Black as Night: A Fairy Tale Retold by Doman Regina

Author:Doman, Regina [Doman, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chesterton Press
Published: 2011-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Sit!” Brother Charley shouted.

The girl sat, and Leon chuckled. “Not you, Nora.”

“I know,” she grinned. “I just felt the need to obey.”

The big novice was standing in the courtyard between the church, school, and friary, and the two Rottweilers were standing in front of him, eyeing him suspiciously. Matt and Leon were sitting on leftover cinderblocks, watching. The girl had heard the noise from the friary where she had been helping to finish the dinner dishes, and had come out to watch.

“Sit!” Brother Charley roared again, and the dogs looked at each other dubiously.

“They don’t buy this dog psychology stuff,” Leon called. “I told you this wasn’t going to work. The Fathers are right: we should just send them to the pound.”

“They can learn!” Brother Charley shook his head and planted his feet. “We just have to teach them their place. Back when I was a biker, I used to own a Doberman,” he explained to the girl. “The key to working with these big high-energy dogs is to remember that they’re pack animals. If you want them to obey you, you have to convince them that you are the Big Dog on the block.” He pointed at the dogs. “You hear that? I am the Big Dog!” he snarled.

One dog perked up its ears, and wagged its tail slightly.

“Me!” bellowed Charley, pounding his chest. “I am the Big Dog!” He advanced on them and circled them, growling in a menacing manner. The dogs watched him, backing up as he stalked around them.

One of the dogs flattened his ears and started to wrinkle his nose to show his teeth, but Charley snarled back at him, and the dog backed up, wagging his tail.

When he felt that the dogs were significantly intimidated, Brother Charley put out his hands and said in a deep voice, “Come.”

The dogs gingerly came forward, and licked his hands. He rubbed their heads, and they wagged their tails.

“Yeah, they’ll obey you, but what about the rest of us?” Leon asked skeptically.

“We’ll just have to stay on top of them until they figure out where their place is on the totem pole,” Charley said.

“Yeah, at the way bottom, just above mice and rats,” Leon said. “Good luck convincing Father Francis to keep them.” He said to Nora, “I’m a cat person myself.”

“I like dogs myself,” Brother Matt said. “—the less energetic kind.”

“I really don’t care much for animals, believe it or not,” the girl said.

“Ah, the Disney anti-heroine,” Matt said. “They’ll never cast you in one of their movies.”

“Fine with me,” the girl said.

“Sit!” Brother Charley ordered, and the dogs sat. One of them got up after a minute, and Brother Charley whirled on him. “I am the Big Dog!” he growled. Hastily the dog sat back down, wagging its tail.

“Maybe it’s not a total waste of time. We could make this a public service announcement for the friary on the vow of obedience,” Brother Leon said.

“Maybe New York City would be a better place if God

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