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The Hartley home, a large rustic house with an ample amount of partially-cleared acreage surrounding it, nestled cozily in a small shallow valley running on a rocky irregular level between two gently sloping ridges on either side. Behind the house, off to the right and slightly downwind, there was a spacious modern dog kennel with half a dozen central shelters and a maze of long fenced runs in which a number of handsome German Shepherds, of varying sizes, ages and colors, could be seen either dozing quietly or pacing nervously to and fro, whining and occasionally barking at some barely perceptible movement in the nearby underbrush.
In one of the longest runs, an immense black-and-fawn-colored male stood by himself, completely motionless and at the alert, as he stared upwards at a tiny rag of grey sky that was framed overhead by a small circle of evergreen branches. The imposing thoroughbred dog gazed longingly, almost defiantly, at a bird flying in a cramped orbit far above the treetops, its spread wings catching flashes of yellow and silver light from the sun. The bird drifted around and around, seemingly fixed to some invisible track in the air. After a while, the magnificent German Shepherd’s strong legs began to tremble, his massive muscular body tense and straining with his natural instinct to somehow, impossibly, snag the feathered creature from the safety of its lofty circling and destroy it with one crushing swipe of his forepaw.
Fictional reading for entertainment purposes only.