32.
Early in the morning we all get up at five ‘o clock. By amazing good fortune I’ve slept like a top. Back home again and sweetly in my own bed has its advantages of course. I jump eagerly and full of energy out of bed.
By way of test I try to transform while I’m in the bathroom. Within two seconds I’m a cheetah, fully and without faults. That means my adrenaline level is on a normal level again. Hooray!
I shower amply and pay attention to not use any smells, just water. Then I put on my favorite and most comfy jeans, with a sweater with V-neck on top of it. Of course my clothes smell of washing powder and the dogs can pick up the scent, but there’s nothing else to do. Instead of boots, I put on easy gimp shoes. I put my hair in a tail and only out of sheer habit I put on a bit of mascara.
I hear the hustle-bustle in the house. So they’re all getting ready. I don’t feel nervous, not yet, but I know for sure it will come that far as soon as we’re in the neighborhood of Noël’s house.
When I enter the kitchen Diedie is already making sandwiches with cheese, ham, slices of tomato, lettuce and large dollops of mayonnaise. She knows I love that.
‘Good morning, sweetie,’ she says in a forced happy tone. The tension and turmoil she’s feeling are clearly visible in her clumsy movements. A slice of tomato falls to the ground and she picks it up while sighing.
‘Good morning, Diedie.’ I give her a kiss. ‘Everything’s going to be alright. I’ll be very careful.’
She sighs again. ‘The coffee’s ready.’
Unlike usual I put a few sugar cubes in my coffee. Anything to stay awake.
When Jabar and Oded join us the breakfast passes off in a pregnant pause. With me especially because I want to prepare mentally and go through every step in my mind. Oded seems to have dressed for this dark day. Instead of his usual brightly colored blouses he now wears a grey one with black roses on it. He leaves Squeaky in the house in his new glazed cage.
Before we leave Diedie still does a mojo. She makes the house look as if we’ve moved in great haste. If one of Noël’s chaps comes and has a look we hope they’ll think we’ve left to keep me in safety. It’s a considerably strong illusion that will last for a day at the most. But we don’t want to run the risk that if they find an empty house in which still are all the furniture and stuff, they’ll suspect we’re on our way to them.
Soon after we’re sitting in the delivery van, on our way to the Belgian Ardennes. Jabar drives with Oded next to him and Diedie and I are in the back. It’s a drive of about three hours, so we’ve still got plenty of time to go through the plans again.
It seems the weather will be on our side. The sky is brightly blue with only a stretched cloud here and there that looks like cotton candy. Great, because I namely dislike to smell of wet dog.
Diedie is especially sighing a lot, a sign it’s still bothering her I’m going back to that house. Also Jabar shows for him nervous features; he drives more absent-mindedly than usual and he even forgets to indicate direction. Oded is the only one who’s seemingly relaxed, but the looks he throws in my direction when he turns around, tell another story. It’s of course sweet of them they’re so concerned, but it only raises my insecurity. I wish they would show more confidence in me. On the other hand they might do that and it’s just me.
I feel it in my tensed muscles we’re almost there. Everyone falls silent and fiddles nervously on his or her clothes or coughs more than usual. When Jabar drives into a street I recognize it immediately. And that doesn’t only have to do with my heart that’s starting to rage like crazy.
‘It’s here, a bit further on,’ I say, relieved my voice doesn’t sound cracked.
I look at my mobile phone and see it’s 9:30 a.m.. Jabar drives slowly further until I cry out: ‘Here, just pull over here!’
I get out and look at the wall I’ve pulled myself over with great effort yesterday. It seems much longer ago, even an eternity. Now I see the mud and thrown-away garbage in the ditch again I don’t find it not surprising I was so dirty. Yuck. The others got out in the meantime and look with me at the wall, as if all solutions are to be found there.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Jabar asks me.
I nod and smile bravely. ‘Positive.’
‘Here.’ He slips an earplug to me. ‘State-of-the-art, they’re called ‘good ear boys’. Designed by a Japanese company.’
I put the plug in my right ear, tuck away the wire as well as possible and attach the device underneath my clothes. ‘And can I talk to you with this?’
Jabar nods. ‘That’s the intention. Let’s test.’
We all have our earplugs in. I say grinningly: ‘Testing, testing, one two three.’
‘I hear you,’ Diedie says.
‘Hear you too,’ I confirm.
Also Oded and Jabar have an excellent reception.
‘Being a dog the device won’t work,’ I say again just to be perfectly clear. ‘Because this one will be transformed.’
‘But you’ll be vulnerable for so long,’ Diedie says and shakes her head with a sad look in her eyes.
‘I’ll have sharp teeth.’
