Post by RandomWiktor on Jun 23, 2008 18:03:56 GMT -5
Sally:
She used to be beautiful and young, loved by a batch of human children and looking forward to a batch of her own pups. She was once cared for, and she once had a name. While she still may have been considered a young dog, everything else about her, and the world she lived in, had changed. The memories of her former life were little more than dying dream-pieces now, occasionally surfacing in faded blips of recognition when some familiar smell or sound would trigger them. Survival tactics had shoved most of the memories away, helping her forget those that she had lost. Aside from those haunting memories, all she had left in the world was some lingering sadness.
Everything else was empty.
The bang of the rickety screen door had the dog scrambling to her feet, always cautious of the old man who ruled the sprawling farmyard. However, he was only bringing food this time, clattering kibble tumbling into her bowl with a dry splash. The man disappeared into the house again, leaving the sheltie-mix to eat on the porch, as per usual.
She didn't feel much like eating. The birds and raccoons always finished off the last of her food, the portions always big enough for a much larger dog than she. The man's previous animal must have been quite a sight, because everything left behind that bore the old dog's scent was much too big for the slight female. The drafty doghouse near the barn could have fit five of her comfortably inside it.
Leaving the bowl of food where it was, she briefly considered returning under the porch to where she had been laying, but disregarded it blandly. She'd go wandering instead.
Padding along the weed-choked gravel driveway that delved deep into the quiet farmyard, she let her mind wander farther than her feet were taking her. The gray of the low clouds, bruised with held-back rain, made it feel as though a heavy ceiling had settled on top of the farm. Most of the animals were silent, save for disgruntled clucking from chickens that she ambled past.
Each day that she spent here had her wandering farther and farther from the heart of the farm. Every once in a while, she would head out through the cornfields and beyond, to the edge of the forests where several human properties met at a large creek. Sometimes she wouldn't come back for several days at a time. Travelling was never a planned endeavor for her....it just happened.
Today was one of those days. Her mind didn't return to her until she found herself at the edge of the barnyard, overlooking the band of weedy land that led between two corn fields, covering where the ground was too low and wet to farm. She knew this strip eventually led to the creek, and to the trees, and to the land beyond.
For now however, she would just sit and look, halfheartedly trying to understand the memories bobbing along in the back of her mind like dead gray bodies.
She used to be beautiful and young, loved by a batch of human children and looking forward to a batch of her own pups. She was once cared for, and she once had a name. While she still may have been considered a young dog, everything else about her, and the world she lived in, had changed. The memories of her former life were little more than dying dream-pieces now, occasionally surfacing in faded blips of recognition when some familiar smell or sound would trigger them. Survival tactics had shoved most of the memories away, helping her forget those that she had lost. Aside from those haunting memories, all she had left in the world was some lingering sadness.
Everything else was empty.
The bang of the rickety screen door had the dog scrambling to her feet, always cautious of the old man who ruled the sprawling farmyard. However, he was only bringing food this time, clattering kibble tumbling into her bowl with a dry splash. The man disappeared into the house again, leaving the sheltie-mix to eat on the porch, as per usual.
She didn't feel much like eating. The birds and raccoons always finished off the last of her food, the portions always big enough for a much larger dog than she. The man's previous animal must have been quite a sight, because everything left behind that bore the old dog's scent was much too big for the slight female. The drafty doghouse near the barn could have fit five of her comfortably inside it.
Leaving the bowl of food where it was, she briefly considered returning under the porch to where she had been laying, but disregarded it blandly. She'd go wandering instead.
Padding along the weed-choked gravel driveway that delved deep into the quiet farmyard, she let her mind wander farther than her feet were taking her. The gray of the low clouds, bruised with held-back rain, made it feel as though a heavy ceiling had settled on top of the farm. Most of the animals were silent, save for disgruntled clucking from chickens that she ambled past.
Each day that she spent here had her wandering farther and farther from the heart of the farm. Every once in a while, she would head out through the cornfields and beyond, to the edge of the forests where several human properties met at a large creek. Sometimes she wouldn't come back for several days at a time. Travelling was never a planned endeavor for her....it just happened.
Today was one of those days. Her mind didn't return to her until she found herself at the edge of the barnyard, overlooking the band of weedy land that led between two corn fields, covering where the ground was too low and wet to farm. She knew this strip eventually led to the creek, and to the trees, and to the land beyond.
For now however, she would just sit and look, halfheartedly trying to understand the memories bobbing along in the back of her mind like dead gray bodies.
