Why, they are the best friends of the children--a boy doesn't
have half a chance that hasn't a dog to play with!"
"And the girls?" asked Somel.
"Oh--girls--why they like them too," he said, but his voice flatted
a little. They always noticed little things like that, we found later.
Little by little they wrung from us the fact that the friend of
man, in the city, was a prisoner; was taken out for his meager
exercise on a leash; was liable not only to many diseases but to
the one destroying horror of rabies; and, in many cases, for the
safety of the citizens, had to go muzzled. Jeff maliciously added
vivid instances he had known or read of injury and death from mad dogs.
They did not scold or fuss about it. Calm as judges, those
women were. But they made notes; Moadine read them to us.
"Please tell me if I have the facts correct," she said.
"In your country--and in others too?"
"Yes," we admitted, "in most civilized countries."
"In most civilized countries a kind of animal is kept which is
no longer useful--"
"They are a protection," Terry insisted.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124