“Out, dvornyaga, out! No animals in my shop!”

The Hairless-dog on two legs, Good-smell she called him, jerked a stick with tiny branches towards Dog.

A game? Dog thought and snapped at the branches, offering a joyful growl. She tugged them in turn with Good-smell, a contest to see which is strongest. It was fun to play games with Good-smell. However, every time they played, he took it too far. He pushed too hard, or used his long legs to kick Dog. Maybe it was because Good-smell could only see. He couldn’t understand Dog’s barks. His nose was much too small. He was like those dogs with short jaws, barely able to lick food from the grey walking stone. They couldn’t rummage through trash like Dog could. Worse, they couldn’t even walk far. Without a proper nose, how could you recognize one street from another? Like blue streets. They were the worst. The Hairless-dogs built large structures around them, each almost identical. It was only with smell that you knew which had food, which were claimed by other dogs and which were empty.

Good-smell only saw Dog’s short legs, black and white fur, a white streak between dark eyes. So, Dog had to bark extra loud, when Good-smell became too aggressive. It was the only way to communicate with such simple creatures.

“No, not the meat! Get off, now!”

Dog had jumped on a yellow-white box, myaso written on the side, a small hole in the back inviting with a pleasant smell. Good-smell didn’t want to share the box. He wanted it all for himself. His furless head shone under the sun, and the stick with branches poked Dog in ten places. Dog yelped and jumped outside, barking at Good-smell to stop – why can’t they share the smell?

“Hey! What are you doing, glupyy?” another Hairless-dog interrupted. “We had a deal. You let little Kudryavka eat at your butcher shop what she wants, and I pay for it. You know I’m good for the money.”

“Take that dvornyaga and stop visiting my shop, Yuri.” Good-smell said. “I have enough trouble with the Party already. First Khrushchev starts banning our churches, like they did during the October Revolution, next thing I have an inspection from the Orgbiro. Lev had already closed his shoe store, Artem is doing the same with his food stand. I have two little ones to feed, Yuri.”

“Why don’t you abandon God then? The Committee is only investigating you because you are so active in the Orthodox community.”

“Abandon God?” Good-smell said, his furless head growing red. Dog barked at Yuri, it was time to go. “Comrade Gagarin, my patience is as thin as the iron curtain. If you don’t get out, I’ll get something stronger than a broom.”

Dog nipped at Yuri’s heels. Good-smell wasn’t smelling so good all of a sudden.

“Alright Kudryavka, alright. You and your curls have persuaded me to leave this fine establishment of meat and bone. See you tomorrow, Nikita.”

“Get. Out! Return after capitalism is dead!” Good-smell threw a large piece of wood at Yuri, but Dog’s friend was fast for a Hairless-dog. He ducked and smiled at Good-smell.

“Tomorrow, then.” Yuri said and had the good sense to leave. Dog walked behind him, happy to leave Good-smell until he calmed down.

They stopped at an alley, not too far from Good-smell’s house. It was a yellow alley, some blue bins at the corner, full of inviting smells. Dog was happy she had such a good nose. She didn’t even have to look to know what was tasty and what was not.

“What were you doing there? I could hear you from a hundred meters away.” Dog’s tail was normally curled upwards, but hearing Yuri talk like that… It was hard. Dog looked down, her tail drooping behind her. Yuri’s voice softened, “You and your thunderous layat. I’m telling you, Zhuchka, if it wasn’t for your curls, I’d leave you at the butchers.” Yuri crouched and gave Dog’s fur a good rub.

Dog liked Yuri very much, even if she couldn’t understand him most of the time. He had a little fur on top of his head, his nose even smaller than Good-smell’s. Dog didn’t care about looks, although she always took time to observe. She cared about smells. Before she learned the other Hairless-dogs called him Yuri, she had another name for him. Home. The smell of goodness and safety.

“Here,” Yuri said and produced a hard candy from his pocket. “This is the only thing I have with me, but I’ll sneak you out a bit more after I’m finished with training. Deal?”

Dog ate the candy. It didn’t have any smell until she crushed it and then it filled her nostrils. It was delicious. She wagged appreciatively at Yuri and jumped up to lick his face.

“Come on, let’s go to the uchebnyy tsentr. Babushkin said he will recommend me for the space program if I do well in my studies. Can you imagine it my little lemon, my Limonchik, I could be out there, flying among the stars. I would be a Hero of the Soviet Union! Imagine that!”

They started walking towards the uchebnyy tsentr and passed a large building with a yellow white cross on. It smelled strange – an acidic, putrid smell. Dog didn’t like it at all.

