Bello

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Writing start: Fr 26.07.2024

Last update: Fr 02.08.2024 9:55am

Bello

Two siblings, Jane and Michael, found a small puppy in the forest that had probably been abandoned. They searched the entire forest and called out, but there was no one in the forest except Jane and Michael. The two took the dog home. Their mother agreed that the dog would stay with them, where he had a big house with a garden to play in, until they found the owners. 

The next day, Jane and Michael went into the forest again and tried to find "Bello's" owners. (Bello was the name on his collar.) Their mother had promised to call the police and ask if anyone had reported Bello missing. But Jane and Micheal had no success in the forest. Jane and Michael put up posters with a photo of Bello all over the village and in the forest, spoke to everyone they met and rang the doorbell of every house. But no matter who they asked in the village, everyone gave the same answer: "No, I'm sorry, I don't know a dog like that. But give him to the animal shelter." But Jane and Micheal agreed, and their mother also agreed with them, that an animal shelter is cruel and that Bello would not go to an animal shelter. Besides, they had a large property with a large garden. Of course, if Bello were to stay with them for longer time, he would need a nice doghouse in the garden and toys and everything.

When they got home, they found out from their mother that she had also had no success with the police. "They just say I should take him to the animal shelter," she said. But she had bought a leash for Bello and toys and lots of food for him.

The next day, Michael went for a walk with Bello. Suddenly, he happened to pass the pet food shop and stopped. He rummaged in his pocket. "I'll buy you a little something to eat!", said Michael to Bello. "I still have some of my pocket money left." But when he wanted to enter the shop with Bello, the salesman said very rudely that animals were not allowed in the shop. Michael tied Bello to a lamppost outside the shop and said to him: "Wait a minute, I'll be right back!" 

A short time later, Michael came back from the shop. "Can you believe that?" said Michael, disappointed. "They don't have dog food for 60 cents. But the salesman gave me this as a gift." But suddenly, Michael noticed that Bello was no longer there. Michael went to the lamppost to which he had tied Bello and found that the leash was still there, tied to the lamppost, but the other end was missing! Only half of the leash was left. Had Bello bitten through the leash?, wondered Micheal. But he just couldn't imagine that. 

Micheal ran up and down the street and called Bello's name, but even after 3 hours he had no success. Suddenly he heard someone calling his own name. It was his mother and sister, who had missed him and were looking for him. Michael told what had happened, crying a lot, and fell crying into his mother's arms. "I did not want that! I swear I was careful!" - "Maybe I shouldn't have let you walk with him alone," said his mother, sounding as if she was blaming herself. That only made Micheal even sadder and he knew that from that day on he would never be happy again. Had someone stolen Bello? Or had the owner recognized him and taken him with him? But why hadn't he just untied the knot? Micheal had never been known for making good knots. It wasn't even a double knot. Micheal just didn't understand it, no matter how long he thought about it.

One night, a few days later, Michael was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep and was listening to his favorite audiobook. Suddenly there was a quiet knock on his bedroom door. It was his sister Jane. Michael pressed the stop button on his cassette recorder (it just were getting exciting). He went to the door and opened it quietly. His sister came in. "Come with me to my room, I have to show you something!" she whispered excitedly. Michael followed her without hesitation into her room, then to her desk, where her mother's laptop was. Jane closed the door behind Michael. "You didn't-" Michael began, but Jane interrupted him: "If you don't tell Mum, I'll give you my pocket money for 3 weeks!" - "Agreed!" said Michael and the two made their 'handshake of promise.' 

"But that doesn't matter now!" said Jane hastily and sat down at her desk.

 "I did some research on the Internet to see if anyone had reported Bello missing. I didn't find a missing report, but look at this! I think someone in the internet with the accountname 'The Rockefeller' is selling Bello on the Internet for €20,000! Bello is clearly recognizable in the photo!" "Who would pay €20,000 for a dog?" said Micheal. "I have no idea, but look at the seller's profile, and what he sells else. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?" I think, Micheal, someone stole Bello while you were in the shop and is now trying to sell him. He probably recognized him from the posters and knew he was missing. Micheal, I think he must have followed you and was waiting for the right moment." The two looked at each other in silence for a moment. Micheal swallowed. "Are you sure that's Bello?" asked Micheal, leaning over the desk and looking more closely at the sales ad. "Absolutely!" said Jane, ticking off the facts on her fingers: "First, the dog in the photo has exactly the same black spots on his ear as Bello. Second, the ad was posted online the day after he disappeared. Third, the pickup location happens to be in the next big city from here. Unfortunately, no exact address is given. It says that he will only send it to you upon request. And oh no, look! The seller writes that he would also send the dog by post in a package. "Travel food, if specifically requested by the customer, and all shipping costs will be added to the invoice.""

