Just for the weekend

July 3,2012

Today's Prompt:

Write a story 1000 words or less or a poem 40 lines or less about what happens when one person's pet interferes with that person's social life or relationships.



There are a lot of ways to do dog ownership wrong, and at this point Darlene knew just about every one of them.  Not because she owned a dog, but because she was a keen observer of what everyone else was doing wrong.  Did these people have no common sense?

Damn people were just as bad as parents sometimes and often she wanted to scream from the top of buildings, your so called furry-child is not as cute and precocious as you seem to think he is. 

She lived in a small house without fur shed onto every available surface, on a nice little street where she didn't get woken up every morning to something sniffing her face wanting to be let outside or taken for a walk, with a little backyard free of yellow pee marks. 

Life was grand. 

She could go out when she wanted; she was free to not come home for days if there was ever a reason to stay away over night. 

Yes.  Life was grand. 

She went running in the running club, and she met friends for coffee.  She had over two hundred friends on facebook, some of whom she even knew the phone numbers to. 

And then it happened.  A friend, one apparently who didn't know her too well, brought over a dog.  It was a mutt of some kind; her friend didn't even know what the mix was.  It was short haired, beige coloured, and about knee high.  Its tongue looked abnormally long for its size.  It smelled bad, it drooled, it peed on her garden gnome. 

And what was worse.

"I'm moving today into an apartment that won’t allow pets.  Greg's friend can't take him until Monday; please can you watch him for the weekend?" 

"Does he bark?"

"No."

"Is he house-trained?"

"Yes."

"Fine.  Just the weekend."  Darlene glared at the dog now rolling around in the grass in her back yard.  Maybe it could stay out there until Greg came and got it? 

Her friend left and the dog watched her go.  And that just left Darlene and the animal. 

She went inside.  It tried to follow and it sat on the back step crying. 

She waited about five minutes. 

The damn thing kept crying.

Maybe it was thirsty?

She filled a bowl of water and brought it outside.  It looked at the bowl and looked at her, then looked at the door. 

"You aren't coming inside."  She told it. 

The look he gave her said differently. 

"Fine, but stay in the kitchen."  She said. 

The dog followed her inside and sat beside the table.  It watched her.  When she went to the bathroom it tried to follow.  She shut the door in its face and heard the thump-bump of it pushing against the door to get in. 

Well, it would just have to wait. 

In the evening it followed her to her bedroom. 

She tried to keep it outside, but it made a low grunt noise that sounded horribly sad.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she put a blanket on the floor? 

The dog liked that idea and lay down on the blanket. 

In the morning she missed her running club.  Dogs weren't allowed.  But it was just for the weekend and she knew dogs needed to be walked, so she brought out the leash and took it running with her. 

She missed her running friends and felt a pang when she saw them jog past in the park, but she looked down at the dog and the dog looked up at her.  Was it smiling? 

The plan for the day had been to go for lunch with a friend, followed by shopping that afternoon and then directly to another friend’s house for an evening bar-b-q.  She looked at the dog.  How long could she leave it alone? 

A few hours would be fine.  Right? 

So she went shopping.  And she went to the bar-b-q.  At nine o clock everyone was sitting around the bonfire talking, and Darlene could only think of the dog she left at home.  She'd been gone ten hours.  Did he need to pee?  Was he thirsty?  Was he lonely? 

At nine thirty she left the party just as it was really beginning. 

The dog greeted her like a long lost friend.  He didn't look annoyed at being left for so long, he just looked genuinely happy that she was back. 

The next day she didn't miss her running group so much. 

She bought a chew toy for the dog when she went grocery shopping. 

And when the weekend ended and Greg was ready to pick the dog up she was actually kind of sad he'd be leaving. 

"Who's taking him?"

"My friend ducked out, his wife thinks their kids are too young to have a dog.  I'm gonig to take him to the humane society, I'm sure he'll get adopted." 

Darlene looked at the dog.  She thought about yellow pee marks in her back yard and dog fur on her furniture and about having to be home at regular times to take care of it. 

"I'll keep him."