[ WP ] Dog owners that mistreat their dogs are reincarnated into dogs in their next life . However the catch is that they are owned by their past selves , technically living the life their dog had .

`` Go out an' bring in the clothes,'' Lisa's father said, lifting his beer bottle to his lips. `` Looks like it might rain.'' 
 
 Lisa peeked out over the edge of the windowsill to the clothesline swaying peacefully above the uncut grass, looking for any sign of movement. Her mother looked up, hands full of raw chicken. `` Lisa. You heard your papa. What are you doing just sitting there?'' 
 
 `` The dogs,'' Lisa said. 
 
 `` Not this again,'' her father said, and brought his feet down from the table. `` Lisa. Get over here.'' He straddled his chair and eyed her down. `` Those dogs are n't gon na hurt you. You just got ta show them that you ai n't afraid of them. Shoo'em away!'' He stomped his foot down hard. `` Kick'em, if you have to. They need to know who's boss.'' 
 
 `` It does n't work,'' said Lisa, almost too quietly to hear. 
 
 `` Now what did you say?'' Her father shot up from his chair, towering over her. `` That's funny, because it works just fine for me, and it works just fine for your mama, so -'' 
 
 `` I'll bring in the clothes myself, once I'm done fixing dinner,'' her mother called from the kitchen. 
 
 `` No!'' her father said. `` It ai n't about that. If we're going to have dogs, she's gon na have to learn how to deal with'em. You want her to be a coward all her life?'' Taking Lisa by the shoulder, he marched her to the back door and stood behind her, hands on hips. `` Well?'' 
 
 The dogs came running, summoned by the sound of the door creaking open, their eyes wild, tongues lolling. Lisa held the door steady, feeling their bodies slam against the other side, hearing their claws scratch against the wood. `` Back!'' she screamed. `` Shoo! Shoo! Get back!'' The dogs leaped over each other, jockeying for position in a two foot space. She turned helplessly to her father. `` They do n't listen to me!'' 
 
 `` Oh, for...'' her father said, and flung the door all the way open. `` Git!'' he barked, and the dogs scattered at the sound of his voice. `` See? You just need to be firm, that's all.'' He shoved her out the door. `` Now go bring in those clothes.'' 
 
 Lisa took two steps into the backyard and the dogs came running back up to her, nipping and licking at her fingertips, pouncing up to paw at her chest. `` Down!'' she yelled. `` Git! Get down!'' They kept bouncing back up to her, eyes gleaming and mouths panting in eager grins. Their claws scraped against her bare forearms. 
 
 `` You know they got ticks!'' her father's voice bellowed. `` You want to get ticks yourself, just letting'em paw all over you? Well go ahead, but I ai n't gon na be the one picking those ticks all off you!'' 
 
 `` Go'way!'' Lisa yelled, and kicked one of the dogs straight in the chest. It yelped and fell back, rolling over to scamper away on its feet, and all the others went skittering away. `` Go away!'' she yelled again, and lashed out with her foot, and they all went running. She pushed the hair out of her face and took a moment to catch her breath, and picked her way past the piles of dog shit to get to the clothesline. 
 
... 
 
 `` You kicked the dogs,'' her little sister Cissy whispered, as they sat together folding the laundry. `` I saw you.'' 
 
 `` They were botherin' me,'' Lisa said, keeping her eyes on the stack of her father's shirts. ``'S what Papa told me to do.'' 
 
 `` But,'' Cissy stammered, `` but, but, Riya at school, she told me that when people are mean to animals, they get reborn as the animal. The same animal that they hurt!'' 
 
 Lisa frowned. `` Now that does n't make any sense at all, Cissy. How can I be reborn as something that's been born already?'' 
 
 `` That's what she said!'' Cissy insisted. `` It's karma! You hurt something, and you get hurt back!'' 
 
 Lisa shook her head. `` Now do n't you let Papa or Mama hear you talking about that. That stuff ai n't Christian.'' She kneeled on her chair to look out into the backyard where the dogs stood alert, ears pricked upwards in the half-dusk, waiting for something that would never arrive. `` It does n't make any sense, either. So you're telling me I'm one of those dogs out there? Right now, one of those dogs is me?'' 
 
 `` That's what Riya said!'' 
 
 `` And what about Papa, then?'' She flopped back down on the chair and punched a fist into the pile of unsorted laundry. `` He's the one who bought them dogs to begin with. He's the one who told me to kick'em. He's the one who let them have babies out there and then let some of'em die. So one of those dogs is Papa, too?'' 
 
 Cissy looked uncertain. `` Y-yeah. Him too.'' 
 
 `` And Mama, she let Papa buy the dogs, and lets him treat them how he likes. An' she does n't feed'em, or take care of'em none either! So is Mama one of those dogs too?'' 
 
 `` Mama doesn't-!'' Cissy scrunched a shirt up in her small fists. `` She's not hurting them!'' 
 
 `` But she knows they're hurting, does n't she? And she does n't do a thing to stop it!'' Lisa could feel the heat building on the back of her neck, and wondered if that was the same thing her father sometimes felt. `` And what about you?'' 
 
 Cissy's eyes welled up with tears. `` I - I pet them sometimes.'' 
 
 `` Yeah. Pet'em. I'm sure that's enough.'' She stood and scooped up her pile of clothes, arms full. The dogs screamed from outside, giving in to a fit of madness, one of them pinning another to the ground and exposing its belly, teeth snapping down within inches of each other. There was a scuffle of claws and screeching until her father's angry yell broke the dogs apart and sent them snarling impotently at one another. Cissy was hunched over the clothes now, fat tears rolling down her nose and making dark spots on the fabric. 
 
 `` C'mon,'' Lisa mumbled, and stroked her sister's back as best she could with her arms full. `` It's not so bad, is it? It would n't be so bad to be one of our dogs. They seem happy, most of the time, at least.'' Cissy gasped out wavery breaths in response, sounding like she was dying. 
 
 `` And it's fine,'' Lisa said decisively. `` Just think about it. If every person turned into the dog they hurt, it'd just mean that all of those dogs deserved to get hurt in the first place, ai n't that right?'' 
 
 Cissy made a sound that was partway between a snort and a giggle and a sniffle, looking up at Lisa for the first time. `` But that's terrible!'' she said. 
 
 `` Nah, nah,'' Lisa said. `` That means all we're doin' is hurting ourselves. Guess that's the'karma' your friend was talking about.'' She pinched her sister's sleeve between two fingers, pulling her to her feet. `` Now c'mon. Go blow your nose and wash your face, and let's take our clothes upstairs.'' 
 
 Cissy managed a wan smile and toddled off to the kitchen sink. Lisa wrapped her arms tight around her pile of clothes, pressing her cheek into them and taking in the freshly laundered smell, and listened to their dogs pacing the edges of their overgrown backyard.
