Dawgz

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"Dawgz" is the fifteenth chapter of One Rainy Day in May. It is the third chapter to be narrated by Luther Perez.

### Summary

The chapter opens up on May 10, 2014 at 13:31:14 in Los Angeles, California. Luther can hear the sounds of a small creature off in the distance. He recognizes that it is a cat and it appears to be calling for help. He briefly attempts to search for it before giving up and resuming what he was doing before he started hearing the noise. Hopi is still with Luther, Tweetie, Juarez, Piña, and Victor and he is still trying to get through his initiation into the gang. Luther has taken him to visit his dogs. He instructs Hopi to open a door to release the dogs, but Hopi is too shaken up to move. Tweetie shoves Hopi to the ground then opens the door for him.

Luther explains that the area they are currently at is known as Dawgz because it used to be used for various fighting purposes. Dog fighting, primarily. People would place bets on which dog would win. It may not have made Luther as much money as he does now, but he still enjoyed it more than his current job of stuffing drugs into balloons. The reason the activity at Dawgz ended up dying down was because of the Bad Newz investigation that occurred back in 2007. After seeing NFL player Michael Vick on the news over the investigation, Luther decided it would be better to silence Dawgz.

Luther finds Carmelita, one of the women who works for him, inside of the building. She is typically tasked with taking care of his dogs while he is away. She is usually helped by another woman named Rosario, but Rosario is currently somewhere else. Luther hands Carmelita extra money as a way to make Rosario jealous and encourage her to not leave the building as often. He then takes Carmelita's umbrella for when he goes back out into the rain.

Hopi is still sticking closely to Piña as he has been doing. Luther looks over at him, and when he looks away for only a second, he fails to notice how Hopi has already sneaked past him. They walk out of the building and Hopi is instructed to close the chain-link gate on the way out. Luther tells Hopi the proper combination to the padlock, and it impresses him when Hopi is able to properly lock the gate on his first try. He asks Hopi if he has any family. Hopi says he only has his mother.

Back outside, Luther starts hearing the sounds of the crying cat again. He asks Hopi if he can also hear it. He can't. Luther can also hear his nine dogs (Doc Cavazos, Chen Chi-Li, Rayful Eddie, SloBo Jim, Agron, Sen Dog, Lord Gino, Smokey Miranda, and Tookie) all barking from inside the building. They turn back and Luther allows Hopi to feed the dogs. The dogs seem to like Hopi. Afterwards, the two start walking and Hopi continues trying to convince Luther that he can be helpful to the gang. Luther remembers a time where he said the same thing to Teyo.

The group returns inside of the building. Luther and Hopi approach the pool that was dug out by someone years ago, before Luther had started operating in the building. It is usually empty but the rain has filled it up. Carmelita tries to drain it out but the drain doesn't work. Juarez sneaks up behind Hopi and grips both of his shoulders. He starts pushing Hopi to make him lose balance but quickly pulls him back again. Hopi admits to the rest of the group that he can't swim. Juarez asks his age and is surprised when Hopi tells him he is twenty-one.

Luther asks what Hopi is good at. He tells him that he is an expert with computers. He asks Luther if he has any family. Luther doesn't answer his question. Piña finds one of Rosario's shoes on the ground. Luther instructs Hopi to take the shoe to the edge of the pool's diving board. Hopi crawls along the diving board because he is too scared to walk, which Juarez continues to mock him for. Hopi dangles the shoe over the edge of the diving board, and Luther tells him to drop it in. When Hopi does drop the shoe in, Luther's dogs gather around and start tearing it apart. Hopi loses his balance and falls, but manages to catch himself so he hangs over the dogs from the diving board. He decides to let go and lands safely in the pool. The dogs continue to act playful towards him, which surprises the entire group. Tweetie comments that since the dogs are being nice to Hopi, what they really need is a cat.

The chapter ends on May 10, 2014 at 13:47:06.