The Garage Dog - Part 3
Written by John Abram
Two days after the bite it was Saturday, and after a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, the Steadmans went for a walk down the gravel road. As they walked past the Nelsons’, they could hear the dog barking at them from inside their garage. “There’s that mean old dog,” Sarah said.
“It’s not the dog’s fault hon, it’s the Nelsons’,” her father replied. “They don’t love their dog enough to train it properly. The poor thing, it’s confined to living in their garage for God’s sake.” John knew that their dog behaved the way it did because of the carefree and uncouth, non- caring Nelsons.
“How come they don’t love their dog?” wondered Sarah.
“Because honey, they have bigger problems to deal with I suppose. Or maybe they don’t even love themselves.”
That night, as Sarah laid in bed, drifting off to sleep, she thought about the Nelsons. She thought about how unruly they were. She tried to imagine the situation that had driven them to be so problematic. Something bad must have happened to them, she reckoned, to have made them such a sad family. In the quiet of her own mind, with the crickets outside soothing her soul, she thought about how things could change for the better. She thought about her mom being happy in that house. She imagined herself petting the Nelson’s dog one day, it having warmed up to her, and she envisioned herself amicably chatting with the Nelsons in their yard. She imagined Mrs. Nelson and her mother sitting in rocking chairs on the porch, her dad and Ed Nelson out grilling some food. Her mom, however, at the same moment, in her own bed, was dreaming about leaving.
A few months later the Steadmans would indeed move to a different neighborhood. There they would plant flowers in front of their house, and again have the most well-cared home of the bunch. Sarah, jaded by the move, would no longer ride her bike around her community. Instead, she would walk sullenly past the other houses, stealing glances at the people inside; she would always be weary of them. And her heart would always jump whenever she heard a noise come from inside a garage.
Read Part 1
Read Part 2
The Author: John Abram
John Abram is a guy who likes to write and has many stories to share.
The Garage Dog
Part 3
Two days after the bite it was Saturday, and after a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, the Steadmans went for a walk down the gravel road. As they walked past the Nelsons’, they could hear the dog barking at them from inside their garage. “There’s that mean old dog,” Sarah said.
“It’s not the dog’s fault hon, it’s the Nelsons’,” her father replied. “They don’t love their dog enough to train it properly. The poor thing, it’s confined to living in their garage for God’s sake.” John knew that their dog behaved the way it did because of the carefree and uncouth, non- caring Nelsons.
“How come they don’t love their dog?” wondered Sarah.
“Because honey, they have bigger problems to deal with I suppose. Or maybe they don’t even love themselves.”
That night, as Sarah laid in bed, drifting off to sleep, she thought about the Nelsons. She thought about how unruly they were. She tried to imagine the situation that had driven them to be so problematic. Something bad must have happened to them, she reckoned, to have made them such a sad family. In the quiet of her own mind, with the crickets outside soothing her soul, she thought about how things could change for the better. She thought about her mom being happy in that house. She imagined herself petting the Nelson’s dog one day, it having warmed up to her, and she envisioned herself amicably chatting with the Nelsons in their yard. She imagined Mrs. Nelson and her mother sitting in rocking chairs on the porch, her dad and Ed Nelson out grilling some food. Her mom, however, at the same moment, in her own bed, was dreaming about leaving.
A few months later the Steadmans would indeed move to a different neighborhood. There they would plant flowers in front of their house, and again have the most well-cared home of the bunch. Sarah, jaded by the move, would no longer ride her bike around her community. Instead, she would walk sullenly past the other houses, stealing glances at the people inside; she would always be weary of them. And her heart would always jump whenever she heard a noise come from inside a garage.
Read Part 1
Read Part 2
The Author: John Abram
John Abram is a guy who likes to write and has many stories to share.
Comments
Post a Comment