The "More" Dog-food Debacle

Author's Note: This item was written for the "Daily Flash Fiction" contest on 9/8/2009, using these prompts: hammer, garbage, mountain.
(Word count: 285)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The "More" Dog-food Debacle

I hurried through my nightly chores.  Table cleared and garbage out, I settled on the couch to watch my favorite TV-show: "Duke the Wonder-dog."

Mom had gone to her Book Club meeting, and Dad was in the garage tinkering with one of his projects, so when the commercial offering a year's supply of "More" dog-food came on, ("More vitamins, More minerals, make your dog More happy, healthy and loving!") there was no one to stop me from calling and entering the drawing.  My brilliant plan was: if we had a year's supply of dog-food, Mom would have to let me get a dog!

One month later, the constant hammering in the garage as my father took out his frustrations on the defenseless lawn-mower, was surpassed only by the hammering on our front door as another group of irate neighbors complained about the smell.  What smell you ask?

Turns out, a year's supply of dog-food is an awful lot.

It couldn't fit in the garage, 'cause of Dad's workshop, so it took up half the driveway.  Mom gave away as much as she could, but apparently our town is full of cat-lovers.

The bright-red bags of "More" dog-food moldered and attracted ants.  Then birds.  Then squirrels. Then raccoons.  It seemed that every night, our driveway became "Wild Kingdom."

The moldering mountain of dog-food soon went from neighborhood eye-sore, to a community-relations catastrophe. 

Mom finally paid for a garbage company to haul it away.

I didn't get a dog out of it, but I learned an important lesson:  'Be careful when you win "More," you just might get it.'

That's a life lesson I carry with me to this day, albeit with a word tweak or two.