Yuri had a faraway look and nearly tripped when Dog went from right to left to smell something beneath the leaves.

“Blyat, Zhucka, watch where you’re going! You nearly caused me to fall.” Yuri said harshly but then his voice mellowed. “Although thinking about it, if I did trip, maybe my injury would be enough to visit Valentina Goryacheva at the hospital there. Did I tell you about her yet, Limonchik?”

Yuri looked at Dog expectantly. She didn’t know what he wanted, but she felt his energy turn affectionate, his voice serene. She barked as if saying I like you too, Yuri.

“Well, now there’s a story. It was the May’s Day celebration in Moscow, right in the center of the Red Square. Khrushchev was there, along with his whole cabinet. At some point, he came down among the people – among us, Kudryavka, imagine it! – and shook my hand. His strength was baffling. I got so dizzy when he left, I almost collapsed. Thankfully there was a pretty nurse by the name of Valentina there to break my fall.” Yuri’s smile widened and he crouched down to Dog. “To tell you the truth, I was totally fine, but Boris, a friend of mine, told me there was a pretty nurse behind me. I did what any hot-blooded youth would do. You see, the game is stacked against us men. Women are much prettier than us, so we have to cheat. Why am I explaining this to you, my beautiful Kudryavka? You have already claimed my heart, you know all this already!”

Dog loved when Yuri became like this. He barked all the way to a great stone house where he spent hours on end while Dog roamed around, waiting for him. The moment he stepped outside, Dog knew. It wasn’t a smell or anything she could hear, she simply knew. She could feel Home calling out to her.

When they arrived at the house, a cold wind blew from the east, straight from the mountains, bringing a few snowflakes with it. The white fluff settled on Dog’s nose, tickling her, so she sneezed not once but five times.

“Winter has come early to Luostari, hasn’t it?” Yuri said, tugging on his fake fur. “Tell you what Zhuckha, you can come in today. I only have one class with Babushkin, then we’ll see about getting you some food, perhaps some myaso?”

Myaso – that’s a word Dog understood. She wagged furiously and jumped on Yuri’s legs.

“Down Zhucka, down girl.” Yuri laughed, “I was also thinking about giving you a proper name. Zhucka – little bug; Limonchik – little lemon; Kudryavka – curly. You are all of that and more, but those aren’t proper names. I will think on it a bit more, alright krasavica?”

They stepped through an old door, mold and moss growing in the corners, pieces falling on Dog’s head. The blue room inside smelled of vinegar, the smell of countless hairless dogs and something sweet. Dog focused on the latter as she followed Yuri inside.

They stopped in a large room. There was a long yellow rectangular shape hanging on the wall, white writing all over it. The room brimmed with desks and chairs, too many for Dog to count. The floor was sticky and tasted funny. In front of the yellow rectangular shape was a large desk with the furriest Hairless-dog Dog has ever seen. She named him Fur-hair. Fur-hair scowled at them, producing an angry smell.

“Comrade Gagarin, what is that dvornyaga doing in my classroom?”

“I thought that she could make your lessons interesting for a change, comrade Babushkin.”

Fur-hair’s bark became louder, “Do you image I will forget this over a glass of vodka, comrade? Your studies are good, you a good athlete, but how am I to recommend you to the Soviet space program when you disrespect senior party members? I can already see the frown on comrade Sergei Korolev or comrade Valentin Glushko. You think you are the only one who will face their wrath? The party never sleeps, comrade Gagarin, never! The KGB will knock on my door, ask me about my project, my religion, my wife. I’m not living in Luostari because I like the emptiness of the place or the sound of MIG’s flying high above.”

Yuri’s voice mellowed, a clear act of submission. Dog did the same – she lied down and looked up at Fur-hair.

“I meant no disrespect, Comrade Babushkin,” Yuri said. “Zhucka was cold outside, the snows are early this year.”

“I don’t care if it’s fifty below, comrade Gagarin. Never bring her here again, but don’t say I am cold of heart. Today, she may wait in my study, but make sure that she touches nothing, or you can wave goodbye to my recommendation.”

Yuri nodded and motioned for Dog to follow. They went through another door – a thin one with a window above letting in warm light. The place smelled of paper and ink and disappointingly of no food whatsoever. After she sniffed all the things she had to sniff, she lied down. She was tired from walking anyway.

Yuri crouched down and whispered, “Kudryavka, you must stay here today, but please be a good girl. I will try to sway professor Babushkin. He is old and mean, but I know he has a good heart.” He patted Dog’s head and went outside, closing the thin door.

Dog was fine lying there in near silence, her short black ears listening as her friend spoke in the other room.

