty blackish vehicle just a foot away. She suddenly heard a yelp and a bark. She frantically ran towards the sound. She saw a black hound pup and a man in his thirty’s trying to get the dog in a cage