I show my teeth to Diedie and make a grumbling sound that elicits a wavering smile from her. Then Oded slips a plastic bag to me in which is a bloody chunk of meat with a strong anesthetic in it.
‘Be sure only one dog eats it,’ Jabar warns me unnecessarily.
I take a deep breath and then nod. I’m ready. After a last look at the others, Oded gives me a leg-up so I’m sitting on the top of the wall.
‘Be careful, girl,’ Oded says and then lets go off me.
I wink at them and then jump down at the other side. I land flexible on my feet. Almost immediately I hear the dogs. They’re coming closer with a raging speed. I need to be fast now.
After I put down the piece of meat I transform into a Doberman and go lying on my back as a sign of submissiveness. One of the dogs is now standing a meter away from me and snarls dangerously at me, until he smells the meat. He gobbles the piece in one bite. In the meantime the second dog has arrived, with his ears flat and his tail between its legs. With his distorted muzzle so a grotesque range of teeth appear, he looks grumbling at me, ignoring his partner. Slowly he comes closer and sniffs my behind. Pff, the things you need to do for a mission.
Apparently I’m seen and approved, because the Doberman takes a few steps backwards, his tail wagging to and fro like a crazy flag. His mate is already in the land of Nod. Phase one accomplished.
I turn around and jump up. The still awakened Doberman sees me at the same time as its new mate and seems to have forgotten about his earlier brother. The fact that I’m a female dog will probably have to do with it. We both run between the trees towards the house. I need to say that running like a quadruped feels magnificent. So low to the ground you seem to float by the speed those four legs give you. It gives a free feeling that can hardly be equaled to anything. A bit comparable to when I fly in the shape of a bird, and still.
Soon my tongue hangs out of my muzzle and the wind tickles through my fur. I enjoy! The glazed house looks different, I find, when we arrive at it. But that could be due to the fact I now see it from a lower level and from another direction. Then I understand why the dog returned to the house immediately.
Selena is standing there with a whistle in her mouth, her hands on the hips.
I didn’t hear the blow of the whistle, but my quadruped new friend did of course. Let’s hope Selena doesn’t see the difference between the sleeping Doberman and me.
Two bowls with food are at her feet. My companion immediately starts gorging himself. Selena leans down and caresses him with a tender smile about her lips. Then she comes towards me and looks at me with frowned eyebrows. Oh, shit, she sees I’m fake, oh shit.
I must start eating now, otherwise she’ll even grow more suspicious. I bow my head over the bowl. Yuck! It stinks horribly and floats in fresh blood. I suspect they are kidneys and let that be something I find incredibly nasty. Don’t think about it, Manon, just eat. It’s healthy, nothing wrong with it, you’re not going to die of it. With all of my will-power inside of me I open my muzzle and stuff myself with a kidney. Eat quicker, I urge myself, dogs always eat faster and luckily without really chewing. With my mind on blank, even forgetting that Selena is standing near to me, I eat all the kidneys as greedily as possible.
I’ve never felt so relieved something was over before.
Then I feel a hesitating hand land on my head and look up at Selena’s face. She nods approvingly and smiles.
‘Good dog,’ she says and scratches behind my ears. I need to say, she doesn’t do a bad job. Again I feel a relief go through me, she isn’t on to it.
‘You don’t want the blood today?’ she asks me.
Then she does something extremely gross. She takes my bowl and drinks the last rest of blood. Nauseous I turn my head away from the event, by which I don’t see how Selena disappears with both bowl into the house.
I decide to immediately investigate the case and take a stroll around the house. To my great relief the windows aren’t blacked out. My fellow quadruped, which I have baptized with the name ‘Bass’, follows me faithfully. Despite my humble position when we met each other he seems to have accepted me as the leader. Strange. Probably the sleeping Doberman was the alpha, and I have, after ‘cutting him out’, taken its position in the order of ranking. Fine with me, as long as he doesn’t go thinking about a little sex treat.
I don’t see movement anywhere, nor in the living room and kitchen, nor when I look at the windows of the bedroom. Selena has probably retired to the cellar. My stomach turns when I think about those poor people and Lucas, who are still in this miserable condition.
A few hours pass in which no one is to be seen and it seems as if the house is deserted. Nevertheless, I know better, they’re all in that happy cellar with sadistic attributes. To kill time I frolic with Bass. We jump around each other, run after each other, bite one another softly in the paws and tail. I even pee like a dog and lick my paws clean. Well, the longer you’re in a specific shape, the more you take characteristics and behaviors of that shape. I’ve got the impression people think that the less they allow hair on their body, the farther they’re from animals. But our beastliness is in our DNA and not in the way we look.
And then, suddenly, I notice a movement in the living room.