Julio’s REVENGE

Rebecca lived to regret the day she neglected her neighbour’s dog

Would you mind Julio?’ asked my neighbour Sylvia one day. ‘My sister’s sick and needs me for a couple of months.’

I wasn’t fond of her yappy chihuahua but she offered to pay me $300, so maybe I could learn to like him.

‘He gets food and water morning and night. And brush him thoroughly each day.’

‘Okay,’ I said.

After a few weeks, the funds Sylvia had left were fast running out, so I bought cheaper dog food. Julio turned up his nose at the food and his yapping was starting to annoy me.

One night, I stayed at a friend’s place. As we had breakfast the next morning, I realised I hadn’t fed the dog, so I went straight home.

As I opened the door, he ran between my legs and out into the street.

‘Julio!’ I cried, dashing after him, but he ran through a hedge and vanished!

When he didn’t come home the next day, I asked the neighbours, but no-one had seen him. I felt terrible. Unable to face telling Sylvia, I decided to wait until she returned.

Then very late one night, I heard a whimpering outside my window.

‘Julio – you’re back!’ I cried, getting up and going out.

What a woeful state he was in! He was thin, lthy, and ea-ridden and one of his paws had a gash in it.

‘Oh Julio, I’m sorry,’ I said, feeding him some leftover roast chicken after cleaning his paw and bandaging it.

The next morning, he’d licked the dressing off so I re-bandaged the paw, adding extra tape to secure it. Then I left him at my house and went to work.

When I returned, he was chewing at his paw and whimpering pitifully. And I could see a bone sticking out! What had I done?

Quickly driving to the vet, I was dreading he’d say, ‘It needs to be amputated,’ or ‘he needs to be put down!’ How would I tell Sylvia? Shaking like a leaf, I passed Julio to the vet. ‘Oh my,’ he said.

Carefully he cut away the tape and bandage. As he did, a mauled chicken drumstick bone fell out.

Julio stretched out his perfectly healthy leg with only a small scab on his paw.

The vet laughed but I didn’t mind – I was almost giddy with relief!

Back home, I saw that the rubbish bin was on its side and gured the pooch must have knocked over the bin and found some bones. One must have got wedged in his bandage as he pinned it down with his injured paw.

By the time Sylvia came home, Julio was back to his healthy, chubby self.

Sylvia was so pleased, she gave me an extra $100 – which just about covered the vet’s bill.

But that’s a secret between me, the vet and Julio. ●

His yapping was starting to annoy me