Thom's Birthday

THOM’S BIRTHDAY

It was one week until Thom’s eighth birthday when his father took him to the pound to pick out his birthday present. Thom had begged for a dog since he was six but every time his father would say that he’s too young and irresponsible to take care of one. No matter how many times Thom would promise to walk, feed and play with it, his dad remained convinced that he would end up being the one to take care of it. In the end it was his mother that convinced him. “At least he’ll get some exercise with a dog,” she would say. “It’s better than him sitting in his room all day playing video games.”

Dad was still reluctant to agree. Even now, as they walked through the front door of the reception area he warned Thom for the twelfth time, “Don’t think that I’ll take care of him for you. He’ll be your dog so you have to take care of him. And he’s sleeping outside, ya hear.” Thom nodded emphatically, jittery with excitement and smiling so wide it hurt his cheeks.

There was a middle aged woman wearing a grey polo shirt with the pound’s logo stitched to the left breast. She greeted the father and son warmly before leading them through to a door in the back. The door did little to soften the sound of barking dogs but, still, it got louder when it was opened. The excitement of new visitors was enough to get even the laziest of dogs on their feet to cry out for Thom’s attention.

Dad put his fingers in his ears and grumbled about the noise he’d have to put up with when he got one of these animals home. Thom ignored him; he was too busy running up and down the aisles of caged animals, determined to see every one before he made his decision.

Breathless, Thom stopped at the largest cage containing the largest animal. A dog that looked more like a wolf sat on the cold concrete floor and stared at him. Its eyes never left the boy’s and blinked only rarely. This dog was different from the rest; most obviously for its size. Unlike at least half of the dogs in the pound this one was fully grown and stood much taller on four feet than Thom did on two.

When the lady and his father caught up to him, Thom asked, “What’s his name,” pointing to the grey dog that was now pressing his nose through the wire mesh cage wall.

“She,” the lady clarified with a smile. “Her name’s Aleu.”

“I want her, dad,” said Thom, his eyes never leaving the dogs.

“I don’t know son, she’s kind of big,” said dad. “I’m not even sure if that is a dog.”

But Thom would not be swayed.

“How about we let your son play with Aleu for a bit,” said the lady in grey. “Before you make a decision.”

With Aleu on a leash and the father and son in toe, the lady led them into a small courtyard at the back of the building. She let the dog loose and the father watched on nervously as Aleu bounded playfully for his son. Despite her size, Aleu seemed very gentle with Thom, although she did knock him to the ground at least twice in the twenty minutes they spent in the grassy enclosure. She was surprisingly responsive to commands and unlike all the other dogs that could still be heard, even from outside, she didn’t bark.

With Thom unwavering and his father convinced it was only a matter of paperwork and payment before they could take the newest member of their family back home with them. Aleu was profusely affectionate towards Thom. She wouldn’t stop licking him the whole way back. By the time they got home Thom was so wet with dog slobber that it looked like he’d been swimming with his clothes on.

For the first day, Thom did as he promised. He walked Alue, played with her and fed her in the evening. She ate like a wolf. Thom found that Aleu’s kibble and canned dog food wasn’t enough his mom fed her their leftovers as well. Dad warned that they would make her fat but his heart softened when she rested her head on his lap with a pleading look on her face.

For the first night, Aleu slept outside, as dad had said she would, but on the second it rained. Not even he could resist the shivering whines of the wet dog as she watched them through the screen door so eventually he agreed to let her in for the night. He regretted it the next morning, when he was forced to clean up the mess left by the un-toilet-trained dog.

After that it was a struggle for Thom to get his dad to let Aleu sleep in the house again. But on the night before his birthday, dad relented. It was the night of the grand final and he didn’t want his son’s pestering to spoil his enjoyment of the game. “But if she craps on the carpet again, you’re cleaning it up this time.”

At nine thirty, a few minutes before the game, Thom was told to take the dog out to do her business before the boy went to bed. Not wanting to clean up dog crap on his birthday, Thom got up from couch and encouraged Aleu to follow him out the living room. But, call as he might, Aleu wouldn’t move from her spot at the father’s feet.

When Thom realized his commands wouldn’t be followed he took Aleu by the collar and started to drag her. It was tough because the dog was much heavier and stronger than he. His father broke his gaze from the screen and asked, “do you need a hand, son?” Thom just shook his head, not wanting to confirm his father’s previous insinuation that she was too big for the seven year old to take care of.

