The prison guards
wondered why a dog and a detainee had been placed in the same cell and learned,
after stubborn curiosity, that the dog refused to accept being separated from
his friend, who collapsed on the courtroom floor after hearing the verdict of life
imprisonment with hard labour.
When those guards pushed the lunch plate and bread crumbs under the door to the detainees, they kept their eyes on the cell door, closely monitoring the two friends as they interacted around the plate.
At first, the man, alone, ate bread dipped in broth and left the bone for the dog.
As the days passed, when the salted buffalo meat began to be served to the detainees, the man alone ate it and left the bone for the dog.
When the administration began allowing chicken into the prison kitchen, the man ate the chicken alone and left the bones for the dog.
When the prison kitchen prepared meatballs for the prisoners on the occasion of the arrival of a foreign delegation from an international human rights organisation, the man ate them all alone and left nothing for the dog, which could not believe its eyes.
which remained silent for a long time, staring into its friend's eyes;
which began to
groan and ache;
which was possessed
by rabid barking;
and which pounced
on his friend and ate him.
