Sarbi

• Lucy Wilkie-boulus, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2014

My handler, his troop and I were walking under the rays of the hot sun towards the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountain range. I was panting and everyone was drinking water. My handler, David Simpson, stopped and held out his hands while pouring cool water into them. I looked up at him with thankful eyes. He nodded his head in a way of saying ‘yes you may drink now.’ When I had finished I would have barked thankfully though I had been trained not to as I was an Australian Special Forces Explosive Detection Dog. By barking I could have accidently alerted the opposition to our location.
The Australian forces that I am apart of are in Afghanistan on Operation Slipper which is the Australian Defence Forces contribution to the international coalition against terrorism (I think that means that Australia is trying to help Afghanistan establish a democratic government. The opposition includes the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other warlords and militia groups). My partner patted me on the head, my favourite spot. I felt like the happiest dog alive. My ears twitched at a strange sound. I shook my head thinking it was a fly but then realized that it was something much more.
I yanked at my chain straining to pull my handler away but he just pulled me back. That was the last I saw of my best friend. My chain snapped and I sprinted even though I couldn’t see anything. There was dust everywhere and the noise of guns firing and men shouting was terrible. I tucked my tail between my legs for the first time since I’ve been in Afghanistan, I had a horrible feeling. As I ran shrapnel hit my leg causing agonizing pain and my chain was hitting the side of my body. Finally the dust cleared and I ran for shelter behind a large boulder. I whimpered as I looked at my leg.
Then I remembered what my mother had told me- if I licked the wound my saliva would heal the cut and stop germs and infections. So that’s what I did. It tasted salty like the sweat that I licked off my handler’s hand, but I knew it would help. My eyes felt droopy as I had been running for a long time and before I knew it I had fallen asleep.
‘BANG’, I woke up. Half asleep I stood up well aware of the dangers that could come. I saw nothing, but a bird lying on the ground. I walked over to it assuming it was dead and rolled it over with my paw. I jumped back, the bird was still moving. What was I supposed to do?
It looked like it had been shot but surprisingly was still alive. I was starving. I needed something to eat. I stared at the bird. My previous owner, Wendy Upjohn, didn’t like it when I chased and ate other animals but in this case I knew that she would understand. I picked up the bird in my mouth and stared out into the distance, wondering where on earth my mate was. I felt sorry for the bird but I knew that if I didn’t eat something soon I would starve. I scoffed down the bird and choked on some bones causing me to vomit.
After eating the bird I left my resting place and ventured on searching for David. All I saw for miles were heat waves bouncing off the ground and strange looking men. Their clothes looked different and I didn’t understand what they were saying. But still none of them were David. I kept walking and soon I had journeyed into a crowded, dusty street lined with wooden carts filled with food. My nose went crazy as the smells wafted. I kept going past fruit and vegetable stalls and stalls selling chickens.
I came to a stop in front of a meat cart with meat hanging around the edges of the cart covered in flies. I sat there drooling, staring at the delicious meat wagging my tail. I looked up at the man behind the cart and he looked down at me. He walked over to me and bent down. He held out his hand and I sniffed it.
It smelt so good and he even let me lick it. He reached over to me and I let him rub my back. I rolled on to my back and waited for him to pat my stomach but instead he stood up and walked over to one on the hooked pieces of meat. He pulled off a piece of meat and threw it on the ground in front of me. Even though it was the smallest piece there and it was pretty dusty I still ate it and this time…I barked!
There was still a small chunk of meat left on the ground but when I bent down to eat it something hurt my tail. I squealed and looked behind me to see what it was. I saw enormous feet and four long legs. It looked like the horses that my handler used to train. Except on its back was a lump. The meat giver cursed in a foreign language at the man riding the strange horse and came to me to see if I was okay. He filled up a metal bowl with water and put it under the shade of a large tree so I went and lied down in the cool near it. The meat giver, who was a tall man, wore bright clothes and a dusty, white piece of material on his head.
The day went on really quickly and by the time everyone packed up it was becoming dark. The meat giver started to leave so I stood up and began to follow. I followed him to a little, mud brick house. He left his cart out the front and walked up to the door. He turned around and faced me.
I just sat in the dirt and wagged my tail. The man whistled and patted his legs. I sprinted to him as he opened the front door. I followed him to the door and stood there. He looked at me and nodded his head. It seemed he had given me permission to come in. So that’s what I did. The first thing that I saw when I padded into the house was a small child sitting on the ground crying. I walked over to her and licked her tears. She stopped crying and looked at me. She played with my nose and my ears. I didn’t mind it because it made her happy. As the child was playing with my fur I noticed a women take something off her head which resembled a scarf. She had fiery red hair, like the blazing sun, and also wore colourful clothing. The woman started bringing bowls into the room that I was sitting in
. She put five bowls on the ground. I wonder why as I had only seen three people. The woman cried out and an older man and women hobbled into the room that the child and I were in. Then I instantly knew why she had extra bowls. All the people sat down and ate their food .After eating, the red headed woman gave me the scraps from their meal.



That night everyone went to sleep on the floor all cuddled together. I fell asleep too but it didn’t feel like long because they were all up again kneeling on the floor murmuring words that I couldn’t understand. They woke up again a few hours later and kneeled. This strange act happened five times a day no matter where the people were. The next day the meat giver went out to set up his cart again so I followed him. All day I sat in the shade of the same tree, panting and drinking water. People went past on their strange horses and some people bought some of the meat.
We came home that day to the delicious smell of food. Every day was the same from then on. I would follow the man to work, lie down all day, come home, eat food scraps, go to bed and wake up through the night and watch the family kneel down.
Days, weeks and even months went by until one day I was walking with the meat giver, as his nephew was looking after the cart, and came across a man that seemed a bit like one of the men that worked with David. The man wore a uniform and held a gun in his right hand. He walked over to us and spoke in the same language that the meat giver and his family did. The meat giver handed over my lead and gave me a hug. The meat giver walked off and left me with the other man.
He took me to a car and placed me inside. He sat beside me and said to the driver” I found that dog that the Australians were missing. Can you take us back to base? I have a very important phone call to make.” And with that the car took off. After that I lost track of time. I saw one full moon followed by another. I was in a cage, fed twice a day. I was allowed off a leash every afternoon for a run on a concrete path. I felt so alone. I heard one of the men who fed me say the word “quarantine”-whatever that means. On the morning after the second full moon I was taken for a ride in a helicopter. What could possibly happen to me now?
I arrived at a familiar building .I jumped out of the helicopter onto the hard ground. There I saw my partner. I bounded over to him and looked him in the eyes. He nudged a tennis ball towards me with his foot and I grabbed it straight away as it was a game David and I used to play during training. David kneeled down in front of me. He had water running down his cheeks; I didn’t like it when water came out of people’s faces so I licked the water away away. I put my paws on his shoulders and pushed him back. I licked him like crazy and he just laughed while giving me the most welcoming hug ever.......


Later that week I was awarded the Australian RSPCA purple cross for showing exceptional courage and outstanding service towards humans.