Mad Scot and Dobermann out in the midday sun.

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I will die a saint's death, said Dick.

You? You'll be dragged into a ditch by a pack of dogs. They will eat the flesh from your legs and you will rot there, said Odin.

Next day Dick didn't like the look of the first motorbike boy. He continued around the dirty tracks of Anjuna. He was confused. It was midday. No motorcycles passed. He shuffled across another concrete bridge over another stream of shit. He was lost. There was a black dog beside the road. Good afternoon, said Dick. He felt the dog's teeth in the back of his leg. He turned and the dog disappeared through a doorway. An old Indian lady shook her fist at him. There was blood on the back of his leg. He washed it with warm beer and limped on. No motorbikes. He limped past the German bakery, passed the fortune teller, passed the travel agents and the post office. No motorbikes. Eventually he came to a boy and old man cross-legged on their bikes in the shade. Dick spoke to the boy.

What would you do if you were bitten by a dog? The boy's brow furrowed and he gabbled to the man. You want to buy a dog? No, I am bitten by a dog. Dick twisted his leg. You are bitten by a dog? You must go to hospital. For injection. No, no, no, said Dick, what would you do if you were bitten by a dog? The boy and man gabbled again. You must… No, no. YOU. What would YOU do, if it was YOU? The boy finally understood. I would go to the hospital. I would have injections. Dick sighed. I don't want to go to the hospital, I want to go to the ATM in Mapusa. I have no money. OK, said the boy, I will take you to Mapusa to the ATM and then we go to the hospital. No arguments. As middle-school teacher Dick was accustomed to be being bossed by 14 year olds. He sighed and got on the back of the bike.

In Mapusa he got cash, had his shoes repaired and consultation with an Ayurdeva 'healer' in the car park beside the bank. He took Dick's many pulses and described his various maladies. None of these maladies were rabies. Into a cone of newspaper went powders and herbs and into his pocket went 600 of Dick's rupees. Dick collected his shoes, returned to the bike and tossed the newspaper cone into a pile of trash.

The hospital was very clean. Tetanus and rabies shots were not the cheap drugs Dick had come here for. He would require five more injections over 8 weeks. They were essential. Through Panjem, to Delhi, to Varanasi, to NJP, Darjeeling and finally to Gangtok, Dick avoided temples like the plague and sought the plague it is lair. He met people. He saw things. He was a tourist and he was not mad.

Can you write better than this? Click here to prove it.

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