The dog.

Last night I heard a lot of commotion on our street.

This? Is not unusual. My neighbors tend to be a bunch of banshees/fishwives and they yell and shriek and do things like, you know, call the police on each other. A lot.

Jason was outside, watering our flowers. He burst through the door and began rummaging through his tool-box. In a quick, determined way, which worried me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He said nothing.

"Jason, what are you doing?" I asked again.

He was silent for a moment and then said, "Something is going on up the street."

I said, immediately, because this is the way my mind works, "Well don't go up there!"

He never looked at me. "No. Someone needs help."

And he was gone again.

I turned on the television to occupy the children's minds and we waited. I know it was more than thirty minutes.

I wasn't necessarily worried, mind you. Jason is a big man and I never worry if he can take care of himself. He just always can. I knew he would be fine.

But I didn't like him being out there. Something just felt weird.

Finally he came back in the house. He looked defeated and distraught.

"What is it?" I said.

He came and wrapped his arms around me and said, quietly, so the children would not hear,

"The woman up the street came screaming down the road, asking me if I had a gun."

My eyes widened, "Oh my God! Why?"

His heart was pounding. I could feel it beating against mine. "Her dog was caught on a fence. The dog was trying to run under the fence and it got caught. It was a chain-link fence and it was broken at the bottom. It looked like the point had went through it's eye. She wanted me to shoot the dog."

He began to cry and continued, "I got it to lay down and I saw that it was only caught on the eyelid. I was able to cut through the wire and get it free from the fence."

"Will they take it to the vet?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"She said she didn't have the money," he said. "The animal control came and picked it up. She called them before she saw me. They said they'll take it to get care and then take it to the animal shelter."

I wanted to go get it from the animal shelter so I could take care of it and give it a home and it wouldn't, you know, be running around the neighborhood unlicensed without a collar or anything on. I know people sometimes have dogs that live in their yards, but in our city it's not legal to tie a dog to a tree or a post and leave it outdoors all the time, so people just let their dogs run loose. It causes a lot of problems. And the dogs are the ones who suffer.

I know that people have financial problems sometimes too, but really I wish people would consider what a big financial responsibility a pet is before taking it on. I won't even get into the fact that it was a purebred dog, because I might lose my testimony. (Okay, maybe I will a little. I don't understand why people pay hundreds of dollars for a dog and then don't have money to take it to the vet. I just don't)

I mean, her?



I love her so much it hurts. Even though she had gas this morning and farted really near my face.

I just wish everybody loved their dogs the same way.