Backyard Walking

Flash Fiction

Backyard Walking

Walking down the edge path behind our backyard. Something I do daily. Our backyard goes right up into the forest edge behind us. We live in the last house of a dead-end street. It’s been like this since we bought the house. Just married then, now two kids grown, and living their own lives, both nearby thankfully.

As I walked the path I’d walked a zillion times, I suddenly stepped on something and almost fell over! Not normal… the path comes right up to the lawn, and I mow some of it when I do the lawn just to keep it in tack. There was certainly nothing to trip over!

Looked behind me, there was a shoe! Not one of mine, nor John’s, and it couldn’t be the kids, neither had been here for days, I walk every afternoon. (The doctor says I should…) I walk to the path and back, three times! (That’s walking, right?) Anyway, a woman’s shoe!

As I sat there on the ground pondering, our cat Muffy, came over for a pat. When she saw the shoe, she started sniffing like crazy! If it was stinky feet, I think I’d smell it too, I smelled nothing. Then I heard a loud crow from the nearby tree on the forest side.

I automatically looked up and an owl was looking angrily right at me! Well! I was suddenly afraid for my cat, though, he seemed to be enjoying it all. Just to end this weird scenario, I threw the shoe right at the tree. The bird took wing, flew down, grabbed the shoe and flew off! Muffy meowed, it sounded like laughter…

Well! That’s when I woke up, and I still needed to walk! But this time, I was already enjoying it. Such is life.