Outlaw and Dog

This was an assignment in my creative writing class while we were working on creating characters. The prompt was to write a short biographical story about a character named Sam Anderson. Although this isn't exactly what my teacher wanted, I still have a feeling I'll get a good grade on it.

-Outlaw and Dog-

Nobody liked Sam. Sam liked nobody. No one, except Dee-Oh-Gee, an old black lab. But can a dog really have opinion of its master? Scratch its belly, you’re its pal. Give it a treat, you’re its friend. Give it a home, it’ll sleep in your heart.

A dog’s love is unconditional. A dog is a thing. Something loved Sam.

Sam fit with a group that people feared: the outlaws. He was a like walker, loving to see the sun in the horizon through the updrafts of a cooking fire. If ever the time came for him to stop and settle, he would, but for now, he was a face for a wanted poster.

Why exactly was Sam wanted? Mostly the normal outlaw crimes: bank robbery, theft, evading capture. Murder, arson, conspiracy, and kidnapping could be added to his tab, but nobody could remember this. How? Consider he was the one to shoot up the OK Chorale. He was, indeed. But nobody remembered him. They saw new faces with guns. Yet it was still Sam.

Everywhere he walked, one could hear his spurs spin and whir and clink and clack. A world of silence outside what those spurs said. Then they would stop, and whether one saw his wry, toothy smile and hellion baby-blues or not, one still heard, “Howdy, pard,” and the bang of panic. Yet how could one forget this walking demon?

Nobody knows, because nobody remembers.

Except Dee-Oh-Gee. Can’t forget the lab. He follows and trails his master’s voice, a solitary bark to remind him of his existence. Dee-Oh-Gee is never forgotten.

Sam searches for things to add to his collection. A collection of what? Memories. Knowledge. The known fact. He wants to know things about other things. He wants to learn and teach. And, oh, the things an outlaw could teach.

Right now, as he hides in wait, Sam watches the sky dance and the mountains argue and the lizards eat and the earth itself turn. Sometimes he talks to Dee-Oh-Gee. Sometimes Dee-Oh-Gee talks to him.

And all the while, in his mind of minds, he knows he is real and everything else is fake.

*Author's Note*: Yeah, I realize that in some paragraphs I switch main topics, but you have to realize that was kind of intentional. I have left a spoiler to let you guys in on a secret about my version of Sam Anderson.

Spoiler

My version of Sam Anderson is a sociopath. For those of you who do not know what that is exactly, it is someone who views his world in a slightly deranged yet understandable way, in a sense. They think I can do whatever I want, because I'm the only real person in the world. Everyone else is fake. I can kill anyone I don't like because I'm not hurting real people, because only I am real and only I understand life. They are typically murderers and bad people if not properly treated.

Ooh. Intriguing. I skimmed it once, opened the spoiler, and thought, "Sociopath? Interesting!" So I read it again. Guess it's true that when you read something twice, you pick up things you didn't pick up before.

I like your character. And I like the part with Dee-Oh-Gee... you kind of went outside the box, using something else as a foil to describe your character. Nice touch.

I was only wondering whether it was too short, though. I don't know if you had a limit for your assignment or not, but I feel you could go even deeper into Sam's character. Even adding little hints that point to something else about Sam, like... more about how he feels. That conviction at the end of your piece? You could expound on that, I think. That would really tell us (without explicitly telling us) that Sam's not entirely normal, even for an outlaw. In your piece, I got the feeling that Sam was just an ordinary outlaw, until I read the last sentence.

Sticking with the sandwich critique here, so here's another thing I liked: your opening. It's short, but hitting us with a statement like that makes me think, "Why?" And then there's the second sentence, which gives us an idea of what type of person Sam is and why nobody likes him. So it draws us in (or drew me in, at least).

Great job! Hope you do well on your assignment.

I liked your character really much. Wish you could add more details and the things he did in his life to OBVIOUSLY show that he really is a sociopath. If I didn't read the spoiler, i would have thought that the main character is just an outlaw trying to make a living and be friends with his dog.
Your writing style? Pretty good and deep. Full of useful and interesting descriptions for the reader to get easily hooked and interested. Maybe you should work a little more on a writing style that completely immerses the readers and they become the main characters in the story. A tad too short for my taste but maybe i'm just so used to reading long works!
The flow was disjointed at the places where you switched topics abruptly. Maybe you could expand the story more and the switching of topics will be more flawless and smooth.
Overall i think its pretty good and interesting. Keep on working and you'll be an awesome writer!