Eventually the discomfort of her collar being pulled up her neck became too much for Aleu to ignore and, reluctantly, she followed Thom to the back door. However, once there, the dogs stubbornness returned. She sat on the floor and refused to be taken out. Thom tried dragging her again but this time no amount of force would shift her. Eventually she got fed up with Thom’s efforts and knocked him to the floor. He landed on his back and before he could get up again, Aleu lay on top of him; squashing him with her weight.

Unable to move and barely able to breath, Thom could only stare at winking hole beneath the dogs tail and hope that she wouldn’t have to do her business while his face is so close to her business end.

Wet laps of Aleu’s tongue made Thom squirm in a fit of giggles, unable to prevent her from assault on his toes. Licks turned to bites and bites turned to sucks and before he knew it, Thom’s toes were being guided to the back of Aleu’s throat. Her weight shifted, lifted from his chest, but still Thom had a hard time breathing. All of her weight was now on his face. The dog was sitting on Thom’s face with his feet in her mouth. But she didn’t stop there.

Holding Thom’s legs erect, Aleu moved her mouth down their length; forcing them into the tight rubbery wetness of her throat. When she wrapped her mouth around his thighs, the awkwardness of his position in her throat prevented her from continuing, so she lifted him out from under her to straighten him.

“Bad dog, bad dog,” said Thom between gasping breaths as his head bumped upside down on the floor. “Let go you BAD DOG.”

Aleu paid him no mind. She flipped him upright and let gravity combine with peristalsis. It was alarmingly effective and Thom slipped up to his chest before he could catch himself. His hands wrapped around her black lips but he could still feel his body being pulled down.

His father had overheard Thom’s scolding and called out from down the hallway, “Do you need any help back there, son?”

If dad were to see what Aleu was doing he would surely take her away. That wouldn’t be fair, Aleu was just playing; she didn’t know what she was doing. Thom could so take care of a dog like Aleu so he could take care of this by himself. Defiantly he said, “I’m fine, dad. I don’t need any help.”

The distraction was enough for Aleu to catch Thom off guard. With a sudden widening of her jaws Thom’s hands fell into her mouth. Follow that with a few rapid jerks of her neck and Alue ensured that Thom would slide down too quickly recover. In seconds she was closing jaws around his head, squeezing it to the back of her throat.

Now things were getting out of hand and Thom was starting to feel that it was time to stop protecting Aleu and start protecting himself. “Stop, Aleu, stop,” he cried. “Stop, or else. I mean it. This is your last chance before I tell.”

It seemed to Thom that she was considering it for a moment. He didn’t even notice the saliva pooling around his face. He knew that Aleu would do the right thing when she realized how much he wanted to keep her and how hard he was trying to keep her out of trouble. She swallowed.

Squeezed into total blackness, the only thing left for Thom to feel was the boiling wetness of Aleu’s stomach walls and the squishy slop of the dogs dinner that filled out every pocket of space the boy’s body hadn’t. There was a small bubble of air but the sickening smell of kibble, caned dog food and his mother’s beef hotpot digesting together was so thick it was unbreathable. Thom tried to struggle but there was no room for it. All he could do was scream and hope that one of his parents would hear.

With a round belly, Aleu returned to her spot at dad’s feet and let him rub her belly as he watched the game. The TV was too loud for him to hear anything else but, for a moment, he thought he felt something move as he rubbed the dog’s belly. However, his only reaction to this was a “What has that woman been feeding you, girl,” during an add break. Half and hour later the Aleu got up to see what the aforementioned ‘woman’ was up to.

Thom’s mother was in the kitchen still. She’d been there all day preparing sausage rolls, party pies and every other finger food imaginable for her son’s birthday. She was just now finishing the final touches on her masterpiece; a coconut strawberry birthday cake, Thom’s favorite. When she saw Aleu come in she cut a piece off the edge for the dog. This quickly masticated sliver would become the only taste of his birthday cake that Thom would ever get because before mom noticed anything peculiar about the dog’s belly, she left.

Aleu lay in her basket early to sleep off her massive meal. Thom’s mother and father followed suit a few hours after. Neither thought to check on their son until the morning after, giving Aleu all night to digest; Thom’s cries unnoticed by all but her. By next morning there was a fresh pile for dad to clean up.

THE END