Lucas watched the last light in the house go off, leaving him bathed in nothing but the light of the stars and the summer moon. Some clouds were wafting in across the horizon as he reflected on his nearly incomprehensible day.
Discovering his changes in the morning had been a shock, but he had held out hope that at least he might get through to his mom. She seemed to just remember him as a dog, too. She petted him on the head on the way out and tried to "spoil" him with some baby-talk and a handful of dog biscuits on her own way to work about an hour after his dad left. Then he was left on his own to spend the day in the yard.
Well, actually, Lucas had tried to get back in the house several times. But there was no key, the windows were closed, and he really didn't feel comfortable breaking in. So he didn't have access to any of his old stuff in his old bedroom or any of the food in the kitchen. He wondered if any of his human possessions were even in there. He did stumble across some dog toys scattered around the yard, but he didn't reduce himself to making use of those yet. Of course, he also didn't have access to the bathroom, which became very awkward for him early on. He didn't know what to do, or more accurately, he was in denial about what to do. He was on the verge of an accident before he finally surrendered and relieved himself on the lawn for the first time. He was still embarrassed and tried to find the most hidden places for a while after that, but by the end of the day it was habit.
By about late morning, Lucas was wondering if he should leave the yard and see what would happen to him out in public. Maybe someone could help him? At first, he was too afraid that someone would arrest him for indecent exposure, but it was becoming clear that everyone saw him as a dog, and a rather fearsome one at that. Mothers would walk by and say to their children, "Don't get too close to that fence, honey, that mean doggie is liable to bite your fingers off!" He decided that he'd better stay home because animal control might decide to take a "mean doggie" with no obvious owner to the animal shelter. So instead he wandered around, sat, and watched people go by.
Watching the people was interesting, but by mid-afternoon he had noticed his interest taking a curious turn. It started when a young couple traipsed past a little too close to the fence. He wasn't sure what it was about them that rubbed them the wrong way, except that he just didn't think they belonged in his family's space. He couldn't tell them to leave, so he just growled and finally turned to angry barking as they got closer. They looked a little nervous and crossed to the other side of the street. He thought he should feel guilty for scaring them, but he couldn't help feeling rather proud of himself. "They make any mischief here," he thought with a wag.
And it was at that moment, around 3:00 pm, that he remembered the words of the shop owner: "Your purpose from this day forward is to protect." He had almost completely forgotten the incident, but now he understood. "I'm a guard dog," he thought. His heart sank as he realized that he very well might have to live as a guard dog for the rest of his life. After all, he'd told the shop-keeper that he preferred a short, purposeful life. Dogs' lives are shorter than humans', and a dog's purpose is whatever humans choose to use them for.
So that's how he spent the rest of his day: patrolling the yard, barking at strangers, and becoming surprisingly comfortable with it. The big scary letters on his doghouse were demeaning, but he took a strange sort of pride in them, too. When his mom came home, he knew he couldn't say "Hi, mom, how was your day?" so he barked and wagged his tail. When his dad brought his friend over from work, he heard his dad say, "This here's my guard dog Big Luke. Don't worry, he won't hurt ya cause you're with me." That made him feel a sort of pride, like he was trusted, even though he'd rather meet his dad's friends as a human than a dog.
He was still disturbed that he couldn't join his parents in the house and had to stay outside like the animal they thought he was, but he also knew he had to accept it. When his dad brought out the dog food again, he was much too hungry to even think about being disgusted. It was demeaning, and it didn't taste the best in the world, but it filled him up and made him wag his tail some more. He had spent some of the evening sulking, though, wishing he could still play video games or surf the Internet or watch TV with his parents, but he had also distracted himself with defending his territory a bit more.
Lucas's last thought before he drifted off to sleep was, "I guess this is it. Let's see what tomorrow brings."