Jane and Michael now clicked through the seller's profile in horror. "See?" said Jane. "That's what I mean! He otherwise only sells weapons, cigarettes, gold jewelry and-" Jane caught her breath. "Animal fur!" Jane clicked back to the ad that was obviously offering Bello for sale. Then she read from the ad: "The specimen is a very rare breed of dog with a coat that is extremely popular with trophy collectors." - "What are trophy collectors?" asked Micheal. Jane had already typed it into the internet and held her hand to her mouth in shock. "What is it?" asked Micheal impatiently. "Trophy collectors are hunters and generally people who collect body parts of dead animals, such as horns and furs, and hang them on the wall." Both were silent for a moment. 

"What should we do now?" asked Micheal, turning to Jane. "We have to tell Mum and Dad," said Jane, looking down. "But the laptop!" said Micheal, looking uncertainly at his sister. "How should we explain that?" - "Then I'll get in trouble. But this is about something much more important! I don't think the guy is treating Bello well. "I have a better idea!" said Micheal, suddenly beaming with enthusiasm. "We'll pretend to be customers and call them ourselves! And then we'll steal Bello back!" Jane didn't look convinced. "I think we should leave that to Mum, Dad and the police," Jane said, burying her hands in her face.

They woke up their parents, but they said very firmly: "Nothing can be so important that it can't wait until tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Jane and Michael were both woken up early by loud voices coming from the kitchen up to their children's rooms. Their parents seemed to be having a heated argument. Jane sneaked into Michael's room where they tried to listen in on the argument. The last time Jane and Michael went down to the living room during an argument between their parents, they were both shouted at to go back to their rooms.

Jane and Michael could only understand incoherent sentences that they couldn't make sense of what the argument was about. And the word "trust" was mentioned very often. But their parents both sounded so angry that Jane and Michael didn't dare leave Michael's room. After a very long time they heard the front door slam shut and then the house was quiet. They heard someone coming up the stairs. From the sound of it, it was their father. And indeed, their father knocked on Jane and Michael's door one after the other and called loudly and clearly from the hallway: "Children, please come, I have to discuss something with you." 

5 minutes later, Jane and Michael were sitting on the sofa in the living room while their father, his name was George, was walking up and down the room. He seemed very nervous. George cleared his throat and then began to speak: "To make a long story short, your mother has decided to go to her friend's house for a week. We had a little" he cleared his throat again "a little argument. But I assure you that everything is fine! Your mother thinks that I did something that I didn't do. That's all you need to know. So when your mother comes to her senses again," he cleared his throat again "then things will return to normal here. So there's no need to worry. How long are your holidays? I'll call the nanny right away, she should pack her suitcase and move in with us for a week. After all, someone has to cook and wash while your mother is away. I have to go to work now." "But father, we have to tell you something important!" "Not now kids, I'm already late anyway. I'm sure it can wait until this evening! I'm telling the nanny to be here as soon as possible. Until then, stay in the house and don't do anything stupid, got it? If I hear anything, you'll be grounded! Now go study for school, I really have to go. Have a nice day kids, see you this evening."

The father left the house and the front door slammed shut again. Jane and Michael looked at each other. "What should we do now?" asked Michael. "Father will definitely not help us find Bello. He didn't like Bello anyway." "That's true," said Jane. "If Mum were here now, she would definitely help us!" "So either we call the police," said Michael, "or we call the kidnapper and try to find out more." "Michael, he will be able to tell from our voices that we are children. I don't think that's such a good idea. We should think carefully about what we are doing." 

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Jane and Michael jumped. Was that Mum? They ran to the front door. Suddenly Jane stopped and called: "Michael, wait! Maybe that's the kidnapper! Maybe he knows we are on his heels!" But Michael had already opened the front door. Outside on the doorstep stood an elderly woman who lived in the neighborhood and whom Jane and Michael had seen a few times before, but had never spoken to her. The woman was holding one of the flyers that Jane and Michael had distributed around the village to find Bello's owner.

The neighbor spoke in a friendly voice: "Hello, you're the kids who handed out those posters, right? I live a few houses down. Are you still looking for the owner of the puppy?" Jane and Michael didn't know what to say. "Are your parents here?" Jane and Michael didn't answer. The woman continued: "Well, if it helps, I just wanted to tell you that about a week ago a man rang my doorbell wanting to sell me a puppy. That was exactly the dog you found! I'm sure of it. The man didn't seem to be the friendliest of people. Maybe he wanted to get rid of the dog and abandoned him. Is the dog still with you?"

 Micheal looked down, his expression darkening. Suddenly Jane found her voice again. "No, the dog is no longer with us," she said.

J.K. Rowling

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