Swallowing quickly, Dan turned back down the path to run away when he heard the woman's voice barely loud enough to understand, probably talking to the men. "Stop. You've spooked him. Go around the sides ... slowly." Then she whistled and called to Dan. "Here, boy. Nice doggy. Come see what I've got for you."
Dan froze on these words and looked back. Something made him want to obey her even though he knew he had to get away. "That voice." he thought. "A woman's voice. I need to listen to her." Dan's training would unfortunately soon be his undoing.
"I'll get him. Come here boy. COME! HEEL!" Dan heard one of the men shout. Looking at the man, Dan instinctively moved away from him. That voice was not a friendly one. It was male, and he shouldn't trust it.
"Here, doggy, doggy, doggy." a sweet voice filled his ears and mind. Dan turned around to the woman slowly approaching. He waited, watching her closely. "Nice, doggy. Sit. Sit." Her hand motioned him down, and Dan immediately behaved sitting as he was trained. He couldn't help himself. He had to. His mind was so conditioned. He wagged his tail as he sat and waited for her to come over and, hopefully, show her gratitude for his good behavior.
The woman came very slowly up to Dan handing him a doggy treat that he eagerly took and munched down. It tasted disgustingly dry like dirt and sawdust, but he wanted it just the same. His taste buds were still human but his hunger was pure dog. The curse kept reminding him in this way making him more and more miserable. As he chewed, she attached a leash to his collar then looked him over very carefully.
"He's too well behaved to be wild. He must have been lost by someone, but I see no tag on him. Let's get him back to the pound and we'll chip him and notify the owner."
With that she lead Dan towards a large van talking nicely to him. Dan was happy that she had found him and wanted her to take him and lead him, but he didn't know exactly why. He made friendly barking sounds pleading with her to help him get back to normal; but like all the others, she couldn't understand. Dan began to get that helpless feeling of how his sister had cursed him to be dragged around and humiliated by everyone. He even whimpered as he got depressed and they neared the truck.
Dan wondered what was going to happen now and what she meant by "chip him." What if he was so far away that neither Kat nor anyone could find him? Or if Kat didn't want to find him. Would his family even care if he disappeared. Mom sure would he hoped. Then he thought about what might happen if no one comes for him. "Don't they ..." and Dan gulped, "put animals 'to sleep' when their owners don't pick them up after a certain time."
He backed away as she opened the doors to the truck and pulled him over to get him in. He fought with all his strength fearing the worse of a needle and terminal sleep because they thought and saw him as a dog. He knew it useless since the two men would soon come over and just pick him up and toss him in, but he didn't know what else to do. He was terrified not knowing what would happen and looking at possibly a very short life as a dog. He didn't want to live his life as a dog, but he much less didn't want to die. He began to tremble as he held back from a ride to possibly the gallows.
"Easy boy. It's OK. No one is going to harm you. Come on. Up, boy, up." the woman's calm words coaxed Dan. "He's really scared of something." she spoke to the men. Then turning back to Dan, she crouched down to look Dan in the eyes and scratch behind his ears while speaking, "I won't let anyone hurt you. It's OK. There's nothing bad that will ever happen. Now come on and hop up." She patted the truck and Dan jumped in unable to control his actions from her gentleness and words as well as being a woman's command.
The doors shut. Dan was left in a sterile smelling, dark place that shortly stirred to life and rumbled off towards the unknown. He paced at first, but each bump and turn had him falling and sliding across the floor. Scared and alone again, Dan lay down in a corner to await his fate.