Narrative

Cam Ouellette Mrs. Dabrush Section 1 4/25/12 OuelletteCNARRATIVE1 

[[image:ouellettemgrp1/Screen shot 2012-06-05 at 1.46.33 PM.png]]
In a small village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a young boy named Philip and his large Airedale Terrier Otto made their way down to the river. The water glistened from the blaring sun and huge ripples floated over the water as Otto jumped in. The river had grown up the dirt path towards the village from the immense amount of rain that fell. As Philip filled up the clay jug with water, Otto fixed his eyes on something in the bushes across the river. Philip looked up and realized that a lioness was watching his every move. Before the lioness could do anything, Philip pulled Otto away and ran back down the dirt path. “Maria,” Philip called for his mother. “Maria!” “Ay! What is it Philip,” Maria asked. “I was down at the river and a lion was there. She was stalking me from across the river and she looked hungry.” Maria stared at Philip with shock. Maria had a flashback of when she was a girl. Growing on the outskirts of a jungle, there was always danger that jaguars or lions would attack and one day, that danger became real. Her village was savaged by a pride of lions and she was only able to take one person in her family and her parents insisted that it would be the youngest child. “Tell Atsu to have men watch for the lions. The drought is following the rain so the river is receding so it will be easy for them to cross,” answered Maria. Running out of the hut made of dead leaves and dried straw, Philip kicked up a huge cloud of dirt. The little pebbles in the dirt were tossed up by Philip as he ran towards a massive hut in the center of the village. Once Philip got close he slid to a stop and jumped to his feet. His normally vibrant colored clothes were painted with dirt. Otto ran up obediently behind his master. Philip petted Otto’s head then called out. “Atsu,” Philip called outside the hut. “The lions are nearing the village.” A tall and skinny man walked out of the hut. He was draped in a traditional silk suit and a jewel necklace. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Philip,” Atsu bellowed. “Do not make jokes like these. If you think this is funny, you should be eaten by real lions.” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Atsu. This is no joke. I went to fill up a jar of water a few minutes ago and I saw a hungry lioness staring at me. We need some men to watch the path leading down the river.” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“This is not good. Do not worry my child. There will be men with rifles around the path to watch for lions.” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Thank you.” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Once Philip was done talking to Atsu, he walked towards the jungle where his friends Cayman and Dominic were talking. The jungle was filled with noises of beautiful birds and terrifying monkeys. But together, the sound was melodious. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Hey,” called Philip. “The village pile is getting low. Want to go hunt?” The village pile was where food was placed and then the women of the village would cook the food for dinner. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Sure,” Cayman and Dominic yelled back. As they went off to the house to get their dogs, Paki and Oyoo, Philip brought Otto out to the fields. Before he started looking for buffalo for the dogs to hunt, he looked for lions. Cayman and Dominic ran through the tall yellow grass to where Otto and Philip were. Paki and Oyoo ran up with their knotted fur and with Otto, they ran out into the open fields. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“We have to keep our eyes out. There are lions out there,” Philip warned. Cayman and Dominic looked at him with shock and then stared into the field while they walked through the tall grass. Instantly as the dogs got out of the grass, they spotted a few birds. The tall birds had shiny gray and black feathers and were picking at bugs in the grass. Acting like a pack and hiding in the tall grass, they surrounded the birds without the birds knowing. Like shot out of a cannon, Oyoo burst out of the grass startling the birds so badly that they had gone into shock. Otto and Paki ran out across from Oyoo and pounced the birds. Otto easily got the larger of the birds. The bird struggled under his immense weight letting out high pitched shrieks and constantly moving. Slamming a paw on the birds long neck, Otto lowered his head and bit the birds neck and twisted it slightly so the bone broke and ending the bird’s life. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The smaller of the bird which was very young, started to realize what was going and took flight. Paki was able to grab one of the bird’s feet. The bird squawked so loud that Cayman, Philip, and Dominic had to cover their ears. While the bird squawked trying to fly out of Paki’s mouth, Oyoo ran up and slammed his body into the bird and fell to the ground with it. The died under the impact of Oyoo’s body hitting the ground. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Philip ran up and picked up the smaller bird while Dominic and Cayman picked up the smaller one. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Wow these are big birds. Hey where are the going,” Philip asked as the dogs ran away in a different direction. Otto sped up as Philip realized what they were running at. A small buffalo calf was grazing a couple of feet away from its mother. All three dogs started barking loudly scaring both buffalo. The mother jumped in front of her calf but Oyoo and Otto drew her away from her baby. Paki ran right by to get at the calf but a quick kick in the air from the calf halted his progress. The mother roared and the dogs ran away defeated. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The children and the dogs walked back through the village gate and handed the birds to the women. The birds were then skinned of their shiny feathers that were caked with blood. The sun started to set as the birds were cooked and then the whole village gathered around the stone fire pit to have supper. The bird was cooked excellently and some spices were dealt in to add some more flavor to the stringy meat. As everyone passed in the plates for the younger children to wash, a loud gunshot roared in the air. