Beyond the Skyscrapers

Apollo sat in his kennel, his tail wagging unconsciously behind him. His tongue was sticking out as he panted for air. A human had come to the shelter. He thought, maybe they’ll pick me this time. His tail whacked with anticipation, even faster than it already had. He cranked his neck slightly out of his cell. His head was too big to fit through the bars, but he looked bigger with all his fur. He was a Great Pyrenees, one of the best dog breeds in Apollo’s opinion.

He looked around, trying to see the window. When he finally peeked through just enough to see the outside of his pen, the window came into view. He loved looking out the window, even though it was just a sea of vast skyscrapers. He wondered what was beyond them, but alas, that question would never be answered, he told himself as he heard footsteps approaching. He peeked his head outside of the cage, just a little more, to see a human—a female human. His tail wagged a little more as the other dogs jumped up on their cages and barked, begging to be taken with her. Apollo sat still. He was fairly young still in dog years. He was about sixteen. He looked up at the woman who was slowly approaching. She looked middle-aged, and in her arms, tucked away gently behind a small shawl, was a tiny little baby. Its gorgeous blue eyes scanned around the dog kennels, looking frightened at the gnashing teeth around it. It closed its eyes and cuddled closer to its mother. Wow, Apollo thought, a baby. He had never seen one of those before. He did what he always did when a human came. Instead of barking like the others, he had figured out that the dogs that sat still and looked happy were the first to go, so he squeezed his head out—or at least tried to. He was stuck. Apollo yanked on his head, but it would not pop back through the bars. He struggled and struggled until the woman finally walked closer to where she looked down at Apollo. He looked up at her and gave her a small huff before wagging his tail. She walked up to him and put a hand on his cheek before scratching under his chin, which made his leg tap on the cold concrete. She laughed a little and muttered something to the lady next to her, who unlocked the cage, but Apollo’s head was still stuck. The lady eventually brought back dish soap, unstuck Apollo’s head, and then tied a collar around his neck. Apollo was confused. Had he done something wrong?

She attached a leash to the collar and guided him through the sanitized corridors. Finally, they pushed through one last door and into the lobby of the building. The woman who had the baby was now sitting on a small chair in the corner of the lobby. This time she had one more child with her, a small toddler. Apollo studied the young girl’s face. She had two pigtails, both tied up with pink scrunchies. She had bright green eyes that reflected a joyful look. She was missing her two front teeth and smiled at Apollo. She was also wearing a small yellow dress that had plenty of ruffles and a bow in the middle, along with pink light-up shoes. She pushed out of her mother’s grasp, who was trying to hold her back from Apollo. She quickly skipped toward the dog before wrapping her arms around his neck and letting out a happy yelp.

“PUPPY!” she yelled before kissing him on his nose.

Apollo smiled and squatted on his front paws. Maybe she wanted to play, he thought. She bounced around him, and he chased after her, barking joyfully but being careful not to hurt her. She asked her mom a question.

“What’s the puppy’s name?” She tilted her head sideways. “I don’t know,” the mother said gently before looking up at the employee. “His name is Apollo,” she answered, smiling joyously. Apollo turned his head at the sound of his name, then back to the little girl. “Appwo?” she mispronounced his name, but he didn’t mind. “Matilda, do you wanna name the puppy something else?” the mother asked, crouching down to get on Matilda’s level. “No, I like Appwo!” she said, running over to Apollo and jumping on his back. She was light, he thought.

“Then let’s load him up in the car.” The mother smiled at her daughter riding their new dog. She took the leash from the employee and walked Apollo outside for the first time in his life. He felt the sun, the beautiful warm sun, on his fur, which made him sparkle like snow. “Pretty,” the young girl said as she looked down at Apollo’s shining coat.

Apollo was reluctant to jump into the strange moving cage of metal that they had shoved him into, but he was almost certain that it would lead him somewhere amazing, somewhere beyond the skyscrapers. He looked around the strange cage. The young girl, Matilda, sat in what looked like a modified chair, while the mother sat in a larger one, controlling the cage with what seemed to be a massive ring attached to the wall of the cage.

