Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Blog Challenge: Day 21.

Finish This Story in Under 500 Words:
      The flash of light momentarily blinded him, and he wondered how it had all come to this. 



He was walking on the side of the main road out of town, a backpack on one shoulder, his dog’s leash in another. The headlights of the car turning down the road in front of him seemed brighter than usual. However, it could have just been the dark night and the rain.

“Austin?! Austin Bridges?! I thought that was you. I recognized The General!”

A woman was shouting at him through the window of her car. She rolled it up and got out. She was under dressed in yoga pants and a white hooded sweatshirt, her feet getting soaked in her flip-flops.  She had something in her hand, but he was so confused as to who this was that he didn’t register what it was.

The bright purple umbrella popped up and over his head and hers. She looked into his face, and he looked down at her. She was familiar, but he couldn’t place her. However, he was saved from the embarrassment of having to ask who she was, because she wasn’t looking at him at all. She had put her hand down and was scratching behind The General’s ear (his favorite spot).

She told him to hold the umbrella and, not knowing what else to do, he took it obediently. She crouched down in a catcher’s position and was giving The General her full attention.

While he worked through all the people who could know his dog like this, she looked up and said, “I’m Gracie. I work at the dog hotel you bring The General to. I have never spoken to you, but I see you come and go. This dog loves you so much! And he is all of our favorites. Why are you walking him in the rain?”
All the pieces were clicking together, he had seen her a few times when he dropped The General off at Le Pooch (the name wasn’t his favorite thing in the world, a little too frilly for his giant English Bulldog, but they had the nicest staff and the acreage they sat on was something you dream about). He had never given her much of a thought, except that The General ran to her when he saw her, and he didn’t run.

He thought about what to say to her. The truth? Or a lie? He was too cold, and wet to be creative with a lie, and it would already take The General hours to dry out if they got out of the rain this second.

“Long story, but my parents think I am on a train to North Carolina State. As you can see, we aren’t.”
 
http://d3o47n6kn1r59u.cloudfront.net/images/dogbreeds/large/English-Bulldog.jpg
 

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