On my way from school I came upon a group of people at Mass Dan-Dan's gate. Mass Jimmy and Mass Dan-Dan were engaged in a heated argument, which seemed to be getting hotter as they exchanged insults. My first thought was that Mass Jimmy must have found out about Mass Dan-Dan's affair with his sweetheart. I secretly hoped that Mass Jimmy would give Mass Dan-Dan a good beating, but no such luck.

I squeezed through the crowd and was surprised to see Monty, Mass Dan-Dan's dog sitting at the root of the Chinese banana tree, bleeding profusely, and whimpering in pain as he tried to lick his wound.

"Why they don't just shoot the dog and put him out of him misery?" Miss Hermin asked.

"Yes, ask the policeman who live down yonder to come and finish off the dog," said Mass Tom. "Is a sin to punish the animal like that."

That advice did not go down well with Mass Dan-Dan. "This madman need to lock up in jail!" he shouted, pointing to Mass Jimmy. "Only a raving lunatic would do that to a innocent animal!"

"Who the hell yu calling lunatic?" Mass Jimmy shouted back at him. "Why di hell yu don't keep yuh ole mangy mongrel a yuh yard? Yu lucky a never kill him."

I felt sorry that Mass Jimmy didn't kill Monty, not because I felt sorry for the dog, but because that dog was a real pest.

He raided the nest of every laying hen and ate the eggs. He made it a habit to pull people's clothes off the line. He chased little children who passed by the gate and even bit a little boy. When we complained to Mass Dan-Dan, he did nothing about the dog, so naturally, we would be glad to be rid of Monty.

Monty went to Mass Jimmy's yard and dragged his shirt off the line, but he chose the wrong man to fool with. Mass Jimmy was not 'too righted' as people put it, and he would not hesitate to chop up the dog. Mass Jimmy stoned him and chased him away, but he kept going back.

Mass Jimmy did not have a kitchen. He cooked outside, using three stones to support the pot on the fire. One day, Monty turned over the pot with his food, and Mass Jimmy's temper flared. He grabbed his machete and chopped off one of the dog's feet.

"Since yuh don't have a yard, yuh get one now!" he shouted at the dog as he limped away.

Leaving a trail of blood behind, Monty managed to totter back to Mass Dan-Dan. When Mass Dan-Dan saw Monty with one foot gone, he confronted Mass Jimmy and demanded to know how he could have been so cruel. An argument started and the crowd gathered, ready to intervene if the quarrel got out of hand.

"How in God's name yuh can be so cruel?" Mass Dan-Dan demanded of Mass Jimmy.

"Cruel?" Mass Jimmy asked, incredulously.

"Ah did that little mangy mongrel a favour! Him kept pestering me. Him thief mi food, drag mi clothes off the line and tear them up. Him even kick mi pot a food off the fire! That dog have no abiding city! Yu should thank mi for giving him a yard."

"Tell mi how yu do that!" Mass Dan-Dan shouted, angrily. He felt the futility of arguing with a madman.

"You fool," jeered Mass Jimmy as he laughed in Mass Dan-Dan's face. "Three feet meck a yard!"