Chynas Hero

With bright streetlights to light her way, Chyna wasn’t so nervous, as she headed home from the store one moonlit spring evening. So many times she had travelled down dark and foreboding streets, in her paranoia looking around every corner, before she dared to take another next step.

Since she’d moved to Giddons Creek life had been different, up until the last month.

Smaller towns usually were friendlier, not like the big cities where she’d been raped, horridly beaten and nearly killed, two years prior. The past four weeks had been unnerving. Chyna had received flowers that appeared on the store’s counter or in the storeroom with a note that read, “From a secret admirer”. Frequently, she felt as if she were being watched or followed and often she’d heard footsteps behind her when leaving the store to go home. She had a tazer with her that she’d bought a couple of days after the flowers begin appearing.

This particular night, she passed Munson’s diner and waved at Joe Munson, as he was mopping up for the night and smiling at her, he waved back. With only four more blocks to go; she walked on. As she rounded the corner of the old-fashioned Candy-kitchen, a tall man in a hoodie approached her. The old fears arose, slithering up her spine like a poisonous cobra and she steeled every muscle and tendon; her hand tightly gripping the tazer, nestled in her purse.

In the next few seconds the tazer surfaced and before she could use it, the man had gripped her wrist like a steel vise! Suddenly, like a lightning bolt jettisoned from the heavens, a huge black dog appeared and attacked the man’s right leg. The dog snarled, growled and tore at the man’s leg as Chyna watched frozen. The man kicked furiously at the dog and in one powerful blow of his fist, the dog let out a mournful yowl and fell to the ground on its side; Chyna fired off her tazer, filling the man with 40,000 volts of electricity, knocking him to the ground.

Arnold Baker had just closed up his Gym for the evening and was walking down the opposite street. Upon seeing the display created by the tazer, he dashed to Chyna’s side and before her attacker could speak or move, Arnold was on him, pinning him to the ground. He told Chyna, “quickly, call the police; I’ll hold him until they get here.”

Minutes later, siren’s cried through the empty streets, her attacker was arrested and Chyna, re-traumatized and badly shaken was taken home in a cruiser. At some point, the dog had come to and disappeared without anyone noticing. Arnold hadn’t noticed the dog and by the time the police had arrived, it was gone.

During the following week, China took a short leave from work, to recuperate and asked around the town about the black dog, it was as if it never existed. No one seemed to recall having seen the large animal, that had saved her and she worried that it was dead; perhaps someone had lost their beloved pet. On top of everything she’d been through, there was the added stress of self-blame for the missing dog.

As she fought with depression and her fears, she’d been told by detective Julio Flores that the man had confessed to being her secret admirer. He claimed that he only wanted to talk to her. It was later found that he had a habit of secretly admiring women and following them, as he’d been arrested for stalking in two other cities. He’d always managed to go free, despite the charges. Chyna worried that he’d go free again and keep stalking her.

When she returned to her job, that first night, she anxiously readied her tazer for the six block walk home.

Exiting the door of the store and locking it, she turned and saw the dog. Its tail was wagging, but having seen it attack the man she was a bit cautious and prepared to lift the tazer from her purse, should the dog attack.

The dog made no move towards her; instead it sat calmly, watching as she took a few steps. She had walked about two yards when the dog rose slowly and began to walk along behind her, its tail still wagging. China realized that it was not going to harm her and slightly relaxed her hand on the tazer.

Six blocks later, she climbed the steps of her small dwelling and the dog sat down at the end of her front walk, watching her every move. Inside, she stared at it from the window, as it eventually climbed the stairs and lay down upon her front porch. After watching the dog awhile, Chyna noticed that the dog had no collar, perhaps it was a stray?

The very next morning it was still there. It must be awfully hungry, she thought. She diced up a piece of sausage and scrambled it with some egg. Then she poured a bowl of water and before opening the door, she slipped the tazer into her skirt pocket. She carefully opened the door and placed the plate of food and bowl of water outside her doorstep and closed the door quickly. She watched as the dog gulped down the food and water as if it hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Chyna finished gathering her things together for her trek to work and with the tazer still in her skirt, she stepped out of the door and lifted the empty plate and bowl, setting them inside, she locked the door. The dog was watching her, all the while and never made any effort to attack her. Instead, as she turned around, it was wagging its tail and slowly approached her to sniff her feet.

The dog lay down at her feet. She reached out her hand and carefully rubbed its smooth, coal black head. “Thank you for saving me the other night.” She said and the dog nuzzled her hand then licked it.

Determined to find the owners of the animal, she called when she got to work and ran an ad in the local newspaper. Again that night when she closed up the store, the dog was waiting out front for her and walked her home, continuing this behavior for several nights.

Four days later, it was Saturday morning and no one had responded to the lost and found ad; Chyna spent the morning calling around to the pounds and animal rescue places, trying to find who owned the dog; she had no luck.

She had some beef roast in the freezer and decided to make some stew. Outside on her patio, she and the dog ate heartily that evening. Clearly, no one owned the dog and by now she was thinking there was no reason not to adopt him.

“Would you like to live with me?” She asked as the large Labrador laid its head on her lap. She stroked its head gently as it rolled its big brown eyes upwards towards her face.

“If no one claims you I suppose you can stay, I mean, we are already friends aren’t we?” The dog’s eyes rolled towards her face once again and it let out a soft sigh.

By the time of his hearing, Chyna’s stalker was found guilty. Two other women in neighboring towns had testified that he had attacked them.

With the man safely behind bars, Chyna felt a bit more secure and had bought the dog a bed, some toys and bowls. She named him Hero. He was her constant companion and continued to walk her to work every day.

Her boss, Eddie Conley even allowed her to keep a bed and some bowls in the storeroom, so the dog would have a place to stay while she worked. At home, Hero got more love and affection than one dog could ever want or need.

Copyright, 2020, M.L. Kiser

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