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The scream lit up the air as everyone was terrified. Philip’s younger brother Tobi clutched to his leg in fright. The children ran to their mothers and suddenly two huge lions ran up the dirt path into the village. Panic set in and everyone ran to their houses while the men grabbed their rifles and fired. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Maria,” Philip shouted. “Maria it is Philip. I have Tobi. Do you have Amara?” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Fear set into Philip’s heart as he spotted Amara. Amara was running away towards the chief’s house but another lioness was stepping through the village gates right next to her. Philip thought that his four year old sister was done for when he saw a couple flashes of tan and black among the frenzy. Otto had gotten Paki and Oyoo and they ran at the lion who was about to eat Amara. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Amara! Come over here,” Philip screamed. Luckily Amara heard his voice over the panicked village and rushed over before the lioness’ beefy paw landed where she was standing. Otto ran around the the back of the lioness and clamped down hard on her tail. She roared with such anger that it seemed like the trees shook. Paki and Oyoo attacked the huge lioness from the front and she fell over on her side while the three dogs attacked her under belly. THe lioness had not shot of beating the Airedales. A rifle shot whizzed by Philip as Atsu hit a lion behind Philip dead in the heart. The lion slumped over and Atsu ran over to Philip and picked up Amara and Tobi and took them into his hut before quickly running out with another rifle. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Catch,” Atsu commanded. Philip caught the rifle barely. He turned around and was able to hit the ground in front of another lion to disorient it. The other men quickly shot it down. Turning around, Philip was that the Airedales had made quick work of the lioness as she was losing her energy and helplessly pawing at the Airedales to make them stop. The lioness heaved and laid down to take her last breath. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The other lions that had showed up to help ran off down the path into the river to get away. To keep the lions away, bullets were shot around the lions to scare them into never coming back. Maria ran over to Philip and hugged him as hard as she could. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Oh Philip you are all right. Wait! Where are Amara and Tobi,” she demanded with ferocity. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“It’s okay Maria. Otto saved Amara and then Atsu put them in his hut. They are all right,” Philip answered. Maria and Philip together ran to Atsu’s hut and there, huddled together were Amara and Tobi. They were fine the whole time. Both ran up to hug Philip and Maria. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Mama,” Amara cried. “Otto was so brave. I was running over here to get away when a lion tried to eat me. He saved me Mama!” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">As a family, they walked out of the hut to greet Otto. He had blood all over his fur from the lioness who was barely breathing at this point. Something in the wood caught Philip’s eye. There was a pair of glittering amber eyes staring right at him! The eyes belonged to a lone lion who was looking to pick up the scraps. The lion jumped out at Philip but Otto jumped in the way of the lion. Otto was crushed under the huge lion before a rifle sounded and the lion fell dead. Blood poured out of the neck. Five men ran over and shot two more bullets into his head before they attempted to move him off Otto. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Otto,” Philip cried. “Please don’t go! I need you!” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Philip calm down,” Maria cooed. Philip pushed her away and her ran up to Otto. His breathing was hoarse and his eyes were starting to close. In one last sum of energy, he leaned up and licked Philip’s teary face and laid down to rest forever. Philip bent over his dead dog who he had known since he was born. His mother died a few years back and Otto was all he had of her. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Philip jumped up and hugged Tobi. Tobi, being the child not to talk much hugged him back. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“Philip, I know you love Otto but this is what he was meant for. He died saving you. He is in a better place now,” Tobi whispered. “His life was blessed that he such a great friend like you and I know nothing will replace him, but just remember that he had a great life and he loved you. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">“For a kid who never talks, I am glad you told me those words,” Philip answered. The two brothers embraced before Philip moved onto his mother and his sister. Together with other members of the village, they dug a grave right next to Philip’s house and laid Otto inside. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">To have Otto remember him, Philip laid a bird bone that Philip had kept since Otto was a small puppy. The bone was the very one that Otto played with when he was a puppy and he wanted Otto to have happiness where he was going.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">No matter how much Philip’s heart ached, he knew that Otto deserved better and was going to a better place. Otto became the hero of the village and every year on that heartfelt day, Otto was idolized and worshipped like a god. His faithfulness would always be remembered by everyone who ever knew him. Philip knew that deep down he would always remember Otto, and to keep him in the hearts of everyone, Philip adopted a puppy from Paki and Oyoo and named her Teke to remind everyone that Otto lived in on.