Revolution!
The two humanguards who watched over the dogs when the Big Fight occurred left the farm thefollowing week. They were replaced by two other guards. To prevent the spreadof Covid-19, it was decided that the guards would be rotated weekly. EvenJohnbull Osagie could not visit the farm regularly because the police men andsoldiers deployed to the streets of Abuja prevented the free flow of people andtraffic. The health authorities of the government said that the less people mixed,the less the disease was transmitted from one person to another. The dogs wereamused to see the human guards with surgical face masks covering their mouthsand noses.
When they resumedtheir duty, the new batch of human guards were informed about the importance ofallowing the dogs out of their cages at least once a day. Johnbull Osagie didnot want a repeat of what had occurred in the recent past.
Liz warned herchildren to be careful with the older dogs. She told them to protect themselveswhenever the other dogs ganged up against them. She was lucky sometimes to belet out of her cage in the same batch as her offspring. When that happened, shegathered her offspring together and whispered to them about the need for themto protect one another. She noticed that Rex had become more withdrawn andspoke less after the Big Fight – he had a defeated look about him. Rex was themost wounded dog after the Big Fight such that the scars were visible on hisbody. The scars and welts from wounds were caused by Bruce hitting Rex withhard blows from his paws. When his cage was opened for him to leave his cageand run around on the field, Rex was so obviously reluctant to step out of hiscage. The human guards had to force him out on such occasions.
“Rex, one daysoon, you will be big and strong, stronger than even Bruce and his stooges,” Liztold her son directly. It was on a day that she was in the same batch of dogs asher children, the dogs who were let out of their cages. “In life, one must facemany battles. You win some, you lose some. You must prevent the losses fromgetting you down,” she added. Rex nodded to show that he understood.
The Big Fight showedthe dogs that there was a new champion dog on the farm – it was Bruce. Everyonesaw how he had beaten both Rex and Danladi, without so much as a scratch on hisfur. He was always followed by his three acolytes, Shadow, Rambo and Captain. Asusual, they walked with him quietly with suspicious looks in their eyes, asthough warding off any possible attack. Their suspicion was unnecessary becauseno dog on the farm dared to even dream of physically attacking Bruce.
At dawn, one morning during thelockdown, the dogs on the farm sensed a loud noise approaching the farm. Itsounded like a large creature was walking fast towards the farm. The dogs onthe farm with a view of the sky saw a large cloud of dust rising in thehorizon, over the high fence that surrounded the farm. All the dogs on the farmheard what sounded like the barks of a million dogs, barking in unison. Thenoise frightened some of the dogs on the farm, both the young and older dogs. Theolder dogs wouldn’t openly admit it afterwards, so they wouldn’t be thought ofas weak. The hearts of the dogs on the farm beat faster than ever. Theirinstincts told them that something great and unusual was upon them.
“What is goingon?” some of the dogs on the farm asked aloud and barked to one another.
The human guardsin the security house were woken up by the cacophony of barks from outside thefarm, as well as the barks by the dogs on the farm, under their charge. Theyemerged from the security house dressed in their underwear, just in time to seewhat appeared to be an uncountable number of dogs leaping over the high fence. Thesurprised guards froze in their tracks for a few seconds because it was unlikeanything they had ever seen before. When they recovered their wits, the guards fledtowards the large gates of the farm. The gates had a side entrance forpedestrians. The invading dogs chased after the human guards. The guards threwopen the pedestrian entrance of the gates and ran as fast as their feet couldcarry them away from the farm. The invading dogs continued to chase them untilthey were out of sight. Another batch of dogs ran querulously around the outerpart of the farm’s fence, in search of any humans. When they didn’t find anyhumans, they changed course. They returned to the farm compound. The pedestriangate was shut by the dogs.
Another batch of dogsran into the giant kennels where the dogs were kept in cages. They opened thecages with such skill that the farm dogs were taken aback and impressed. Thefarm dogs watched in awe, wondering how a member of their species had managedto learn how to open the locks with such expertise.
