by David James
Highway 45N cost me four dogs when I was growing up.
Actually, having our backyard abut the highway was the real problem. It got to be where I was afraid to get too attached. We lost Nicky, Rusty, Spot and Tippy. After Tippy, I didn't want to have to be consoled on the highway right-of-way by our neighbor, Maggie Mae, anymore. It seemed my folks were always at work when the dogs were taken. It just hurt too much to have them get all crushed when they raced out through the azaleas and under the crepe myrtles and into the road, chasing something or being chased by who knows what.
When Tippy got hit, Dad said, “OK, that's it damn it, no more dogs!” My sisters and I knew it was the right thing for him to decide because they would always cry and we'd all mope around for days after each dog's demise. It seemed just after a new puppy grew old enough to insinuate himself into our family, a horn would blow, tires would screech and once again Nettie, our maid, would say, slowly nodding her old gray head,“ Um, um 'nother dog done gone.”
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I also lived near a freeway, the 405, and I also lost a lot of dogs, not to the freeway, but to our back gate, which we always forgot to close.
perfect: "Nettie, our maid, would say, slowly nodding her old gray head,ā Um, um 'nother dog done gone.ā
Thanks, fellas.
"After Tippy, I didn't want to have to be consoled on the highway right-of-way by our neighbor, Maggie Mae, anymore".
So true.
So good, David, so good.
Sometimes car chasing dogs buy the farm.
We hated a car chaser out on the gravel roads out in the midwest where I grew up. It wasn't so much killing one them, everybody expected they'd get it sooner or later, it was whatever it was that got into them. Dogs are too smart to get killed chasing cars
What it was was the tear in the fabric of order. It was the way the chaos flooded in when you heard them yelp and thump up into the wheel well making the car buck a little.
Crashing through that chaos is what upset us.
Wonderful opening here, David. Like this piece a great deal. Good voice and form.
Yes I agree with Sam, the voice is terrific. It certainly could be the opening to something longer as there's that wry and comforting pacing that would be wonderful to spend time with but great just as is *
Thanks to y'all. This is a fragment of a much longer piece that I've had lying around for quite a while. A couple of weeks ago I pulled it apart.
I appreciate that you took time to read it.
Yeah Iād like to see more too.
Heartbroken by this one, David!! I lost my first dog to a hit and run. Great writing and that last line is killer (no pun intended)!!! ******
So great, David! Love this.
And thanks to you two, Meg and Robert, as well.
Good one David - so sad and all too real. Been there before. Built a lot of fences too. But what can you do when you're a kid? *
Strong small piece. Damn highways--we lost cats. Glad to know there's more because I agree--compelling voice. peace *
Thanks, all of you. I appreciate that you took time to read this one.
Well hell, David. You did what you're supposed to do when you write...affect the reader, which you did, sadly. Good work
I really connect to this story, this writing. It stirs up a few memories...and not good ones. *
Good, sad story. This got to me in particular. "It seemed my folks were always at work when the dogs were taken." When the worst happens, those we need the most often seem to be missing. *
This struck a chord. I'm a cat person, and cat people have the option to keep them indoors with no outside. They live long happy lives. My first kitten as a child was crush by a parked truck that rolled. I never got over that. Four crushed dogs, now that's heartbreak. You conveyed in understatedly well.
Thanks to you all for reading this story.