“Yuri, why do you care about that dog so much? You know animals are disallowed in dormitories – you could even be expelled if they catch you.”

“Ah, but that’s why she’s not there. She sleeps outside, her clever mind always finding a warm spot. I am content to wait until you make me into a great Hero, comrade. Then even comrade Khrushchev won’t be able to deny me this favor. She is my zhizn, comrade, my life.”

“A dvornyaga your life? You joke, Yuri”

“About Zhucka, I never joke. She saved me, comrade. There are illnesses of mind worse than those of body. They rip at your inside, scratch at your mind. They control your actions further and further until you don’t know yourself, until vodka and friends have lost all meaning, until life has no meaning. In my deepest despair, I found my little Zhucka and she saved me. Literally. Dog or man, she is priceless to me. I will never deny her.”

Yuri’s bark had a melody to it just now, Dog noted. It was kind, lovely. She wanted to understand but he didn’t speak properly.

“You are honest in this?” Fur-hair said.

“Like I said. I never joke about her.”

“I must be getting old, because I am considering she can stay here during your lessons.”

Something clapped, startling Dog, then Yuri’s voice boomed full of enthusiasm. “I knew it, you old grump. I knew you had a soft center!”

“Take your desk, comrade, and never speak of this again. And if you are smart, you should hide her somewhere. I heard they are rounding up stray dogs for some sort of space experiment. They are already launching mice in rockets. Research they say, so they can beat the Americans.”

“So what? Then she would become a Hero of the Soviet Union, just like I would.”

“Yuri,” Fur-hair said, his voice somber, “This next experiment is an orbital flight.”

“Last week you said that the technology to return from orbit was incomplete. Two years away you said.”

“Exactly,” Fur-hair said

“I understand, comrade. I will hide my zhizn.”

They were silent for a while, enough for Dog to finally fall asleep in the warm, safe room.

#

It happened all of a sudden. A bag smelling of plastic, two men who Dog couldn’t see but could smell their putrid odor. She instantly named them – Panic and Terror. How they found her beneath Yuri’s house, a place he made for her, a safe place, she did not know. She fought back with claws and teeth, but the streets were hard – hers weren’t as sharp as they once were. She resorted to her last weapon. She began to layat, to bark. Windows opened all around her, her barking as thunderous as a lightning strike.

It didn’t help. Panic and Terror threw her in a mobile metal house with four round legs. It began rocking and she was off. For a moment she thought she could hear Home but the clanking metal house rolled away before she could make anything out. In the darkness, shapes stirred.

The metal house remained dark for a long time. Dog barked for a while but that only made the other dogs bark and nip at her. Some even fought among themselves but most stopped after a day or two. There were no stops, only the banging of the house and the yelping of dogs.

After a few days, the whole house smelled of piss and shit. It burned Dog’s nostrils, stuck to her fur, made it hard to move. All the dogs stopped layat, none had energy to spare. There was no food, no water. Some dogs resorted to eating their own feces with disastrous outcomes. Their lay’s went silent forever. Dog didn’t know them but she mourned them all the same. No dog – hairless or laden with fur – deserved such treatment. Dog never imagined she would miss the cold hard streets. She had always hoped Yuri would take her wherever he went. It was hard to be away from him.

#

The doors opened blinding Dog. Yelps, scared and tired, sounded around her, soft like snowflakes during winter. She joined them for she didn’t have any energy left to fight; only enough to beg.

Mercy.

Please, mercy.

Hairless-dogs came for all of them. There were so many, their hands so strong, Dog simply wilted when their gruff hands squeezed her. They were all white – a strange looking fake fur that even covered their faces.

“You there, driver.” one of them said. “Were you born glupyy or are you still reliving the day your mother weened you from the tit? Why didn’t you let the dogs out every day? Gave them food? The Politburo and Orgburo have vested interested in this experiment. How am I supposed to work with dead dogs?”

“Look, I just drive, suka. Sign here and I go.”

“Blasted truckers, I have half a mind to send a letter to the Secretariat. The whole world is watching us, watching if Sputnik 2 will fail. The Americans are so close we can smell them and you don’t care. There, I’ve signed your gluppy paper, now leave. If you ever come to Baikonur again comrade, you’ll have to hitchhike back to Moscow. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Whatever doktor, have fun with your mutts. I can’t believe how much you’re paying for street vermin. Russia is a better place without them. I did us a favor.”

“Go, durak. Go before I lose my temper.”

Dog watched the two hairless dogs talk and didn’t like it one bit. She couldn’t smell them – the only thing she could smell was putrid death. The Hairless-dog that held her, threw her in another moving house. She found energy to yelp for help and so did a few others but no help came.

