The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
The Fence, The Dog, The Gasp.
There’s a creature sniffing in the bushes, this is clear to the small girl with a set of freshly coiled braids. She tugs at her pink backback on her walk to school and approaches the house with the hound. She smiles in the direction of the sound–canine paws traipsing along the side of the house, still veiled in fading fall shrubs and unraked leaves. She puts her hands on her knees to stoop lower, to take a closer look. Safely on the outside of the fence, she gives a weak whistle–she’s still just learning how.
Then the dog emerges. She pops up, rocking back on her heels in a jolt of fright, stock-stiff like a cartoon character. In a Looney Tunes sketch, her braids would have stood straight up from her head. This dog could not fit in a teacup, it could not leave her grinning, it was a gigantic, meaty, muscular beast. The dog looked down to get a glance at her.
During her scream, the girl should be drawn as racing in place, building speed as smoke formed from her heels, then the scene would her explode in speed–forward! away!–hustling past the dog. Once beyond the house, she recovered from her shock and slowed down. Slapping her leg, she giggled to herself. A cartoon moment before the first bell.
–Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Bring on the (small) hounds! (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Sanders)
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Such a cute story 🙂
I was driving along at 7 am thinking: “What the heck am I going to write about today?” So the little girl decided to present me with some adorable niceness. 🙂
Loved it, Paige!!! I can imagine her braids standing up straight!!! lol awesome pic….I miss dachshunds
Did you have dachshunds? I haven’t ever had dogs before, but I did dog-sit the leader of this race for about two weeks. 🙂
lol he must’ve been a treat 🙂 my mom had a pair. I had bigger breeds, Paige 🙂 Hope your day’s being kind to you over there.
Your story reminded me of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-MjUC4f9k). It’s not quite the same as your story but I love how it demonstrates the thought process of children. So very heart warming 🙂
I’m such a sucker for both dogs and little stories like this. 🙂
Awww, these dogs are the perfect touch.
I had to borrow the photo from a friend with some dogs. I can’t commit to a pet, plant, or couch. 🙂
Reblogged this on The Nice Thing About Strangers and commented:
Wow, this was a post from 2 years ago…looking back over past blog stories, I remember spaces, moments, songs on the radio. It doesn’t seem possible that this was two years ago! 🙂
These dogs would have trouble looking down at anyone! So cute. Cute story, too. ❤