Amplified Dog

Amplified Dog

3 Amplified dog “What’s that?!” whispers my wife. Through thick layers of sleep, i hear a voice outside. distorted. blaring. i shuffle to the window. full moon gleams on the blue plastic i spread to funnel off el niño rains. The night stays still. my feet leak heat, so i’m moving back to bed when the voice starts to sing. in spanish. Amplified—by what? A blown-out stereo? “should we call the cops?” whispers my wife. “no. it’s nothing,” i say. Then the dog speaks:Woof!—distorted as the song. A scene tunes in:A man is swigging Cuervo gold. his wife, dalila’s, gone. his heart hurts, so he pulls out the sound system he’s kept since he sang in los pochos, back when he met her. maybe she’ll hear him from ramon’s, four blocks away. maybe she’ll throw on her clothes while ramon, belly swaying in pink boxers, can’t hold her back . . . no. so the man lets paco in. Tail-wagging paco: man’s best friend. “she loved you more than me,” he says, and sets the mike to paco’s height. “Call her, boy.” paco sniffs the mike, then barks, and hears his voice—Woof!—louder than it’s ever been. how many times has he stood in the yard straining 4 to warn people how much they’re messing up? Woof! Woof! all day. but they won’t hear. They never learn. hector, as usual, passes out. hector—his friend, who couldn’t smell trouble when dalila reeked of it. poor hector, stupid and sad, just like a man. so paco calls his warning as the moon tunnels through black night to silver sky. Woof! The world you’ve made stinks to high heaven. Woof! You’re mean to one another.Woof! You let bad people lead you.Woof! You work too much, and don’t enjoy enough.You waste your time on trivialities.Woof! Even sex is work for you. paco loves the way his voice rattles the house, then flies off in all directions like pigeons when he runs right into them. “if it’s nothing,” my wife says, “come back to bed.” “Quiet,” i growl under my breath. “paco, i’m here. i’m listening.” ...