#

It has been… Dog couldn’t tell how long. She faintly remembered Home, remembered Yuri, but even that memory had faded. The hairless men in white washed and cleaned her, gave her food and a soft spot to sleep, but she couldn’t calm down. Her belly ached from the strange food, and the iron cages they were putting her in were getting progressively smaller.

Today she would be staying in her final cage. A Hairless-dog who she didn’t care to name, led her to a new room. When she saw the cage, her tail sagged. She couldn’t remember the last time she wagged it.

“Sorry about this sobaka, but this experiment will be hard. A few dogs already died because of stress – they ate and ate but couldn’t bring themselves to shit. I hope you are different. I need to send a good report to the Politburo. The Americans are closing the gap, they have already achieved orbit.”

The Hairless-dog showed Dog to her new cage. It had a feeding tube inserted in the front – Dog already knew about those – and it was suspended in the air so piss and shit fell freely down. Dog could handle that; had handled that. But this cage was so small. So tiny. She couldn’t even stand in there. Couldn’t turn. Couldn’t scratch. Nothing to do but sit on thin wire, sleep and shit.

I don’t like this, she thought as they pushed her closer.

I don’t like this.

#

She broke. She ate when they wanted, slept when they wanted, shat when they wanted. She wasn’t alive anymore. She was dead. She wished she was dead.

Oh, how she wished she was dead.

Her mind was empty, her form listless. White Hairless-dogs came around her, smiling, patting her head, smoothing her fur. They took her out of the cage today. She didn’t care. She was already dead. She wished she was dead.

Oh, how she wished she was dead.

“You’re such a good sobaka. The First Secretary himself wrote to me. Can you imagine? Nikita Khrushchev, our glorious leader! He said he was ecstatic about your success. About my success. You’re launching tomorrow on an adapted ICBM R-7, in Sputnik 2! It’s the greatest rocket on Earth and another victory for the Soviet Union! Because of this great honor you have allowed me, I have arranged a special treat for you. Come.”

The white Hairless-dog lead her down countless blue corridors that smelled like… whatever. She didn’t use her nose, not properly at least. He opened a door then stepped aside.

“There you go sobaka, go on. He’s waiting for you.”

Dog looked up at the Hairless-man then back down. She wanted to go back to her cage to sleep.

“Pridurak, idiot, tupoy, what have you done with my Zhuchka?”

“What do you mean? She is healthy, all the tests say so.”

“Idi na huy idiot, you wouldn’t know what healthy meant if it sat on your face. Go now, leave before I lose my temper and I smash this bottle of vodka over your tupoy head.”

Something lifted Dog. It gripped her differently than before. Less rigid, less surgical. Was it taking her back to her cage? She closed her eyes and waited until they told her when to eat, when to sleep, when to shit. She didn’t care. She was already dead. She wished she was dead.

Oh, how she wished she was dead.

“Kudryavka, my beautiful girl. How long I looked for you on the streets of Luostari. I must’ve gone by the butcher fifty times asking for you. Everyone told me you were dead but I said no. My limonchik, she was not dead. She was too strong to die so soon. But Luostari had cars and trucks and airplanes and uncaring people. After a month I gave up, sorrow anchoring in my heart. I devoted myself to the Soviet Space Program, rose up the ranks faster than anyone. I married Valentina in the end but my heart still felt empty. I tried to put you out of my mind but a part of me never wanted to move on. I am to be the first Cosmonaut. The first man in space! But even with that accomplishment, a piece of me remained missing.”

This Hairless-dog was barking so much. So fast. Dog’s fur became wet somehow – was this another experiment? She didn’t care. She was already dead.

Oh, how she wished she was dead.

“Imagine my surprise when I learned yesterday about a great dog going into space to test equipment for me. They said it was a small black dog with a white streak between her eyes. A spark ignited in me. I started following scientists around. I asked questions. I haven’t been home for days – Valentina is probably worried, but she will be ok. She is busy with Yelena, my daughter.”

Dog’s fur was properly wet now. Some of it even went onto her eyes, stinging them. She opened them slightly but didn’t have the energy to wipe them off.

“I have found you. My heart sings to see you Zhuchka!”

Who is this Hairless-dog? Why does he sound so familiar?

“I have a surprise for you. Sorry to say, it’s not from the butchers, no myaso.”

That word, Dog thought, I know that word.

“But I think you will like it. The night you disappeared I heard a dog barking. She barked so much, I thought there was an earthquake. How was I supposed to know that it wasn’t the building shaking but my heart? You were calling out to me but I failed to answer. That day you earned your name. You will always be my Zhuckha and Kudryavka, but now you will have a name of your own. Laika. It means barker. What do you say? Do you like it?”

