How fiction reflects life

[vaneramos]

You know how grumpy and stressed I was feeling yesterday. Well, I went for a walk to try and unwind.

I was wandering through the woods when someone came along with a couple dogs running ahead of her. She kept calling them back, but one ran right up to me and started barking aggressively, circling around like a guard dog keeping a thief at bay. I froze. The owner came running up, apologizing, but boy did I let her have it! If the dog isn't trained to behave appropriately around strangers, it shouldn't be off a lead. The owner was only about 15, pretty, smartly dressed and polite, and I started to feel sorry I had yelled at her. I was like another dog barking back. On the other hand, every word I said was appropriate. She deserved a tongue-lashing. I was scared out of my wits, and hate to think of it happening to one of the elderly people who walk through our park.

I walked home livid. When I opened the door, some junk fell in front of me. The kid upstairs had set a booby trap as a practical joke, probably intended for one of his parents coming home, but that was the second time it happened to me.

I came in, sat down, and wrote Chapter 25: more than 600 words describing how Tendril utters a scream of rage.

Comments

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot. I agree. This park is one of the few areas in the city designated for allowing dogs off their leads. I like dogs and don't mind mind sharing the park with most of them. There are no bad dogs, just irresponsbile owners. If an animal can't behave appropriately around strangers it shouldn't be allowed to run free.