2 Dogs

Two guard dogs alert on the stoop. Any fight, any foe. They are strong and brave. Together, nothing can stop them. Even if the largest foe were to come to do them battle, their courage would hold. In their bravery they could fight him, but at worst, they could fall together. Each one’s courage continually pushes the other on in a proud display of brotherhood and power. Teeth gnash, fangs show, a dark bellow and a growl. Perhaps they are invincible.

Tonight, there is only one dog. With his brother called away on another assignment for the night, the lone dogs sets on his stoop. He is just as strong in his body as he was the night before, but he doesn’t bark defiantly at every snapping twig. He cowers slightly in the darkness where there is nothing and he cowers again at the anticipation of nothing. In the dead of night, he hears a noise that would cause a great ruckus from him and his companion, but tonight he is silent and he feels fear. The watchdog thinks of his demise and fighting a foe greater than himself, alone. He even thinks of running but he stays because he is still loyal and brave amidst his fear. Even so, he feels a fear tonight that he is immune to when his brother is near.

The noise passes and the good dog puts his head down again and wishes to have the combined strength that two dogs can have together: happy to face any threat and even happy to die. But tonight, he is laid low by the noise in the bushes and the uncertainty behind it, the unknowable threat. Is it a small creature, or a demonic entity? His loneliness bites at him and tells him that the latter is true. He must break through his fear for strength to face whatever the threat may be, should the noise in the bushes materialize into something real and not just a nightmare. The dog yearns for a partner. Where there were two, fear was an afterthought. He yearned for the bravery of his companion.

The night passes and the watchdog survives. The sun rises and he sighs in relief. Tonight, his friend shall return, but it is now his time to leave the stoop and guard a different part of the land – his brother will be alone. Surely tonight his brother will spend his time watching the yard and guarding the perimeter in much the same way. With subdued bravery and a shyness to the threat that lurks in his mind behind the blackness of his solitude. He will yearn for the courage that comes with his friend.

After a night that followed much the same way as the prior one, the sun rose and courage returned. The new day meant the watchdogs could be back on the stoop together. Strong and brave. They can run down any threat. No fear.

The same threat lurks in the darkness regardless of which watchdog keeps the night. The beast, loneliness, is the sinister and unseen foe that can assault in the darkness and aim for the soul. In all nights is it a good thing to have a brother to fortify your courage.