IN> A Fate, and a Good Dog

[Daniel Childers]

Again, a fate for you, from a half-remembered news story from years ago.

A woman was found ripped to shreds by her boyfriend's pit bull. Blood was 
literally
splashed 3/4 of the way to the ceiling, so vicious had the attack been. 
Oddly,
the dog itself was playful and friendly. Investigators swiftly determined 
that the
boyfriend was the beneficiary of the woman's life insurance, that he had had 
the
pit bull kill trained (ie, trained to attack and kill a designated target on 
hearing
a "kill word" from its master--a rare word unlikely to come up in casual 
conversation,
of course. This is a high degree of training), and his alibi didn't hold
up. Forensics proved he had been in the room during the attack. He quickly
confessed to having ordered the dog to attack, while cravenly hoping that
it would take all the blame.

This would probably not be his Fate in IN. Remember, your Fate is the worst 
thing
you can do. Many a depraved act of selfishness and brutality does not count,
if only because the sinner is capable of worse.

The dog was friendly and well-trained; it could be sent to a new owner--if
its "kill word" were known. If not, it would have to put down, for fear 
someone
would accidentally  say the kill word and set it off. Here is Fate: the man 
refused to
tell investigators the kill word. Here is why I consider this act his Fate: 
while
murdering his girlfriend for money was a terrible sin, it would have cost 
him nothing
to save the dog. He gained nothing by refusing to tell the kill word and 
save it.
And this was a dog that had served him well and loyally--the dog had loved 
the
girlfriend, but upon hearing the kill word from its master, it attacked 
obediently
and mercilessly. This was a *good* dog. (This level of obedience would make 
for
a bad human, but it makes for a very good dog. Many angels would argue that
this level of obedience is good in an angel as well.) It did not deserve its 
master's idle
malice. The man killed his girlfriend for a bad, selfish motive, but at 
least he had a
motive. For many people, this would have been wicked enough for their Fate, 
but
this murderer was capable of worse. He killed a good dog from sheer spite.

Dante didn't have it quite right--traitors don't literally go to pits of ice 
in
the lowest parts of Hell--but rest assured that special places are reserved
for them. This one belongs to Alaemon, though, so the details are hard
to find.

The dog went to Heaven, of course. Even if all dogs didn't go there, this
one was a Good Dog.