“Hello, pig. Can I ask for your garlic chives?” Cow, duck and twin piggies said.
“Well, now Robert is in charge of them. Ask him,” I said.
All of them shook their head, “Then we don’t want them.”
“Why?”
“Before he was kind and friendly. Now he is mean.”
“What did all of you do to him?”
“We didn't do anything. He changes.”
“If he changes, why does he change to all of you, but not me?”
“Perhaps,” three of them whispered into my ears, “he is trying to take advantage of you.”
I laughed.
It was a lot of weeks. I didn’t think Robert could make it, but at last he made it. Though he was old, he was strong, energetic and powerful the same as when he was young.
I went out to take the vegetables to sell to the merchant. When I came back and approached home, I saw cow, duck and twin piggies were running and Robert was chasing after them.
When I reached the house, the crow told me that while I was away, the cow, the duck and the twin piggies came to visit Robert and told him that they were the one who told me to bring him. They said they were the real people who helped him. In return, Robert showed his teeth and chased them away.
“Why did he do that?” I asked.
“He knew what you asked those four guys and what they said,” the crow said.
I shrank my eyes, “How does he know? I never told him.”
“I did.”
“How did you know?”
“I spied on you.”
“Why did you spy on me? Don’t you believe in me?”
“I believe in you but I don’t trust you.”
After saying it, the crow flew away.
Robert came back from chasing. He welcomed me with his wet tongue on my face before he opened the gate for me.
The sound of the wolf frequently appeared.
Crow told me that the wolf thought I didn’t have a dog. He thought I lied to him - because he never saw that dog and no one saw it.
At night, I laid in the lounge in front of my door’s house. In my hand was a hot tea, and my eyes looked at the fireflies in the bush before my house.
At that time, I heard the sound of the wolf howling but low. Suddenly, a dog’s bark came out in a loud pitch from the dog house opposite to the house of Robert. The wolf howling was silent for a few seconds, then it appeared; and the dog’s bark vocalized after that. It happened a few times, then the wolf howling completely stopped.
“Hey,” the crow flew to perch on the branch of the tree in front of my house, “you really have the dog. It’s not Robert.”
I didn’t say a word, just smiled.
You should know that I didn’t have a dog. The voice of dog barking was from the voice of the dog in my ex-master’s farm. I recorded his barking voice and put it in the dog house and I used the remote control to display the voice to threaten the wolf away.
It was in the early morning. I went to see cow in his cage.
“Hello cow, I have something to talk about with you.”
“What is it?” Cow said.
“I heard that Robert is not dead yet. I want to bring him back.”
“It's a good idea.”
“But he is seriously sick. We have to take care of him.”
“I don’t have time. You do it.”
“I can, but at least you should help, like finding medicine etc.”
The cow thought for a few seconds then he said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Though we try to cure him, he might not be able to make it. It’s a waste of energy and time.”
“But if we have him, he can protect us from the wolf.”
“He is old now. Though he is cured, he might not be able to fight the wolf and he would not live longer.”
“You just help get medicine for me. If you do, I will grow garlic chives for you.”
“It does not mean I don’t want to help, but like I mentioned, it’s a waste of energy and time.”
“Okay, bye.”
I left and went to see duck. I told her like I said with the cow. She gave the same answer as the cow’s. I went to twin piggies, they said the same as the cow and the duck.
After hearing all of their comments, I returned home. Actually, I already took Robert in. He was lying next to my door.
Look at him. He was weak. His pair of eyes looked at me saying something that only my heart could hear it. I didn’t say anything to him. I just smiled, then I took equipment and materials from my warehouse and started building a house dog. Next, I took Robert to have a bath and brought him to his house.
Today, the crow came to take the rose apple late. When she arrived, I said to her, “Help get medicine for me and I will give rose apples to you for seven more days.”
“Okay,” the crow said.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
“We are looking at the son of the master of cow,” duck said.
“Why are you looking at him?”
“He has a broken heart,” twin piggies said.
“Why?”
“He likes the daughter of master of twin piggies,” cow said.
“But the daughter of our master goes to another guy. Today, she moved in with him,” twin piggies said.
“He is pitiful,” cow said.
“Why didn’t your master’s daughter love him? He is a good guy,” duck said.
“How can we know?” Twin piggies said.
What they said, I didn’t know. I just knew that I heard the daughter of the master of twin piggies called with her friend. She said that she liked the son of the master of cow, but when she went to talk with him, he didn’t speak with her and went away. She really tried to approach him, but he showed through his action and facial expression that he didn't like her. I saw it with my own eyes. It was not once, it happened all the time - the girl really tried to approach the man, but the man ran away. I heard she told her friend that she even contacted him on social media, but he blocked her. I even saw the woman cry, she cried very hard. I heard she told her friend that she thought the guy hated her so much. She felt she was unwanted. It has been many months. Now, I heard that she met another guy, I was happy for her. However, I had a big question mark when I heard from my friends that the son of the master of the cow was sad when he heard the girl was with someone else. He should be happy as he didn’t like her. From today he would not need to run away because she would not come to bother him anymore. Why was he sad?
“Hello,” cow said.
“Hello,” I said.
“Can you give me your garlic chives?”
“Sure.”
I ran to my garden and picked some garlic chives for him.
“No, no. I mean I want to eat,” cow said.
“Yes. You can eat some and take some to grow near your cage. When you are hungry, you can eat it immediately,” I said.
“I don’t know how to grow it.”
“It’s easy. Just put it in the ground and it can grow on its own.”
“Let's keep it with you. When I want to eat, I will come to you.”
After saying that, the cow walked off.
In the afternoon, the duck came.
“Hello pig, I heard you gave garlic chives to cow,” she said.
“Yes. Here, you can take some to grow. It is not hard, just put it in the ground and it can grow on its own. When you are hungry, you can eat it,” I said.
“No, pig. I just want to know if you have the garlic chives. It’s good you have it. Keep it with you. When I need food, I will come to you to eat it.”
After telling me, she took off.
Later on, the twin piggies arrived.
“We heard from cow and duck that you have garlic chives. Can you give us some? Our master gave us food but it was not enough,” they told.
“Yes of course. The garlic chives are easy to grow. Put it in the ground and it can grow on its own. Having it, you will no longer worry about not having enough food.”
“Well, thank you so much. We are too lazy to grow it, we just want to eat it. You are kind, so you grow it in your garden. When we are not full, we will come to you.”
Caw, caw.
I opened the door.
“Hello, can I help you?”
Hearing my question, the crow shrank her eyes. “I come to take my rose apple,” she said.
“Oh, sorry. I forget. Wait a minute.”
I took the fruit then gave it to her.
“Are you okay?” Crow said.
I shook my head and sighed.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well,” I said with a sad expression, “I just heard that Robert was dispelled from the farm. He is very old. I think he cannot make it outside. So, last night I prayed for him hoping that he will be better in his next life.”
“That old dog! He is not dead yet. He is sleeping under a kapok tree in the west,” she told before she took the fruit and flew away.
Following, I hurriedly got out of the house and walked to the west.
“Pig, where do you come from?” Robert asked. “I went to the market to buy this box,” I said and showed him. “What is it?” “It’s a foam conta...
