The Animal Lover [1]
Peter Bichsel [2]
Translated by xia23
Now would be another opportunity to write the animal lover, the story about the man with two dogs, the story about the man who walks with dogs.
But let’s let the opportunity pass by, the story has time and later there will probably be many more animal lovers, when there are only animal lovers, the stories will be more incomprehensible later and will not lead to any misunderstandings.
One can’t write with good conscience for the animal lover, for our animal lover with two dogs, if one writes against the animal lover, one makes oneself suspicious.
Our animal lover should be a man, whose age is not known, a man of middle age. And our animal lover should be convinced, that it is good to be with dogs around. And he should be fair and should not spoil dogs at all. He should be a quiet walker, a walker with a goal. He should not give dogs too hot to eat and should pay attention to calories and vitamins. That would be prerequisite for this story.
Incidentally the animal lover would be married and he should not be a man who talks to dogs and rarely talks to people. He would be a friend of England and an enemy of cattle, mosquitos, ticks and the other dogs.
When I can’t think of a story, I look for the one about the animal lover. It seems to me, that it would be my story, that I can’t avoid the fact that dogs love me. They often do me a favor. But I’m afraid of them. Perhaps that is why I tease cats, in front of cats I’m not afraid of them.
The animal lover would be annoyed and I reluctantly write the story about him. It makes me unpleasant that I have to write the story, this one of all things, that I feel being forced. So let me take this opportunity and I often think about it, to buy a dog; with that I should have done my duty.
[1]. p. 56. Der Tierfreund. Eigentlich möchte Frau Blum den Milchmann kennenlernen. Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main, Walter-Verlag AG, Germany. 1996.
[2]. Peter Bichsel. 3/24/1935 - . Swiss writer and journalist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bichsel
