Alexander heard his neighbour screaming: “Already you killed one. It is the third one that week, and because you do not behave well, I think it was wrong to have received you.” Alexander wanted to know what was happening. He approached the neighbour’s yard, where he noticed that the old man had a bag and something was moving inside it. Alexander wondered what he could see inside.
“Hello, Mr. Anatoli! What are you doing?” Alexander asked.
“I have to go to the river.”
“Can I help you, sir?”.
“Don’t care, my friend”.
” what do you have in that bag?”
“It is a dog, it doesn’t obey me at all; I will get rid of him seriously because my brother gave me this dog and told me that it was obedient and quiet, but now, it makes me crazy, it is killing my hens, also, because I can no longer hold it, I’m trying to chain it up, but it escapes, so I must get rid of it.”
“ Don’t do that sir, look at me, I can take it”.
“Are you sure?”
“ Yes, actually. My son(Pavel) asked me for a pet a long time ago, and the truth is that his birthday is soon, so it would be a perfect gift.”
“Take it then.I hope it will not cause problems. Do not regret it because I no longer accept his return.”
“ No sir, thank you”.
Alexander took the dog to his house, which had only three months. His son arrived from school,
”Dad”.
“Hello, son! I have a surprise for you. The day after tomorrow will be your birthday, so I brought you a gift. Open the door of your room and look!”
The child opened it and was surprised; “ Dad! It is a puppy”.
“Yes, son, and it is for you”.
“ Thank you”.
The little one hugged the dog and liked the gift. Alexander lost his wife, who gave birth to his little one. It was the most terrible and painful loss of his life, but at the same time, there was unexplained joy at the arrival of his son. He was a father and a mother to him, and his son never lacked something.
Alexander had the opportunity to have a relationship on several occasions. There were women interested in him. He was a handsome, gentlemanly, and very hardworking man. However, he did not want to be with someone; he just waited for the woman of his life, the mother of his son. Seeing his little one happy was the most rewarding.
The child asked his dad: “Does it have a name?”
“ Well, I think not; how would you call it?”
“Lion, I like that name.”
“Okay, son, that will be his name.”
The puppy quickly got used to his new family and learned obedience. It was also very affectionate with Alexander and with his son, even slept with him, and it was not necessary to chain it up as the neighbour suggested; it was a very docile dog; however, every time it went out into the street and looked at his former owner growling at him, it was angry, the dog who had grown up did not take his eyes off him and ran towards him and with that strong jaw removed the stick from his hand, since then the old man never came out again. When the dog was out, he had respect for it. However, it is true that it never bit him but left him a good scare.
One day, when the summer began, the child and his father went fishing, but they were not alone. For the first time, they were accompanied by the dog, and while Alexander was lighting a fire to cook, his son decided to go to the lake; he was a very skilled swimmer, so with this confidence, he decided to go deeper, the little boy suddenly felt a brush on his leg. Then he realized that there was an abandoned network that had surrounded him, the boy tried to free his legs but the wind prevented him from facing it, the child realized that he could not go out and ask for help, screaming in the hope that someone could hear his voice, but the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, and no one heard his screams. His father noticed that his dog ran quickly to the lakeside in a few seconds. Alexander went to find out what was happening there and suddenly saw with horror that his son was in the middle of the lake, so Alexander ran towards him. Still, he remembered that there was no way to get there a few times to save him because he was out of his power and could barely keep swimming.
The little one who was so tired took another breath out of the air and waved his hands. Someone saw the boy, and he joined them, but the child immediately felt something unexpected near him: it was the dog. The boy grabbed him with his hands and tried again to remove the net from his foot, and soon the dog drove him back and woke him up. Luckily, the boy was fine, and Alexander sighed deeply. The dog stood on the side and began to walk around and spin around them, it was happy, then it hugged him, the little one quickly regained his senses with infinite gratitude and with so much emotion, There was a great friendship formed between them, and it became his loyal friend.
The years passed and the child grew up, fell in love with a girl and then they got married when they were 18, they lived in Alexander’s house, but the girl did not want to stay there any longer, and wanted to be in the city. After six months, she asked Pavel to leave his father and said:
‘Pavel! I’m pregnant, the baby will be born soon, so it would be good to live in the city, there are hospitals, kindergartens and more jobs.’
‘Vanya, I can’t leave my father woefully ill and I don’t want to leave him alone, I wouldn’t be comfortable if I went there.’
‘You care more about your father, but your wife and son won’t be okay if they stay here, so stay here if you want to, but I’m leaving.’
The couple did not know Alexander was listening to the conversation, and he became sad to discover that maybe his son had chosen the wrong woman. So, the father called his son to talk to him:
‘Son, I don’t want you to worry about me. You’re already going to have a little boy, my grandson, and I want him to be happy with you and his mother. I’ll be, well, and it’s true that in the city there are more opportunities. You should go.’
‘So come with us, dad.’
‘I’m fine. This is my house next to your mother’s grave; it’s easy to visit your mother, leave flowers on her grave, and clean it up. I won’t be alone; Lion will be with me.
A month had passed since that conversation with his father. He was about to take the bus to the big city, say goodbye to his father, and fondly remember his beloved dog.
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