Poor old Mohamed the groomer carried me all the way to the shelter. We had to take a bus to the shelter, my owners refused to send him with their car or pay for a taxi. In the shelter, they gave me their nicest room, a large sunny room. But a sunny room for a blind dog does not make a big difference. My eyes were hurting me very much and I had a lot of pus in them. They immediately treated me for the pain which eventually went away but I could no longer see.
 
In the shelter, I heard a lot of unfamiliar sounds like barking and also many human voices. All this seemed so strange to me after living for 14 years in a bathroom with no sounds no life, nothing but the sound of the water running from the tap. This shelter is full of life, of noise, of love, of warmth. But I feel so sad! A flash-back takes me back to the wasted 14 years and I realized how tragic my life was. I was howling all the time because it was only after Mohamed brought me to the shelter that I began to understand what a complete disaster my life had been. The Egyptian lady who owned the shelter was doing everything possible to make me happy, she was carrying me, cuddling me and giving me tasty pieces of chicken (I knew what a sacrifice this was as the shelter is not rich and relies on donations to survive). She was always nice to me, I think I was her favourite, but I was still depressed and my long years of suffering were imbedded in my heart. I was not reacting to anything. It was as if I was dead from inside. The lady was very sad for me because she didn’t know what to do.
                                            
Many people used to come the shelter to adopt dogs and as usual they only wanted to adopt puppies or pure-bred dogs. The lady was showing all the dogs to the adopters but never showed me, she thought I was “unadoptable“, I thought so too and the days went by. One day a nice looking young Englishman came to the shelter and met the Egyptian lady. I am blind but I still have very good ears:
- “Hi!”
- “Hi! “
- “My name is Andrew and I want to adopt a dog.“
- “Of course, we have beautiful puppies, we also have pure-bred…”
He interrupted her.
- “No, I have come for Ringo the blind dog.“
- “How do you know about him?“
- “I saw his picture and read his story on your web site. I want him.“
- “Are you serious? “
- “Yes, and I want to take him now!“
 
She immediately called Mahmoud, one of the workers and told him to bring me to Andrew. Drew took me in his arms and walked out of the shelter. The lady and her staff must have been speechless and did not move because I could not hear a sound as we went out of the shelter.              
                                    
Since that moment my life changed completely, Drew was bathing me regularly, and I was groomed regularly. He took me everywhere with him. He had plenty of other rescued animals in his house and they all became my friends. My life was so full! I was so busy, so happy. I prayed to God to grant me time to live to enjoy all this. Andrew gave me a role in a play he was organising for his students (he is a teacher). I became a star. Can you imagine?!
 
A year later we went to visit the lady in the shelter and she could not believe that this lively, happy, beautiful dog was really me. I was reborn, I was playing like a puppy and as happy as one. I lived with Andrew for 4 years before being transferred to paradise - dog department - (old age was the reason for my transfer).
 
This is the story of my life. I just wrote it to say: Thank you, Drew, from the bottom of my heart. You are the only human I regret, the only person I miss, you are the one who changed the bad impression I had about humans. By the way, please say hello to the lady of the shelter. GOD BLESS YOU.