I like to smell things. As far back as I can remember I’ve liked to smell things. When I was a little pup in the kennels I liked to smell all the people that came past and bought their new pets. They would always stop and point at me. ‘Look at the hue-men!’ they would say. ‘I want that one!’ they would shout. Until they saw the price tag on my cage.

Then they would leave.

When my first master bought me I was excited. I was going somewhere new, somewhere full of smells I had never smelled before, so many new things to play with.

It didn’t turn out like I hoped.

I spent years sitting in the backyard. He took no notice of me and spent all his time talking to people on the speaker things. He took no notice of me until I said my first word. When I first worked out I could speak. I didn’t know any other pets that could speak. I was special.

My master I have now though, I love him. He bought me as soon as he saw me. He knew I was rare and special and a good pet.

He takes me all sorts of places.

Once a month he takes me to the plaza to get my hair cut short. I get to walk past all the sweet smelling shops and strange smelling people, lots of things on shelves to pick up and play with, sometimes I wish I could stand there for hours, playing and smelling, smelling and playing. Master doesn’t have time for that. He didn’t like having to stop for me. Sometimes I taste things too.

And I didn’t like it when he pulled the leash tight. It hurt my throat and made it hard to breathe.

I had just been to the place where they cut your hair. They cut off all the hair on my face and on my chest so they were bald again. They cut short the hair on my head and under my arms and brushed it so it looked neat. Master likes it when I look neat. We play a game all the time where I try and grab the things on the table and they stop me. It’s fun.

The best part, though, is when they spray me with stuff that makes you smell nice.

Master would walk around in the plaza afterward and look in shops and talk to other people. The other people would scratch my ears and pat my head. They would show master their pets too. They didn’t look like me though. I never saw one’s that look like me. I’m rare and unique. There aren’t many hue-men’s left any more.

I sat down by master’s feet while he talked to another one. I had seen this one a few times before. It looked the same as master. The same blue skin and the same green spots that ran up his arms. It was smaller than master though and it made gurgling sounds all the time.

There were lots of people in the plaza. There were a lot like master and some that were as big as master but with long brown hair, I think they should have gone to the hair cutting place. There were smaller ones that walked on all four legs and big ones with long tails. The plaza was always full of people.

I heard a screeching sound coming from somewhere in the crowd. I saw one of the brown ones walking backwards pulling something. It looked very heavy from the way he was moving. I could see it was a leash that he was pulling.

Then the crowd parted and I saw his pet. It was pulling hard on the leash. It was jumping up and down and making that terrible screeching sound. It was trying to bite the leash. It was trying to get away from its master.

It was also hue-men. Just like me.

It wasn’t groomed nice like me. It’s hair was long and stuck out everywhere. The hair on it’s face was long too and had bits of food stuck in it. I wanted hair on my face to keep food in when I saw that.

I try to get masters attention. I jumped up and down and pointed at the other hue-men. “Master!” I cried out. “Master, master!”

But he wouldn’t pay attention. He wouldn’t even look. He told me to sit still and gave a quick tug on my leash.

I looked back over to the hue-men like me but it had disappeared. It was gone forever. I felt sad.

* * *

Later that night, when we were back at home, I stepped into master’s reading room. He was sitting in his big chair in front of the fire. I liked this room, it looked so pretty. I wasn’t supposed to annoy master while he was reading but he’d been so busy since we got home and I just couldn’t hold it in any more.

“Dah’min?” he looked up from the yellow glow of his book. “what are you doing out here, go back to your room”

I have my own room. It has blue walls. Like the sky.

“Master?” I said softly. It was so quiet at night it felt like I was shouting.

“What is it, Dah’min?”

I froze for a moment. I didn’t like to waste masters time and I wasn’t sure if it was important enough to annoy master about.

“It’s just…” I started. “it’s just, In the plaza today…”

He finished for me, “you saw him?” he asked “the other like you?”

I nodded. I felt foolish. He knew already. He always knew already. Master was ever so smart.

He put his book down on the table next to his chair, the light blinked off. Master leaned forward with a grim look on his face. His whiskers stretched out and a his eyes opened wide enough that I could see them. He always looked like that when he was talking about something important.

“Dah’min, it is true. Makfirth’s pet, the one you saw today, is a hue-men just like you but at the same time completely different.”

He put his hand on my shoulder.

“I’ve seen a few hue-men over the years. They’re very rare but you see them from time to time. But you were the first I’ve seen, the only that I’ve ever heard of that could be trained and could even mimic a few basic words. That is why I bought you and I’m glad I did. I had no idea even then of your great aptitude for learning and understanding.”

