To Fred, Russel, was the only creature in the world he cared about the most.
Fred's dog Russel was not a breed dog, but he was a healthy dog and a good dog and could run really fast. Fred could never keep up with him when he was agitated or happy. He used to take him to walk everyday in the morning and evening, except for Fridays. On Friday every other member of the church in their little town of Wheighning, used to go to the church and offer their prayers.
Actually it was all part of the people's belief. They believed that evil or demons have always tried to take over their town. So they had called for a priest who had the people made a big 'Christian Plus' and arranged for a ritual on every Friday to bless the people and prison whatever demon lurked in the town into the 'Plus' which had the height of a chair. Then the plus was to be burned after the ritual. At first many people wouldn't recognize this non-sense. But when the plus was burned after the very first ritual for the first time, the people got goosebumps when they saw that the plus didn't burn to ash, but was standing still on a higher ground where it was fitted. Only the fire on it was lighted and burning rapidly, but the plus remained unaffected. This had spread fear into the heart of every person living in the town and from then everyone started practicing the ritual on every Friday.
But some of them had figured out that the plus itself was made of iron, that's why it didn't burn. Many, left the town. Some due to its superstitions and some due to fear. Those who remained in the town, including Fred performed the ritual on every Friday and if anyone forgot to do so something strange or weird was sure to happen to them.
That day too, like all Fridays Fred went to the church with Russel for the prayer. While the burning of the plus,
suddenly Russel shot off towards the plus and started digging under it and was bitting at it. Fred shot off at full speed behind him and grabbed him by the collar to get him off. But Russel was a big and strong dog and so Fred had to pull his collar with one hand and push the plus with the other to let go. At last he got Russel off and gave him a proper scolding. The people were all very disturbed by the incident.
Fred went home after the ritual and was quite upset that Russel and him both had to touch the corrupted plus. The both of them went to sleep. Russel slept outside the house, in his dog house. That night suddenly Fred woke up and heard that Russel was barking really loud and unusually. He got worried and went down quickly to check on him. He reached Russel house and found that Russel was missing. Then Fred lost it. He started looked everywhere around for him, but could find him nowhere. He waited for the sum to come up. Then Fred went to report his missing dog.
The police then started looking and finally found Russel in the back mountains. But what good was he to Fred? Fred burst off in tears beside his dear dog, whose skin looked like as if it was scratched and peeled with something sharp. When Fred got a hold of himself he took his dog's body to bury it somewhere nearby. The police were gone by then, suggesting that some big wild wolf might have done this. But Fred knew Russel, he could take on three big wolves easily.
After burying Russel, Fred went home and came by the dog house. He noticed that on the ground there were footprints of Russel leaving the house. Something was wrong, Fred could tell, but was not in the mood to solve it. He went to the church to pray for peace for Russel's soul. He came out and noticed the big plus, he and Russel had both touched.It had a crack on the place where Russel had bit it. This would have been normal considering Russel's size. But the plus itself was made out of iron. Fred asked the priest why he would make the plus out of iron if the evil inside it was supposed to burn with it.
The priest answered that the plus is not to contain the evil and then destroy it with it. But rather it is like a prison made of iron which is supposed to be a sacred metal and the fire is so that the evil can't come out. Hearing this Fred couldn't tell him a single word about the crack in the plus. He went home.
