04-14-2015, 10:59 PM
As not so 'Little' James cantered by, his rear end fully under the auspices of the larger of his two dogs' aptly named K9 teeth, Jack and I could do nought but press our podgy little faces to the slats in the unpainted picket fence and wonder with awe (though probably more likely we were frozen with fear) as to what could possibly have transpired to cause James' favourite furry friend to turn on him in such a viscous manner. By accounts I had overheard between my brother and his friends, my young mind surmised that the tale began at James' extravagant birthday party (to which my presence had been forbidden due to the fact that 'stupid little kids' would ruin everything). James had always been, what most would consider to be, a bit of a bully. a fact that was only exasperated by the ever-present threat of "I'll set my dogs on you!" It seems that on this occasion, when pressed by his peers to carry out his, always resorted to, threat, his plans to reciprocate had inadvertently backfired. Upon releasing the aforementioned hounds, after what must have been several minutes of riling the caged canines up into a frenzy, one of the feral beasts must have mistaken the boy's boisterous enthusiasm for the final reprimand that broke the camel's (or in this case, the doggy's) back.
James' relentless bulling spree most definitely came to an end that day, more due to the irate insistence of his giant dad than from the life lesson he'd learnt. And soon afterwards he had recovered from his, what some would call poetically just, ordeal with only superficial wounds (and a "trophy scar' spanning the length of one side of his back which has no doubt instigated many a hero's tale in working men's clubs throughout his adult years). Jack, however, seemed to be totally unfazed by the events which had transpired. While for me, this close up canine gnashing experience had a profound 'fear of all things dog' effect on my own psyche. Perhaps the recent immolation of all he had called 'home' was still weighing too heavily on Jack's troubled mind, or the maybe it was the prospect of his dad shrinking completely out of existence. But for me, the birthday dog attack on 'Little' James was a definitive pivotal event in the course of my life all the way up to early adolescence.
Last edited by Menelaus; 04-15-2015 at 01:02 PM..
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