Roberto, the dog without a name

"Roberto, the Dog with No Name" – An Adventure You Can't Miss! Are you ready for the unexpected? Imagine a mysterious dog arrives in your town in a simple cardboard box, unleashing a whirlwind of emotions and hidden secrets. Thus begins the story of Roberto, a dog with no name with an extraordinary purpose: to connect broken lives and reveal buried truths. 👉🏻 Get your copy today and get ready for an adventure that will leave its mark. Explore more details on the book's website! A Breathtaking Read. Independent Author: Discover the emerging talent of Juan Manuel Cuevas Herrera through the lens of his eight-year-old son, who possesses a boundless imagination. Heartwarming Story: Immerse yourself in a plot full of unexpected twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Unique Experience: A work that combines childlike innocence with surprising emotional depth. Book website: jmconteni2.wixsite.com/Roberto Author: linktr.ee/jmconteni2

Chapter One The great annual event. Spring had already arrived, and at Salvamento Canino everyone was preparing for the activities and adoption promotions. Roberto was a very talkative twenty-something, and although somewhat shy, always dreamed of being a superhero, a true Marvel character who traversed bus stops and wastelands in search of innocent little animals. Ever since he was very little, at the beginning of summer, he would occasionally take home sparrows he found in the street due to nest abandonment. Other times, he brought home lizards and even silkworms. But one day in September, back in 1984, while he was at the door of his old school to take a makeup exam in natural sciences, he saw two heartless boys beating and humiliating a poor little kitten. He approached, reprimanding those wicked youths, until they ceased their behavior. When he picked her up in his arms, he saw reflected in the empty tears of the wounded feline hurt and confusion as she pleaded for mercy without understanding anything. She sobbed with her nose slightly bleeding, and her almost imperceptible mewling was a plea for compassion. Roberto brought his nose close to the tender little face of the animal slowly, and when there was still a centimeter left for their noses to touch, the kitten exhaled deeply, deflating her lungs. It was at that precise moment that Roberto knew he would devote his entire life to being the superhero of innocent little animals. Roberto was the manager of his own animal shelter, Salvamento Canino, which had extensive experience in cutting-edge rescues. The shelter established itself as one of the best at the national level thanks to Roberto's hard work and determination. That morning, amidst the hustle and bustle of the volunteers, Roberto, poised atop an old wooden ladder, was getting ready to hang a string of triangular blue flags. The ladder he kept with quite a bit of love and nostalgia, as it was the first donation he received from his neighbor, Candela. “Take this so you can climb trees and help the kittens,” she had told him enthusiastically. Roberto spotted among the volunteers a rough, sour man with a very bad-tempered and aged face. He was holding in his broken and cracked hands a closed box that formerly housed spare parts for the car. Made of cardboard and stained with oil, the box was held together with remnants of tape, and three uneven holes acted as vents. “Hello, kid!” he muttered unflinchingly. “Are you the one who picks up strays from the trash? Well here, I leave you one for the collection,” he said while dropping the box to the ground without bending his back. He walked away focused on the path he came from. Roberto couldn't believe such a performance, and after standing still with words on his lips for a few seconds, he slowly descended the wooden stairs, step by step, his face marked by shock. When he finally put his foot on the ground, he took a deep breath and turned towards the cardboard box. After looking at it for a few seconds, he knelt before it, and with a still surprised expression, he slid his hand over the box as if it were a chest found underground and covered in dust. He opened the box carefully, discovering with surprise the treasure that it held inside. Tiny, with a nice plump belly, with eyes as black as jet and fur as white as snow. He had a little black nose, small as a button. His little tail was stretched and arched upwards. He emitted a smell of firewood and whined nervously in search of a comforting warmth that reminded him of his mother. Everyone paused their chores for a moment, surrounding Roberto and the little dog gradually until forming a circle of curious onlookers. After a few moments of observation, everyone resumed their tasks, finalizing the preparations for the inauguration of the great annual adoption event, where dozens of families would come to welcome all those abandoned creatures into their homes, giving them much love and all the affection in the world. That little dog quickly won the hearts of all the staff. His sadness quickly faded, transforming into a whirlwind of jumps and games. It seemed that he had found a family, siblings ready to accompany him on his adventures for the rest of his days, or at least, that was what fate seemed to have in store for him. The event was a complete success. Dozens of families gathered at the venue filled with hopes and dreams, in search of new members to incorporate into their homes. “Goodbye, Roberto! Thank you for introducing me to Plumita. I will take care of her and shower her with love,” an older man said very happily while hugging his new acquaintance—a lovely striped kitten, about six months old or so, rescued from an industrial trash container on the outskirts of the city, where the old cement factory was located. Margarita, a twenty-something with a disability and in a wheelchair, did the same with Pulgas, an old pug who lost the mobility in his back legs after being a victim of his ruthless owner, who hit him with a metal bar and left him to his fate in a deserted area under the intense and suffocating heat of the sun. “Don't worry, Pulgas! We will help each other,” Margarita said with her new friend resting on the soft blanket of her lap. At sunset, Roberto was very happy, as once again, with the help of his volunteers, he had managed to give a home to almost all the little animals his shelter had rescued. Little by little, as the hands of the clock moved forward, families, animals, and volunteers began to leave the event. When the last ray of sun fell, Roberto was still sitting in his office, organizing and arranging all the adoption files that had been processed throughout the day. Once he finished his work, he got up from the table with a big smile on his face and full of satisfaction. He looked at the empty facilities, shaking his head from left to right and from right to left, with his hands resting on his thin waist. With the flick of a switch, all the lights began to turn off, leaving a kind of increasingly dark twilight. When his feet crossed the door of the complex, he took the keys from the right pocket of his jacket and inserted them into the lock, suddenly noticing a thick hand resting on his left shoulder. “Excuse me, sir! Can you still assist me?” “Oh! I'm sorry, sir, but we are already closed. Please come back next Monday, and we will see how I can help you.” “I'm sorry to insist, sir, but I come from very far away, and the journey has taken longer than intended. It's important, and I would appreciate your help. You see, it's my son Carlos' birthday. He turns sixteen today, and I promised him I would get him a dog when he reached that age. I must keep my promise, or otherwise, I will lose all my credibility with him. Don't you think it would be a great disappointment for a young man like my son? Please, I beg you,” the guy exclaimed. Roberto looked him in the eye while thinking about the somewhat awkward situation. Then, he remembered that little puppy that arrived in the morning stuffed in that greasy, dirty box with three holes. “Alright! Come in, maybe helping you will help someone else more.” The gentleman bowed his head, holding the hat against his chest with his left hand while he expressed his thanks. They went to Roberto's office, where they talked for a good while about the needs and instructions regarding the adoption, until the man took a pen out from his jacket and signed the documents, thus certifying that he would now be the new owner of the little dog. “Congratulations! He is yours now…” Roberto said, pausing as if trying to add a name to the sentence, both of them falling silent at the same time. Then, the gentleman looked at the tag of Roberto's red shirt and said, “Roberto. I will call him Roberto in your honor for having helped me.” “I think it's perfect!” Roberto exclaimed, shaking hands at the same time as he got up from the chair. “And I'll buy him this red collar, like your t-shirt,” he added spontaneously, taking the item from a nearby shelf and raising it high. The two laughed, throwing guffaws into the air and leaving the place again with the lights off in complete silence, as if time had stopped and the ether were eternally suspended.