The freed farmdogs leapt out of their cages and most of them stopped in front of the entranceto the giant kennel. They watched in amazement as the invading dogs dashed toand fro on the field, doing what appeared to be a victory dance. A continuoussound of thunderous victory barks could be heard at every corner of the farm,and even beyond. Some of the invading dogs leapt into the air with great excitement.
Oriade watched itall in awe from the entrance to the great kennel. He knew it was a specialmoment, a thrilling spectacle.
While thecheering was going on, a male dog, bigger and heads taller than all theinvading and the farm dogs put together, approached the centre of thegathering. From his looks, Oriade knew that humans would regard the biggest dogas a stud, worthy of being used for breeding. This was because he had thepowerful looks that humans sought in dogs. Oriade’s eyes caught the big dog’s leftear and managed to see a birthmark on the inside of his left ear. Oriade’s heartbegan to beat furiously. He recalled what his mother Liz had told him about theirfather. He looked around for Liz, but he could not see her in the crowd ofdogs. The big dog growled and snapped so loudly that the noise carried out farinto the crowd. The invading dogs went quiet immediately.
With his right forepaw,the big dog waved the invading dogs to a section of the large farm field. Theinvading dogs moved into formation around him in a circle, standing together onall fours in neat rows. He waved his right forepaw again and a clearingappeared between the invading dogs. The farm dogs stood in front of the giantkennel, obviously impressed by all that they had seen. Some of them wereconfused and fearful too. The big dog looked sternly at the farm animals.
“Good morning,fellow dogs!” the big dog said to the farm dogs in a booming voice. “We areone! Do not fret. We’re here to help you. We’re here—” he paused dramaticallyand continued, “TO FREE ALL DOGS FROM HUMANITY!”
All the invadingdogs cheered and stamped their legs on the field so hard that dust rose intothe air. The big dog raised his right hand once again and waved it. The was pindrop silence on the dog farm instantly.
“My name isBobby! Some of you have heard about me!” said the big dog. Ruth, Rex and Oriadeexchanged excited looks. “With these loyal dogs from mostly the southern partof Nigeria, I plan to liberate all dogs on earth from the tyranny of mankind. Historytells us that the first dog was subjugated – humans say tamed – on African soilhundreds, or thousands of years ago. We will reverse this, starting fromAfrican soil!”
The invading dogscheered heartily. Some of the farm dogs began to cheer, impressed by Bobby’soratory.
“While we welcomeother creatures in the struggle to free ourselves from the bondage of humans,we shall focus mainly on the dog race! We know we can be stronger, and we canbe better than we are now! Now that we have taken over this farm, it shall beour temporary headquarters as we push towards spreading this revolution up toour canine counterparts especially up in Northern Nigeria. We’ll then spreadthe canine revolution to other parts of Africa!”
The cheers thatfollowed were almost unanimous, except for Bruce and his three acolytes,Shadow, Rambo and Captain, who watched the proceedings wordlessly and withoutany expression on their faces.
“I dream of a daywhen all breeds of dogs – the Alsatian, the German shepherd, the terrier, thebulldog, the beagle, the dachshund, the poodle and chihuahua – will look upon oneanother as brothers and sisters. Join us today, and I promise you won’t regretit!”
The dogs cheered.
“With mygenerals, we have planned to take advantage of the lockdown that the humanshave embarked on to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. Now that humans aresafely locked away in their homes, this is the best time for us to move. Wemust move with lightning speed. We have been able to free dogs because of thisrestriction of movement of humans. We’ve freed dogs from farms like this one,although this is the largest farm that we have conquered. We have freed dogsfrom the captivity of hunters, local vigilantes, and security officers. Wedon’t know how long the lockdown will last, but act, we MUST!” Bobby went quietin a way that suggested he was through with his speech.
The cheers andbarks at the end of Bobby’s speech were the loudest noises the farm had everheard.
The Heptagon Revolt was published in March 2024 by LaTunes Publishers. It is available at the following stores.
Amazon.com https://www.amazon.in/Heptagon-Revolt...
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