Finally, the Hairless-dog stopped barking. Dog could finally sleep.

“What is it Laika? What’s the matter? Don’t you know who I am? It’s Yuri!”

Oh, how she wished she was dead.

“Laika, girl. Please, look at me. Here, sniff my hand. Sniff my face.”

The Hairless-dog lifted Dog by her front paws. She slowly opened her eyes. Their noses were inches apart. Languidly, she took a whiff.

The memories flooded back all at once. The butcher and myaso, the buildings, the names. Yuri, Yuri, Yuri. It was him. It was Home.

She was home.

Her eyes shot open, her tail gaining a life of its own. She jumped on Home and licked his face. Her legs hurt from standing, her tail from wagging, but she jumped and licked until she could not stand anymore. After she spent all her energy, she crawled on Yuri’s lap, yelping in glee. He cheered with her and lifted her up in the air, saying only one word: Laika.

She liked the word. Somehow, she knew that it was her name. Dogs didn’t have names. Didn’t need them. But if Yuri had given her one, she would accept it.

I am Laika, she thought. And Laika finally found her home.

The door slammed open and three white Hairless-dogs came in.

No, you are not taking him! Laika thought and curled up in Yuri’s lap. She attempted a growl but her teeth hurt and she was exhausted. If only she wasn’t so weak!

“It’s time, Yuri. She is to go back to quarantine. The launch is scheduled in the morning.”

“Not yet, comrade! Please, not yet!”

“Prosti, Yuri. I have too. The rules came from the Secretariat. She is the best candidate for the mission.”

“Take another, comrade! I will pay you anything you like, just let me sneak her out. You have two more dogs waiting, why don’t you take one of those?”

“She is the best among them.”

“I know she’s the fucking best. I don’t care what you say, she’s coming with me. Report me to the Central Committee if you wish.”

“For the sake of the Soviet Nation I will not report this, Yuri. Guards, take her.”

Two broad hairless-dogs came for Laika and yanked her out of Yuri’s grip. Laika bit them but she was so emaciated. It was like two pieces of paper snapping together.

“No, don’t take her from me, yebars!”

They threw Laika to the third Hairless-dog then began pummeling Yuri.

“Not too hard, he is to be a Hero of the Soviet Union.”

No! Laika screamed in her mind. With one heroic effort she concentrated every ounce of energy she had and barked. The door window next to her cracked, the building shuddered. The white Hairless-dogs stopped and gaped at Laika.

Now you know my power, she thought, now you finally know who you tried to kill.

She wasn’t dead. She didn’t want to die.

Oh, how she didn’t want to die.

The effort proved too much for her. She collapsed and darkness took her.

#

Laika awoke in a cage even smaller than the one they had her in. She began barking and sniffing but Home wasn’t there. She struggled against the cage, yelping, barking, gnawing. She needed to get out.

“Laika,” a garbled voice said. It came from all around her. “So, that is your name. Yuri screamed it so often, I wondered what it meant. Barker, huh? Well, Laika, you’re about to become the most famous dog in history.”

The voice was near yet nowhere. She looked at her surroundings – a cage, similar to where they imprisoned her, a feeding tube sticking in up front, a dim light somewhere beneath her.

“Fueling is complete, little one. Hold on.”

Where is Home? Where is my Yuri?

“T-minus one minute.”

I don’t like this.

Where is Home? Where is my Yuri?

The whole cage rumbled. Laika’s bladder gave out. She began barking furiously. What was happening? Where was she? She wanted Home!

“Laika, girl, I’m here!” Yuri said.

It was Home, he came for her! She couldn’t smell him but it was him. It was!

“I tried Laika, I tried. I offered them everything and anything but they said no. My heart is bleeding and there’s no way to stop it. I love you, Laika. I love you so much.”

It was him! Yuri! She didn’t understand but he must be coming for her. Laika wagged her tail as much as the cage allowed her.

I love you, Yuri.

THE END

This short story is dedicated to all beings who lost their lives in the pursuit of knowledge.

____________________________________________

GLOSSARY:

• dvornyaga – mutt, half breed
• myaso – meat
• kudryavka – little curly
• limonchik – little lemon
• krasavica – pretty thing
• laika – barker
• glupyy – silly
• yebars – fuckers
• prosti – sorry
• zhuckha – little bug
• idi na huy – fuck you
• blyat – fuck
• suka – bitch
• pridurak – stupid
• tupoy – stupid
• sobaka – dog
• zhizn – life
• layat – bark
• uchebnyy tsentr – learning center
• doktor – doctor
• durak – fool