“So what’s all this about?”

Kiara put her hand up to shield her eyes from the police car’s spotlight. She saw that one policeman was out of the car, and the other was watching from the driver’s seat.

“What are you kids doing out here at this hour?”

The policeman was not very tall but he looked very broad in his padded, bulletproof vest. He frowned as he studied them and Kiara thought he looked tired.

She looked at Zaakirah, expecting her friend to be ready with a clever answer, but to her surprise she saw that Zaakirah was just standing there with her mouth open. For once, Zaakirah didn’t have anything to say. Jaydon was quiet as well. If somebody didn’t speak soon, their silence would start looking suspiciously guilty.

“We…” said Kiara, her voice squeaking a bit with nerves, “…um, we were just … walking home.”

He looked at the dog at her side, and his eyebrows went up as Chain Dog looked back at him.

“Is that your dog?” the policeman said with a frown.

“No!” said Kiara, then wanted to bite her tongue. Why did I go and say that? “We, um, we found her. Just standing out here. I think…” she faltered as the policeman looked at her inquiringly.

“Yes,” he said. “Go on?”

“We think she must come from that house on Esther Street,” said Kiara quickly. “You know the one, with all the dogs? Where the gangsters live? I’ve heard those people do dog fighting. She must have got away from them somehow.”

Kiara felt as though her lies were visible on her face. He’s going to ask why we have her on a leash, if we just found her. But it’s not really lying, it’s all true, she told herself stubbornly. We did find her. I never said where we found her, did I?

“I know the place you mean,” said the policeman. He took his cap off, and rubbed his hand over his face and then through his hair. Then he looked at Zaakirah and Jaydon.

“You guys are awfully quiet,” he said. But before they could reply, he turned back to Kiara. “And where are you taking her now?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Kiara. “She’s so thin. We wanted to give her some food. But the thing is, none of us can take her home. And we can’t take her back to Esther Street, can we?”

“Everything alright, Dirks?” called the driver from the cab, and the policeman lifted a hand.

“Just some kids, Tommy,” he said. “Got themselves a dog.” He crouched down in front of Chain Dog, and held out his hand to her. Kiara held her breath. If the dog snarled, or snapped at him now…

But Chain Dog just lowered her massive head and sniffed quietly at the policeman’s hand, just as she’d sniffed at Kiara’s earlier. The policeman shook his head as he looked her over. “She’s in a really bad way,” he said. “Look at those ribs. And some of these scars are still quite fresh. But she’s young enough, I’d guess. Two, maybe three years old. Had a tough life, though.”

His mouth became hard as he clenched his teeth, but he reached out and stroked the dog’s head quite gently, letting her ears slip through his fingers.

“Poor girl,” he muttered. Then he sighed and got to his feet again. “Well,” he said, “I can’t leave her with you, that’s plain. And I’m sure as hell not going to try to find her owners. The people who did this to her don’t deserve to have a dog. Going to have to take her back to the station.”

“Are you taking her to prison, then?” said Zaakirah, her voice shrill.

The policeman smiled. “No,” he said. “She’s not under arrest. I’ll take her back to the station for the night, get some food for her, and tomorrow morning I’ll take her to the SPCA.”

“But they’ll kill her there!” said Zaakirah, stepping forward. “They kill the dogs and cats and things there, don’t they? They ‘put them to sleep’ but it’s really killing them.”

“They won’t just kill her for no reason,” said the policeman as he took the leash from Kiara. “They’ll look her over and test her to see if she’s vicious or dangerous in any way. See if she can fit into a normal household. As a pet, I mean. People adopt dogs from the SPCA, you know. They have a vet there who will look her over, give her the medical care she needs. She’s probably been starved for a long time. She’ll need to get injections, get cleaned up, that kind of thing.”

“But if they don’t think she’s good enough, they’ll kill her, won’t they?” insisted Zaakirah.

“If they think she’s vicious, or if nobody adopts her then I’m afraid so,” said the policeman. “If she’s been involved with dog fighting types, and treated cruelly all her life, she might never make a safe pet. A big dog like this can do a lot of damage. And not many people will want one for a pet.”

“You shouldn’t have let him take the leash, Kiara!” accused Zaakirah. “How can you just let him take her like that? After everythi–”

Jaydon bumped her warningly before she could say anything more.

“But what else are we going to do, Zaakirah?” said Kiara. She felt near to tears. It had been a long and frightening night, and she didn’t like being the target of Zaakirah’s angry words.

“She’s right, Zaakirah,” said Jaydon, speaking up for the first time since the police had arrived. “We don’t have a choice. Kiara did the right thing. Thank you for helping us, officer.”

“I’m Constable Dirks,” said the policeman, nodding at Jaydon. “You can ask for me tomorrow at the Wynberg Station, OK? Then you can get news of your friend here. Now, I’m going to let you kids go home, even though I have a feeling I should be taking your names and finding out what you’ve really been up to.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Constable Dirks smiled. “Let’s see if she’ll come with me. Tommy, I’m just going to load this girl in the back there, OK?” He gave a tug on the leash and walked slowly towards the back of the van with Chain Dog by his side.

“What a good girl,” Constable Dirks said as he opened the doors. “Somebody trained you well, at least.” He looked at Kiara. “She might have been somebody’s pet once, you know. These people steal dogs for fighting and breeding. Especially this breed, the pit bulls. I’ve seen it, over and over again. And the worst thing is, often the thieves are children. Boys as young as eleven or twelve.”

He shook his head and bent down to stroke Chain Dog’s head. “Up, girl!” he commanded and she jumped into the back of the van.

“Well. That’s that,” Constable Dirks said as he locked the van door. “You kids better go home now, right? Don’t let us see you out and about again, or I’ll have to ask some questions you won’t want to answer.”

The three of them nodded wordlessly and watched as the police van drove slowly away, its blue light rotating. They could just see the dog’s head, silhouetted in the small back window of the van, as she stood there, looking at them. Suddenly Kiara felt very cold, and very tired.

She hated to think of Chain Dog, all alone again in the back of that police van. What was she thinking? How could she possibly understand what was happening to her? She’d trusted Kiara to look after her, and Kiara had given her away to the police.

“Oh Kiara,” said Zaakirah, and she put her arm around Kiara’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I shouted at you. I was just upset. I’m sure she’ll be alright now. The SPCA just can’t kill her. She’s such a good dog; even the cop said so.”

Kiara felt the tears slipping down her cheeks and she swallowed around the lump in her throat. She wished she could agree with her friend’s words, but she knew that Zaakirah was only being kind.

Chain Dog was a big, ugly dog, covered with the scars her cruel life had dealt her. Who would want to give her a second chance? And if nobody wanted to adopt her, she would be put to death, all alone again in some cold cage at the SPCA.

***

Tell us what you think: Why did Kiara lie to the police officer? Do you think she should have told the truth?