“Mum, Dad was right when he said youve lost your marbles! I can see it nowyoure off your rocker. Have you ever considered getting help?”
Antonia Peters stared at her son in disbelief. Hed always been a difficult boy, but to say such things to his own mother, straight to her face
She never imagined shed end her twenty-five-year marriage. Yet it was she who filed for divorce.
One day, it hit hershe didnt know her husband at all. After so many years, youd think shed know every inch of him. But no. Dmitri turned out to be a cold, callous man.
When Antonia brought home a scrawny puppy shed found shivering in the streetso thin you could count every ribhe flew into a rage.
“Have you nothing better to do, Antonia?” he bellowed. “Whyd you drag this wretched thing in here?”
“Dmitri, how can you say that?” she gasped. “Look at him. Hes skin and bones. Could you really walk past?”
“Everyone else did! What, are you Mother Teresa now? Always the bleeding heart!”
That night, Antonia criedfor the helpless pup, barely able to stand, and for the man whod revealed a side of himself she couldnt ignore.
Hed never been perfect, but shed overlooked his flaws. No ones perfect, after all. But this? This crossed a line.
“Wheres your humanity?” she sobbed. “How could anyone abandon something so helpless?”
It didnt end there. Dmitri made it clear the “mutt” grated on his nerves.
“When are you getting rid of it? How much longer must we suffer this half-dead creature?”
He called the pup “half-dead” just because it trembled, though the flat was warm. Instead of helping his wife nurse the little thing or find it a good home, hed vanish to the garage with his matesother men hiding from their wives.
Hed stagger home late, drunk, and start in againon Antonia, on the “filthy stray” shed dragged in.
“I get not liking animals,” she thought, sitting alone in the lounge. “But do you even care about me?”
It wasnt easy. She took time off work for vet visits and walks. She hardly dared leave the pup alone with Dmitri anymore. After so many years, she no longer knew him. With the drinking, anything was possible.
One day at work, a sudden dread gripped herthat icy fist around the heart, the gnawing unease. She left early, feigning illness, and caught Dmitri red-handed.
He was hauling Ben toward the garages. Probably meant to dump him for good. That was the last straw. She filed for divorce.
“Over a dog?” he roared. “Youve lost the plot!”
She ignored him. She wasnt old, wasnt madjust done.
Their grown son, living with his girlfriend in another city, took his fathers side.
“Mum, are you serious? Youd break up the family over some mutt?”
“There *is* no family, love,” Antonia sighed. “Its not about the dog. Your fathers shown his true colours.”
“You can dislike animals, ignore thembut hurting them? No decent man would!”
Her explanations fell on deaf ears. In protestor male solidarityhe cut contact, saying *she* was the one whod lost her humanity, leaving his father homeless.
The flat was hers before marriage, so Dmitri got nothing. He still had his parents cottage, though who knew if it was still standinghed hardly visited since they passed. Antonia couldnt care less.
Dmitri had made his choice. No one forced him to be cruel. She shuddered to think what hed have done to Ben if she hadnt stepped in.
In the end, she kept Ben, nursed him back to health, and restored his faith in people. Shed planned to rehome him but couldnt bring herself to.
“If I picked you up, Ill see you through,” she told the fluffy tail-wagger.
“Woof!” Ben wagged, thrilled to stay.
Later, Antonia began volunteering at a local shelter in her free timehelping creatures abandoned by people like Dmitri.
“Moneys tight,” the manager admitted. “We can barely pay staff. Its pennies, really”
“Dont worry,” Antonia said. “Im here for the cause.”
She and Ben visited regularly. There, she noticed another dogan old-timer the staff called Grumbles (for obvious reasons). Hed eye her warily, never wagging.
One day, she sat with him, stroked his graying head, and hugged him. She wanted to spark some joy in his sad eyesbut nothing.
A volunteer shared his story:
“Found him three years ago, wandering the streets, searching faces. Turned out he was looking for his ownerthe man who tied him to a lamppost and drove off. Folks untied him after a day, but the owner never came back.”
“Grumbles waited, then roamed for weeks, still searching. No one wanted him. A bloke took him once but brought him back a month latersaid he wanted a proper dog, not this vegetable.”
Antonia posted his photos everywhere. A woman called
“Is that a beagle? Ive always wanted one.”
“Part-beagle,” Antonia said. “But thats irrelevant. Hes wonderfuljust heartbroken. Love could melt that ice.”
The woman took Grumbles.
“Good luck, old boy,” Antonia whispered, wiping tears as he left, quiet and resigned.
Weeks later, the woman called again:
“Can we return him temporarily? Were off to the seasideno one to watch him.”
Antonia hesitated. “The shelters full but Ill take him.”
When Grumbles arrived, he was skeletalbarely fed.
“You starved him?” Antonia gasped.
“I fed him! He just wouldnt eat. You cant force a dog.”
A vet revealed severe health issues. The woman refused to pay:
“Ive no money! You never said hed get sick!”
“He wasnt sick when you took him!”
“Are you blaming me? Finekeep the wretched thing. Dont call again.”
Now Antonia had two dogs. It was hardphysically, financiallybut seeing the flicker of hope in Grumbles eyes, she knew shed done right.
Her son visited once, urging her to take Dmitri back. Seeing the dogs, he snapped:
“Mum, Dad was rightyoure cracked. Need your head examined!”
“Vincent, how can you”
“What? Its true! One mutt wasnt enough? No wonder Dad left!”
“He left *himself*! And Id never take him backdogs or no dogs.”
“Then rot alone!” He slammed the door.
Antonia whispered, “Im not alone, love. Ive loyal friends wholl never betray me.”
The shelter manager offered to take Grumbles back, but Antonia refused: “Hell stay. No more abandonment.”
Some will understand her. Some will judge. But thats her story.
What do you think of her husband and son? Share your thoughts below.
