by João Cerqueira

October 26, 1957

Since they took me off the street, I have had a better life. I no longer get cold or sleep in the rain. I eat good food. I take a hot shower and feel clean like I’ve never felt before. People like me and treat me well.

It is true that I have lost my freedom, but I no longer have to run from one place to another.

They think I don’t understand their language, but they are wrong. I understand some words, I understand the meaning of some sentences and, of course, I can read the expressions on their faces. So, I know they are preparing me for something important. So important that on their faces, when I manage to overcome some test, not only joy appears, but also an expression I have never seen before. Their eyes shine and, in some of them, even tears flow.

However, among them there is a woman who, sometimes, for no reason, cries when she hugs me. This I cannot understand. The others weep with joy. She cries with sadness. But these people are so strange, so different from others, that it’s not even worth trying to understand them.

*

October 28, 1957

Suddenly, everything has changed.

They have started to treat me worse than when I lived on the street. They have started to lock me up in small spaces for many days without even letting me out to do my business. They have put me on machines that spin me at high speed and leave me in a daze. They make me listen to horrible noises. And they only give me a smelly mush to eat.

What do they intend with this?

I thought these people were good.

Why do they keep smiling when they hurt me?

I just want to get away and go back to the streets.

*

November 3, 1957

This morning, a strange thing happened. Instead of hurting me, they took me out of that horrible place. One of the bad guys put me in his car and drove me to his house. I thought he was going to make me suffer even more, but he wanted me to play with his children. And then I was happy again, as happy as when I ran with my friends in the streets. They were wonderful kids who petted me and hugged me and gave me cookies and milk. The bad man himself became good again and gave me a big hug as if he was saying goodbye to me.

Now, the man has taken me back to the place where they hurt me, and I try to remember those moments with his children so I don’t cry. Their sweet smells, their beautiful faces, their soft hands and their little voices calling “Laika, Laika…”

João Cerqueira is the author of nine books and is published in eight countries. He won the 2024 Independent Press Award, the 2024 BookFest Awards, the 2024 Firebird Awards, the 2024 Outstanding Creator Awards, the 2023 Historical Fiction Company Book of the Year, the 2020 Indie Reader Awards, the 2014 Global Ebook Awards and the 2013 USA Best Book Awards. He was nominated for the 2023 Pushcart Prize.