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Last summer I had the great idea of buying a dog.

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Everything started when Manuel broke up with me.

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And I couldn't think of anything better than replacing him with a big dog.

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With a lot of fur

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and an enormous mouth.

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I have always been against having animals in the house.

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It seemed cruel to the animal and unhygienic for the people.

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I didn't even want to keep the turtle

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that was given to Manuel for his birthday

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by his co-workers.

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It was big and ugly.

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We had put it in the bidet for a couple of weeks.

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Until I started having nightmares in which the turtle became giant

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and pursued me around the entire house.

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I managed to convince Manuel to leave it in the river

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that flowed near the village.

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We never talked about it again.

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Although I knew perfectly that he would've liked to have a kitten

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or a puppy, or a bird.

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Maybe that was the reason, for revenge, that I decided to buy a dog.

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"Now that you're not here anymore I'm buying a dog and you're not going to know."

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But of course, he found out anyway.

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- Should I return it?

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Tiny revenge.

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I was recommended to give it a name with one syllable

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so that the dog can learn it easily.

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I decided to name him Man.

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I liked it because it was the half of "Manuel"

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and it also meant "man" in English.

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- Although you're only half of "Manuel", you're much more of a man than he is.

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Manuel has one part of a man and another of an ox.

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Why do we want that part that means nothing,

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that only brings back memories and nostalgia?

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In the beginning, when I walked him around the neighborhood,

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I was a little ashamed to call him by his name.

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But after hearing such stupid things

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that other people had named their dogs, I stopped having any type of hesitation.

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- Man! Come here!

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- Good boy.

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Man and I went out every Sunday and went to the market.

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He loved it.

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He spent the morning going from one place to another

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behind everything that moved or drew his attention.

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It reminded me that when I was with Manuel

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he enjoyed teaching me all sorts of old tricks.

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He made all the salesmen bargain nonstop.

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He always told me that I had to bargain,

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that they raised the price for the tourists but I was ashamed.

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Man grew.

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And although he had grown loving

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after a few months living together I started to get sick of him.

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He wasn't even half of what Manuel had been .

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He was just a poor dog that deserved something better than living with me.

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Christmas came.

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And a friend of mine gave me a disk

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in which one of the songs portrayed me perfectly.

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It said that having a large dog when you are young and don't want to be alone

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is already a sign of self-destruction.

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If we were as free as we said we were

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we wouldn't need dogs to replace anyone.

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I felt terrible.

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I played the song over and over while Man watched me

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with those eyes that seemed to understand me.

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I wanted to be free.

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But that half of Manuel that was still with me was stopping me.

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Maybe with another name it would have helped me forget him.

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But it was too late to change it.

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So I had to make a decision.

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Like every year,

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on the 24th me and my whole family went to dinner in my parents' house.

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I hadn't told them about Man.

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I also hadn't told them that Manuel had left me.

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The dinner always ended with the exchange of the Christmas gifts.

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Every year my mother made a lottery to decide who was going to give a gift to whom.

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Last year I had Manuel.

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I made him a wool scarf and he gave me an album full of photos.

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This year I had my brother Javier.

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I had bought him a cologne.

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But when I was home wrapping it

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I realized that that was my chance to get rid of the dog

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and start a new life.

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I left Man in the car during the dinner.

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And when it was time to exchange the gifts I went down for him.

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But in the place where I had left him

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were neither my car, nor Man.

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It was the second time I had my car stolen.

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But the first time there was a dog inside.

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The police found the car in a field a few days later.

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But no trace of the dog.

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I knew I should be happy for not having to worry about it anymore.

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In spite of that I was sad.

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Much sadder than when Manuel left me.

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I put posters with Man's photo throughout the neighborhood.

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There was no news for several days.

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Until one morning the doorbell rang.

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- Man...

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- Manuel.

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Manuel and Man together.

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I couldn't believe it.

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He told me he had just bought him that day at the flea market.

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And that, although it was hard to believe,

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he had had the feeling that the dog had

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led him to my house.

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In addition, he said he missed me

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and that he wanted to be with me again.

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Man immediately recognized me and started playing.

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I didn't want to say anything to Manuel

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and he was very surprised that the dog was so tender with me.

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He said he had called him Max.

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I thought it was great.

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For the dog it sounded almost the same

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and for me it was two-thirds of "Manuel" and part of an unknown "x"

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that had made it so that all three of us were together.

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Subtitles - DecemberSky

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