Juha

This story was told to me by an Armenian friend. It began at the cemetery. There are hundreds of tombstones with different dates of birth and one date of death. Seventh December of a thousand nine hundred eighty-eighth year, when a furious element destroyed the city in a few seconds.

Among all these tombs decorated according to all the customs of people, there is one without a cross, a star or a photo. There is no name on it, only the name "Jude". Once a week, two people come to her: a silent man of forty with a wealth of whiskers and a young woman, whom the companion calls Mowgli. A friend managed to talk to the couple and in the nearest cafe they told who Zhouja was.

The dog was called the garden dog. Nobody's house, with a pretty bad character. She did not touch the inhabitants of the yard, but could easily pull a guest for the caviar. Of course, swinging in front of this tail so that the person relaxed and turned away. Give Zhouzh at least external beauty and exterior, maybe someone took it for themselves. But the dog was like an eternal barrel, with tearful eyes and cracks of shaved wool.

Zhouji's main occupation was crawling, digging in the laundry and attracting crowds of fans, of the same unrepresentable appearance. She brought the puppies in the basement and while they were there, even the rough sanitary workers were afraid to go down there. The only ones that Zhouja never touched, although she could have crushed, were children. When the little girl had completely taken care of the dog, she cried and went to the basement.

The Saryan family lived on the first floor of a panel nine-story building. Mother, father and children: 10-year-old Ruben and one-year-old Lala. The boy always tried to pull something from the table and feed Zhou. It seemed right to him. However, she did not suffer from hunger and cried contemptuously for bread. Although the chicken bones, fish or catlet was not refused.

Lala's mother walked in a wheelchair and did not approach the dog, although the girl pulled her fingers. The perception of the interesting in children and adults is fundamentally different.

At the end of the autumn, Zhouja managed to bring the puppies and appeared in the yard only in search of something to eat. The winter of that year was rarely cold and early, so the dog spent more time in the basement under the heating pipes, licking out the puppies and thinking about their difficult dog thoughts.

On the 6th of December, she fell asleep, feeling bad. But people, as usual, did not pay attention to the courtyard. If you do not consider the attention of the wound of the yardman and the land thrown into it. And on the 7th of December the earth herself went mad of hatred for the living. The panel house formed like a pyramid of domino bones. The dog noticed in panic, but the outlet was blocked by a fallen plate. Another fragment of the second cut off the screaming of frightened puppies.

One plate fell. There was a desperately rising stump — a child. The dog rushed to him and pulled the cockroaches into a distant corner across the door. Either this is luck, or the dogs know much more than we think, but just that corner has stood. The cover did not collapse. Lila, and that was she, was crying out of fear. Zhouja laid it on the wattlet abandoned by some of the builders and clung to her. The dog’s warm body warmed and calmed the child. They began to wait. Not understanding exactly what.

Fortunately, there was water in the basement, a thin jet it flowed from a broken heating radiator. The dog fed the baby with its milk. After all, let it be a strange puppy, but it is a puppy and it needs to be fed and cared for.

They spent four days under the dam. When Zhuja heard human voices, she swung. How could she explain that it was yours? It is not the dog that must be saved, but the man. The rescuers heard and regretted the dog, but they did not have to choose between saving people or the dog. Zhouja felt that people would soon leave and did something she had never done in her life – bit Lala slightly.

He heard a child’s cry. And they succeeded. At first, without understanding, they wanted to kill the dog. Zhouja was so weary of hunger that she could not even resist. She saved the puppy.

Rustam jumped past the rescuers, the boy was on the street during the earthquake and therefore did not die. He thought he was left alone in the white. My sister survived. The guy realized that she had made a courtyard, and covered it with himself. So a dog appeared in the Saryan family. Grandmother and grandfather welcomed Zhao. She had to go through an unpleasant procedure of washing and haircuting.

Zhuja lived in their family for another twelve years. And when she died, her conscience did not allow her brother and sister to just bury her in the desert. Even if not by all the rules, but Zhou was buried at the cemetery and who will say that she defiles this holy land?

by Roman Udarcev