A Boy and His Dog

What follows is the story of a boy and his dog. They spent hours on end playing fetch. And whenever they got tired, he would rub the belly of the dog, the favorite pet who would often rest at the boy's feet. Such comfort and security. The dog knew the boy would never hurt him. But the boy didn't realize the dog wasn't as gentle.

One day, the boy saw that the dog was underneath a table, gnawing at something. The boy thought it was the ball. He approached the dog, hoping to play fetch. The dog barked while lunging at the boy. The dog was eating scraps of food he found in the kitchen, and he wasn't about to have it taken from him. With primal ferocity, the dog took a bite out of the boy's thigh.

The boy mustered the strength to go to the vet with his parents. The boy cried as his best friend took his last breath. Then the boy looked at the myriad stitches on his leg, a tangled weave of swollen knots, and his memory of why he was there dried his tears. The sheer ambivalence of the moment left him listless. This is the story of a boy and his dog.