Master winked and he leaned closer to me.

“You, my little Dah’min, are unique. Makfirth’s pet may be of the same species as you but he is nothing like you.”

“I know master. You are right” I said but I wasn’t sure if I believed it.

For the first time I wondered if master was right. If I could learn maybe the other could too. He looked like me, He had the same hair and the same hands and the same feet as me. He was the same as me.

It was all I could think about that night. I couldn’t fall asleep for hours and when I finally slept I dreamed. I dreamed that the other hue-men like me was sitting at a table. He stopped drinking it’s water from the bowl when I walked up. He looked up at me like I was there to save him. And I was. I grabbed him by the arm and he stood up. I said hello to him and he wrapped his arms around me.

When I went out in the morning master was getting ready to go out. I crouched at his door and waited for him to come out. He doesn’t let me go into his room. When I first came to stay I walked into his room by mistake and he yelled at me to leave. I haven’t made that mistake again.

“Good morning Dah’min” master said when he came out. He smiled and adjusted his shoulder flaps.

“Are we going back to the plaza today?” I asked.

Master turned around then. “are you still thinking of Makfirth’s hue-men?”

“It’s just…” I began. I looked at my feet. Sometimes they look so far away. “I was thinking…”

Master laughed. I liked it when he laughed. It was very loud and came from deep inside him. “you were thinking?” he asked.

I told him all that I had been thinking about the other hue-men. All I had thought of all night sudden blurted out of my mouth. I couldn’t control it. My mouth was running very fast down a hill and it couldn’t stop until it reached the bottom.

I asked master question after question. Why could I talk and he couldn’t? What if he could talk and no one taught him words? I copied words that my first master said to me, what if no master said words to him? Why am I different? Why am I alone?

What if he had a master as good as my master?

Master stopped me then. “you don’t think Makfirth is a good master?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted “but I know the hue-men like me, he didn’t like him. Not at all.”

Master blinked at me and stood up straight. “go outside now Dah’min I have to go out today I have much work to do”

“Master?”

“Just go”

I walked outside then and sat down on the ground. The sky was nice and blue and made me feel a little better. Master thought I was being stupid. Master was right.

* * *

The sky was already getting dark by the time master got home. I ran up to the door to wait for him. The day had taken so long to pass but the time it took him to reach the door seemed to take forever. It always did.

I watched the door open and I leaped to my feet.

“Welcome home master” I said.

The door opened wide and he stood for a moment. Smiling. “I got you a present Dah’min” he said.

“A present?” I said. I like presents. The last present master got me was my new bed. It’s green and round. I sleep in it every night.

Master turned from me. “come here” he said into the darkness.

Something stepped forward into the light. I saw the scruffy head and hairy face first. It looked at me with eyes wide open. It was the other like me. The hue-men.

He took a few careful steps forward until he was standing right in front of me. He looked up at master and made a soft screeching sound.

Then he hit me in the stomach.

He jumped up and down a couple of times and ran then into the house.

Master helped me up. “I’m sorry Dah’min. Are you okay?”

I was fine. It didn’t hurt at all, I just didn’t expect it to happen. I nodded.

“Do you like it?” he asked

“Oh yes,” I said. I turned to look for him. I could hear him bouncing around in the house somewhere.

“I thought that maybe you could try teaching it to talk,” master said. “a little project for you while I’m at work.”

“A project?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what that word meant.

Master just smiled and patted me on the head.

I followed the master into the house. We found the other like me bouncing on masters chair. He watched me the whole time as we walked through the door and came around to the front of the seat and stood in front of it

“Come down here little one” master said and put out his hand for the other.

He stopped bouncing suddenly and looked at the masters hand. He slowly and carefully put his face and sniffed masters hand. Master was always good with animals.

He took masters hand with its own and let master guide him down to the floor. He stood right in front of me. His big hair made him look bigger than he actually was. He was smaller than me by a little and he was covered in dirt and smelled. Bad.

“Hello” I said.

His eyes popped wide open and then he turned right around in a circle before looking at me again. It looked silly and made me laugh. He laughed too, exactly the same as me, then he made strange noises that went whoop whoop whoop.

“What’s it called?” I asked master.

“It doesn’t have a name,” he said. “maybe I should let you pick out a name, would you like that Dah’min?”

“I want to call him Master,” I said.

“But that’s what you call me.” he laughed. “why don’t you pick out something different for him?”

This was going to take some serious thought.

After a moment or two of thinking, I gave up. I had a thought.

“What do you want to be named?” I asked him. He had been watching me and master talking, he looked like he was enjoying it. He turned to me and just stared.

