Chapter 75 - 75: Guide Dog Are Expensive

Toby looked at his newly printed Chess School leaflet with satisfaction. He had had the artist revise it several times, and the final leaflet was beautiful.

"Mitch Watson World Chess Champion"

The words stood out against the background. With this kind of pulling power, he wouldn't have to worry about finding students. He was just afraid that Mitch would return home one day, and he would lose his star. But he could cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now, all he had to think about was how he could use Mitch to attract more students.

Suddenly a hand tapped him on the shoulder. Toby jumped out of his skin, "When did you get here, bro? You scared me."

"I heard you've tricked Mr. Watson into running a training school with you?" Kip frowned, "How could you do that? If he finds out you are using him, I'm afraid he'll get mad,"

"I didn't trick him. We came to a mutually beneficial deal." Toby explained hurriedly, "It's good for him, and it's a good career move for both of us. I'm not going to let this fail."

Kip frowned, "I heard you took Mr. Watson to the pedestrian bridge to visit a fortune – teller and told him he could find a wife here… You lied to him about that. You know he doesn't know enough English and just told him what he wanted to hear."

"No, the fortune-teller really said that!" Toby protested, "I didn't lie to him! I told him the truth!" He tried hard to persuade Kip. 

Kip remained dubious and asked, "Where is Watson now? Have you lied to him to get him to do something else?"

He grumbled, "He went to play chess with Sophia Green and try to persuade her to become a professional chess player. What a stupid idea. If she became a chess pro, we all might drop a place in the rankings.

Kip sighed heavily and patted Toby on the shoulder, "Man, you haven't paid enough attention to chess over the years, and now your game isn't where you want it to be. You miss the point. A strong opponent is the best way to improve your game. How you don't get that, I don't know."

Toby was speechless.

Kip continued, "Besides, will anyone notice you dropping from No. 55 to No. 56?"

"Don't talk about me like that. It's very rude." Toby said, and his voice was full of resentment. 

When Sophia and Mitch parted at the gates of the chess club, Sophia suddenly said, "Mr. Watson, whatever cologne or perfume you're wearing smells great."

Watson smiled, "That's kind! It's not a very fancy one. They make it in my hometown; I don't think they sell it abroad. If you like it, I can bring you some bottles over."

"That's all right." Sophia said, "I just think it smells good. The smell attracts more attention," She smiles a bit. 

After separating from Mitch, Sophia led Pierre, the dog home.

Pierre walked to heal perfectly, following her footsteps. When they came to an intersection, Sophia was going to bring him to a stop to wait for the green light. When she looked down, she found that he had stopped automatically.

She suddenly had a realization.

Back home, Sophia called Mitch, "Mr. Watson, did Pierre have a collar around his neck when you found him?"

"Yeah… But it was too dirty. It had words on it but it was too hard to make out, so I had to throw it away. What's the matter?"

"He is not a normal stray. Pierre is a guide dog!" Sophia explained.

"A guide dog?"

"Yeah. He's been specially trained. Whoever has lost him, must be struggling without him."

"But he was very dirty when I found him. He must have been abandoned a long time ago. And I feel pity for him that's why I bring him in,"

"Guide dogs are very expensive. I don't think anyone would abandon him. Maybe he got lost or taken or something?"

However, she had no way of finding the owner of Pierre. For many people, dogs were pets. But for blind people, dogs were their eyes and their lifeline.

She wanted to post a picture of Pierre on the Internet and would see if anyone could find the owner so they could come and claim him. She asked Mitch what he thought of this, and he agreed on the straightaway. It would be amazing if they could find his real owner.

Sophia thought about it and remembered that she had a lot of followers on her blog right now and so she could share the image quickly if she posted it on there.

She posted a picture of Pierre on her blog as soon as she got off the phone, hoping that someone who recognized him would tell the owner who would not be able to see Pierre themselves.

It was only now that she was on her blog that she saw her followers now numbered over 1.5 million. It was a huge number! She had hundreds of messages in her inbox and thousands of comments. There was one solitary message from someone she actually followed – the official online chess contest blog. It was another invitation to play 'Chubby'.

Sophia had not played chess with this guy for a long time. She said yes immediately.

The official blog soon responded that 'Chubby' would be available tomorrow afternoon and hoped that she would be online then.

Sophia didn't have class the next day, so she agreed.

Taking care of Pierre was really easy. He was a good boy: he wasn't naughty and didn't excuse himself inside. He just lay quietly on the ground. Sophia bought a bag of dog food, fed him some on time, and took him downstairs to the park for a while at night.

When Sophia told Kate she was bringing home a dog, she was worried that he would get the house dirty, but as soon as she realized how well behaved he was, she quickly accepted him.