Good Boy

Good Boy

Was he for real?

Often, when I passed Main Street, just past the small pawn shop and quaint diner, right underneath a big maple tree, I saw a dog.

It wasn’t an exceptional looking dog. Just a scraggly mutt with brown fur and black button eyes. He’d lay underneath the big maple tree, partly shrouded by the tall grass growing around him. Somebody really needed to mow that place, you couldn’t see where you were putting your feet!

He lay with his head on his paws, just staring. Into nothing, it seemed. His tail never wagged, ever. The many times I’ve seen him that dog’s tail never wagged. Just sat limply on the ground collecting dust.

What a weird dog. Was he for real?

I even tried to gain his attention once. Thought he was a stray and I could turn him in to the nearest shelter so he’d get a chance at a life. I was wearing high heels so it wasn’t like I could run. I just walked towards him slowly, careful not to make too much sound with my grocery bags and clanking keys. I got within ten feet of him. A good ten feet. Then I stretched out a hand, nothing too surprising. Unfolded my palm. In it was a doggy treat I’d picked up at the front counter of the grocery store. Free for the taking, too. He didn’t respond. Just stared at me with those black button eyes.

I lost the staring contest, by the way.

He didn’t take the treat. What kind of dog was this? I’d seen other dogs happily snarfing down the biscuits that their owners gave them. So why didn’t this mutt take my offering?

I waited for a few seconds, the treat still in my outstretched hand. Nothing. No movement. No tail thumping. No barking. Just… staring.

I slapped a bug on my leg with the other hand, jingling the bags on my wrist. Jesus, these bugs were driving me batshit crazy. The grass was so long it grazed my thigh!

Fuck. Nearly tripped over something. Something flat. A plank? I couldn’t see past all the green.

“Doggy want a treat?” I cooed, inching a bit closer to him. He didn’t move. What the fuck kind of dog was this? I huffed, pocketing the treat. This wouldn’t do. I had an appointment to go to in fifteen fucking minutes. I’d come back later for this mutt.

But that day, when I came back a few hours later when the sun was drifting lazily below the sky, he was gone.

Today, I kept my eyes trained on him. Watching him. He was in the same exact position as always, tail flat against the grass, head on his paws. He didn’t seem to give a shit when other dogs and their owners passed him on the sidewalk just a few feet away.

Now that I thought about it… The other dogs never seemed to pay any attention to him either. Even when they started barking at another dog a few feet away, they never barked at this dog.

Strange.

“Hurry it up, we’ve got a bus to catch!” My partner. He was always so impatient, that one. Never really stopped to observe his surroundings like I did. I suppose I needed him to keep me on track. I was a daydreamer, definitely.

“Do you see that dog?” I asked absentmindedly. He walked back over to me with a hand on his nose bridge, a sure sign of frustration. We had to catch a bus in ten minutes, to a meeting he had downtown. Normally his work let him stay home but today, since he had to actually leave the house to work, he was in a cranky mood. 

“What dog?”

I pointed. “That dog.”

He squinted. “The pathetic one under the tree?”

I turned to him, shocked. He had never really liked animals, but I didn’t expect him to say something like that.

“Why do you think he’s like that?” I asked softly, avoiding my partner’s outburst. He shrugged. Kicked a stone.

“Beats me. A stray?”

I was about to turn and ask him what he thought was the right thing to do for the dog but he was already walking away, scuffing the dirt with his feet. “Get a move on! We’re going to miss the bus because of some stupid mongrel!”

I made the dog a quick promise that I’ll be back. I was starting to feel a connection to the mutt, having passed him almost every day to work.

With one last wave and a sure eye-roll from my partner, I left the big maple tree and walked off.

I was back before long. The next day, actually. I couldn’t seem to stay away…

The dog was there, like always. Same position, same glassy stare from those black button eyes.

This time I approached boldly. I had no treat. No intention of roping him in.

All I wanted to do was touch him. Run my fingers through that scraggly brown fur and see his reaction.

Quick steps. Now was not the time for hesitation.

He didn’t react when I got five feet within him.

Three feet.

One foot.

He skittered away. As soon as I reached out a hand he skittered away.

Too bold? Was I going too fast?

Not too bold.

Too late.

I had missed my chance.

When I looked up again… He was gone.

---

Ay, you nearly made a new friend there!

Woof!

She’s a gentle one, that woman. She wasn’t going to hurt you, Sonny.

A whimper.

Aw, it’s okay. You’re a good boy. Yes you are!

A furious wag of the tail. Woof!

She really seems to like you…

A whine. A pat on the head.

The man looked up to the sky.

Almost time, Sonny… Don't be scared. I'm waiting for you right here. I'll be the first person you see when you pass. 

The dog slowly padded back to where he had been laying before.

He knew it was time. 

---

I stopped.

Where was the dog?

He was gone. Right underneath the big maple tree was… nothing. Just tall grass poking out of the ground.

Where had he gone?

I stepped closer, clutching the dog treat I had snagged once more from the grocery store. I was sure I was gripping it so tight there were crumbs falling off. Where was the dog? The mutt? The brown mutt with black button eyes?

The one that had won me over?

I had seen him so often under the big maple tree that I knew exactly where he had laid. Strangely enough, there was no indent shaped like a dog. Just… grass.

Wait.

There was something else.

I parted the grass and bent down, narrowing my eyes. I hadn’t found a dog…

I had found a grave.