there was a dog outside and it kept
barking for some reason
Ah yes, it was chained
and the chain was terribly short
and the poor animal was hungry
Mother wouldn’t bother feeding it
No, mother wanted it
to die
because it had been father’s dog,
inherited along with the
house after father died
Mother forbade feeding the
poor thing
Her child stood next to the window
and listened to the poor
thing barking outside
It was better than listening to
mother drinking and
talking ugly words with her
boyfriends
He opened the
window
and the dog saw him immediately and
barked at him
He wanted to cry
Tried talking to the creature
but it wouldn’t listen. It kept barking
“Mother would cut my hand off
if she caught me
stealing food for you.”
But he was
a smart kid
He leaned over the window
and thrust two fingers
down his throat and
vomited before the dog
It was just close enough for
the tortured soul
to reach with its tongue
and that’s what it did
and the barking stopped