“You pick your own name,” I said. “what do you want to be called?”

He stared. He wasn’t understanding.

I pointed to myself. “Dah’min” I said. I pointed to master. “That’s master”

I pointed at his chest with my finger.

He looked at it for a moment. Then he looked at us. I knew he had understood me. He knew what we were asking and was about to answer. He slowly opened his mouth, he was trying to say something, then -

He licked my hand.

Master laughed very loudly and very suddenly that it scared the other. I smiled too. The hue-men calmed down a bit and made a sound that was like laughing and screeching all at once. It made master laugh even more. We were having fun.

He got excited and began bouncing up and down on the spot. He grabbed my arm and licked my hand again and then looked up at the master. He was trying to make master laugh some more. He liked master’s laugh too.

The hue-men looked around. He grabbed the arm of the couch and licked that and then turned to watch master’s reaction. Master laughed but not as loudly. Then it ran over to the wall where there was a statue of someone who looked like master. He licked the statue on it’s face.

I think the statue tasted bad because the other made a disgusted face but smiled again when master laughed even louder than before. I laughed too.

He licked the statue again.

“Maybe we should call you Jeh’Stah” master suddenly said. He was still laughing.

“Jeh’Stah?” I asked. I didn’t remember that word.

“It is the name of someone who makes people laugh” master said.

I thought it was a good name. I said the name out loud, it sounded right. Master looked Jeh’Stah in the eyes and pointed to him. “Jeh’Stah”

Then it happened. Jeh’Stah said his own name.

We both were shocked. He was like me. Jeh’Stah could speak and do all the things that I could do. We just had to teach him.

Just like me.

* * *

I woke up in the morning to loud noises. I looked over to where we had placed a bed for Jeh’Stah on the other side of the room. He wasn’t there. The bed was empty.

I heard a loud crash then. I thought it must be Jeh’Stah breaking things, so I got up quickly and ran out of the room.

I couldn’t find anybody at first. Not Jeh’Stah and not master. I had to listen to where the sounds were coming from, they were quieter now. I followed some mumbling and some soft footsteps. Till I found where the sounds were coming from.

They were inside masters room. The door was shut.

I felt… strange. I was outside of masters room, waiting by the door for him to come out like I always do. I wasn’t allowed in masters room but Jeh’Stah was. Why was he in there. He was just like me.

It took forever for them to come out. Master was surprised to see me.

“Oh, Dah’min,” he said. “you’ve awoken. Come and I’ll make you both a meal.”

“Meal!” Jeh’Stah said. Another word.

I followed the two into the eating room. Master set several bowls down for us. One each for food and one each for water. I must have been more thirsty than I thought because I drank the whole thing quickly.

Jeh’Stah was smiling. He looked different from the way he had a few days before when Makfirth was dragging him through the plaza. I wondered if I had ever looked like that before master bought me. He knew two words now and he had been in masters room, master had never allowed me to go in there with him.

That wasn’t the truth. I remembered then that I had been in master’s room once. When he first bought me I had been looking around the house and I opened up the door and master had shouted for me to get out.

That was it. Jeh’Stah just didn’t know he wasn’t allowed in there. Master will tell him soon enough.

“We’re taking Jeh’Stah to be cleaned and groomed today Dah’min,” master announced.

It took a bit of effort to convince Jeh’Stah to come with us. He must have thought we were taking him to his old home. I know when I first came to live here I waited for days to go back home. Every time master had a visitor I thought it was my old master coming to pick me up.

I convinced Jeh’Stah finally to come. I just had to get him to calm down. It also helped for him to know that I was going too. If I was happy to be going it couldn’t be that bad, but Jeh’Stah was still alert and watching all about itself by the time we got to the plaza.

Master lead us through the plaza by our leashes. Master only made me wear leashes when we were out in public. Jeh’Stah pulled and struggled against the leash. I had to convince him time after time that it was okay. I showed him how I was walking along fine with mine and it was just for his own good. Master didn’t want to lose us.

“Lose” Jeh’Stah repeated.

The grooming place was another matter completely. I think the others there, the cleaners and cutters, deal with problem pets all the time because they knew exactly how to calm Jeh’Stah down. They still needed master close by though.

They got Jeh’Stah to sit calmly in the cutting chair, where they cut your hair off. Master sat close to keep Jeh’Stah calm. I sat in the seats where everyone waits. All by myself. My leash was tied to the bar.

I sat swinging my legs back and forth. I had to wait forever while they trimmed, chopped, washed and clipped every part of Jeh’Stah. It was boring. I wanted to do it with him but they wouldn’t let me. I had already been groomed yesterday, they said. Maybe next time. Maybe.