After a long, long, long time, he suddenly glanced at the window to see trees, but not like the ones from the city that were very sparse. There were trees everywhere—trees and rocks and lumps all over the ground. It was bumpy too. The roads were made out of chipped rocks. And when they pulled into a different pathway, a large box that looked like the pound sat on top of a hill, but it was made out of wood, and the roof was red. There were fences holding different types of animals Apollo had never seen. One animal wouldn’t stop gobbling. It looked like a massive pigeon with white feathers and a strange growth hanging from the bottom of its beak. Its tail feathers were large, and it gave a mighty screech as it perched itself on top of the fence. There was another set of animals far away that Apollo could barely see. They looked somewhat like dogs, but bigger and shorter and fat. They had floppy ears like Apollo, but they were hairless and had large pink snouts that ended in a flat, plate-like structure on their noses. Another animal looked somewhat like a dog, the same size but shorter and thicker. It didn’t have floppy ears. Its ears were just tiny and stuck out. It had horns and a fluffy tail that was short, and it seemed to be made out of clouds. One that looked like the cloud creature had fur, but not as dense, like clouds. It had horns, but its pupils were rectangular, and it had all sorts of spots and patterns across its pelt. He stuck his nose closer to the window when he saw a different building that matched the same design as what he guessed was their house. It must have been something the dogs in the pound had told him about. He tried to remember, and it suddenly hit him that this was a farm. Apollo thought excitedly. He’s on a farm—the large grass fields, the fluffy animals. When he looked at the house, his tail stopped wagging slightly at the sight of a black cat. She looked unhappy at the arrival of a dog, but when he hopped out, she didn’t attack him. As he walked past, she followed him.

“What’s your name?” the cat asked curiously, sounding a lot more friendly than her expression let on. “My name is Apollo,” he exclaimed, tail wagging. “My name is Gypsy,” she answered as the woman opened the door but didn’t let Apollo inside. “Why can’t I go inside?” Apollo asked the cat. “We are outdoor animals. We can’t go inside. They won’t allow it,” Gypsy said, gesturing toward the humans. “We are outside animals. Get used to it.” She started to drift off, and Apollo came to the conclusion that she was no help. All the weird animals that surrounded him reminded him of the shelter. Matilda ran out the door and into a small flower field near the house. “C’mon, puppy!” she squealed, jumping through the patches of wild violets and daisies. They played till the sun fell over the rolling hills in the distance. “Matilda, honey, it’s bedtime!” her mother called. The gentle voice of hers swept across the small valley the farm lay in. “Coming, Mommy,” the little girl giggled, and stumbled the whole way back to the porch.

Apollo sat and watched all the strange creatures he shared the farm with. After a long, long, long time, the door opened, which was strange, for it was still very late and the moon still loitered in the sky. He didn’t see who came out, but whoever did stepped over him into the grass. He tried to peek, but all he saw was a shadow, a figure entering the darkness. He closed his eyes again, thinking it was just a dream and he was imagining it. The figure was seemingly heading toward the large coop that held oversized pigeons, and inside, a door opened and closed. Apollo’s head instantly shot up at the sound of a scream—a young girl’s scream. He sprinted across the flower fields, trampling the daisies and violets they had just played in only hours earlier. He came to the pigeon coop, where Matilda was curled into the wire in one corner, a coyote cornering her as it got closer, baring its teeth and snapping its jaws. It must have come in here to eat the pigeons, Apollo thought. He bounced on the back of the coyote, and it howled in pain, bucking up onto its tiny legs and throwing Apollo off. It turned around and pounced on him, but he dodged it and let it fall to the ground where he had once been standing. He pinned it and grabbed it by the scruff, carried it out of the pigeon cage and into the back forest. The coyote squirmed the entire time, and he just let out a little growl. Then the coyote stopped moving and let him carry her all the way to the edge of the forest, where he threw her into the brush. She sprinted away, whimpering. His blood dripped down from her neck.

“Appwo!” the young girl cried, jumping on his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” He carried her back to the porch, but she didn’t go back inside. She only closed the door and lay next to him. He soon fell asleep, her arms gently wrapped around his neck. So this is what is beyond the skyscrapers, Apollo thought. This is what I was missing out on. It’s so much better than the pound.

The End