[ WP ] A dog is cursed by a witch to transform into a human for an hour each night . The dog has a human body but keeps it 's dog mind . It likes to walk around the city as a human and do human things .

You are not brave. In the pound, I became brave because, every day, I did not know if I would be loved and free or not loved and not free. You do not come from the pound, but, each day, you also do not know if you will loved or not, or free or not. Yet even though every day is like this, you still are not brave. 
 
 On the day you came for me, and loved me, and set me free, we went to the park. I had never seen grass before, and so I rolled around, and let all the individual blades tickle my back and belly, and the sun was bright and warm, and so were you, and you let me lick you on the neck, and you threw a tennis ball for me to chase and recover. You took me back to your apartment, which was an entire room, all for us, and you let me climb up on the bed, which was soft, softer than even the grass, and you slept with your arm around me, and you smelled like apricots, and you even had a fan that blew the air gently against my fur. 
 
 The next day, he came, and he did not like how you had taken me to the park and let me sleep on the bed. He said that you did not have enough money to keep me, and that you were not responsible and dedicated enough, and then he said you were reckless, and selfish, and he hit you, and I barked at him. You fell onto the floor and curled up, the way I used to curl up in my cage, and he went to the refrigerator and took out a beer, and I padded over to you, and you told me to hush. Soon, I learned that every day would be like this. We would be together, and love each other. Then he would come. He would hit you and kick you and I would bark and you would beg me to hush and I would wish you could be brave. 
 
 There is a witch in every dog pound. She may in fact be a goddess, but most dogs think she is a witch, and so she is called the Pound Witch. She comes to us in the form of a white kitten with enormous blue eyes that seem to be nearly weeping, and she taunts all the caged up dogs. The Pound Witch says that she can set any of us free, at any time, but that if we choose to be set free by her, and not by love, then we will be cursed to become human for the darkest hour of every night, and in that hour be capable of the dark and cruel things that humans can do. Dogs rarely accept the witch's bargain, even in the face of the Needle, because we know that cruelty is not a good substitute for love, but the Pound Witch still laughs at how her offer tortures us. 
 
 But when I saw how he hit you and made you cry, all because you loved me and freed me and took me to the grass, and let me feel your soft bed and your cool fan, and taste your salty skin and smell your apricot hair, and how you were not brave enough to do anything but curl up, I howled out for the Pound Witch. Even though I was not in the pound, and even though you loved me and freed me with your love, I begged the Pound Witch to curse me and let me be human, and do the cruel things humans can do, for the darkest hour of the night. The Pound Witch appeared to me, and she laughed, and she cursed me. 
 
 When the darkest hour came, and you fell asleep, I transformed. I lost my fur and tail and I stood up on two legs and picked up things with my hands that were not paws anymore. I could still smell him on the empty beer bottles and even on your body, a little. While you slept, I opened the door with my new thumbs, and I followed his smell through winding city blocks, through steam rising up from sewer grates, past the park ( which, in the darkest hour, are lit up by fluorescent lamps that are not so different from the lights in the pound ). I let his smell lead me to his apartment, where I opened another door with my thumbs, and his smell became overwhelmed by only the smell of beer. He was asleep, on the floor beside his bed, and so I took my new thumbs and wrapped them around his neck and I squeezed, until he kicked and yelped, like a dog who had just received the Needle. The Pound Witch appeared on the windowsill, and snickered. 
 
 `` Do you see now that you were a fool to have thought there was more freedom in love than cruelty?'' the Pound Witch asked me. I did not answer. I followed your smell back to your apartment, and waited on the stoop, until I would become a dog again and we could curl up together on your soft bed.