When Jeh’Stah came out I didn’t know it was Jeh’Stah straight away. His hair was short like mine except that it was brighter. His face looked more like mine now too but his nose was smaller than mine like a little pebble in the middle of his face.

I ran over to them but my leash was still tied. It pulled me to the ground and hurt my throat. Master helped me up but I couldn’t breathe properly for ages. I just watched while Jeh’Stah ran around in circles. I used to do that. I wanted to again.

I was still feeling bad when we got back home so I went and lied down on my bed. I couldn’t sleep at all though because I was feeling bad and even the blue of my wall couldn’t cheer me up. I could hear master and Jeh’Stah playing all day in the house. Master was teaching Jeh’Stah words and games and every once in a while Jeh’Stah would come running into my room and yell something at me.

“Ball” Jeh’Stah said and held up a blue ball. It was my best ball of all.

“Spaceship” Jeh’Stah had his arms out wide, pretending to be like masters spaceship.

“Leash” Jeh’Stah said. He was swinging my leash around the room. It almost hit me.

“Watch out!” I cried.

“Watch out!” Jeh’Stah copied then ran out to master saying it over and over again.

Jeh’Stah came back a minute later and stood next to my bed smiling.

“Sorry Dah’min!” Jeh’Stah yelled loudly.

He laughed and ran away.

I was feeling much better at meal time. I went out and sat with Jeh’Stah and master. Master was sitting closer to Jeh’Stah. Master used to sit right next to me. I think Jeh’Stah got more food too.

He wouldn’t stop talking all through meal time either.

“Today,” Jeh’Stah said, “Jeh’Stah get hairs cut off”

I knew that already.

“Very good Jeh’Stah” master said.

“Today, Jeh’Stah play with ball.”

Master said that was good too.

“My ball” I said. I said it softly so master didn’t hear.

“Today, Jeh’Stah play games with master”

Master kept saying that everything Jeh’Stah said was good and he was so smart. Jeh’Stah thought he was so smart. But it wasn’t. Jeh’Stah was stupid. Not like me. I was smart and special. I could say lots and lots of words and I could say them proper.

* * *

Days and days and days went by and master would always play with Jeh’Stah. He didn’t even tell him to stay out of masters room. Jeh’Stah would just go in there like it was any other room, not special just for master.

Jeh’Stah played with all of my toys and even broke some of my special ones that were just for me. He took my master and my toys and my room and he wasn’t giving anything back. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I wanted my things back. I wanted my master back.

I didn’t want Jeh’Stah around anymore.

I worked it all out in my sleep time. I woke up knowing what Jeh’Stah was really up to. Jeh’Stah was curled up on his bed and making awful sounds like I never heard before. I never made sounds like those. It wasn’t really Jeh’Stah, it wasn’t really a hue-men like me. I had to do something to stop it.

I knew how to do it too. I remembered earlier on. Master had told me once about the leash. He said that it could make you disappear if you pulled it hard enough. I never wanted to disappear so I didn’t ever try it but I wanted Jeh’Stah to disappear.

I got out of my bed and got my leash. I crouched down over Jeh’Stah and put my leash around his neck. He rolled over. His face looked like mine but he wasn’t like me. He was bad. I had to make him disappear.

I pulled the leash really hard.

Jeh’Stah’s eyes opened up. They popped out of its head like two big balls. He tried to breathe. I knew what that felt like. I knew what it was like when it was hard to breathe. But it was okay because he would disappear now.

I kept on pulling and pulling on the leash. Jeh’Stah’s eyes closed again and he stopped trying to grab air with his mouth. He didn’t disappear though. He just stopped moving.

“Dah’min!” master’s voice was very loud. He was standing in the doorway.

He ran in and pushed me away from Jeh’Stah. He picked it up and wrapped his arms around it.

“What did you do, Dah’min?” he said. His voice sounded strange.

“I wanted to make him disappear”

“You’ve killed him Dah’min. Why?” he said. He kept repeating the last word over and over again.

I knew a lot of words but I didn’t know what killed was.

* * *

In the morning we went out again. Master still sounded strange but I was sure he just needed to lay on his bed for a while. When I told him he just said “maybe you’re right” but just kept on driving.

He told me he wanted to take me out to the country. He kept talking about a farm with big green fields to run around in and big blue lakes to swim in and lots of other animals to play with. I just hoped none of the other animals were like Jeh’Stah.

It all sounded pretty and great. Master and I were going to have fun again.

We just have to stop off somewhere first.