There was still a humid dryness in odors // and of distance …
Drifting invisible droplets of foggy dew that were one and the same …
The sea-top flavors now moved upward to drift with the day …
To some-when …
The antennas were up and he did not understand why …
The new entered his nostril to deliver a welcome that came adorned with sweet mulch flavor …
The fertile earth housed and fed flowers surrounding the house …
He walked to the edge of the terrace and leaned over the wall / to a gesture of flight …
He looked for the beach where the waves rolled to a retrieval of predictable music …
The cliff too high to allow a beach view from the house …
He knew this for it had become a daily habit …
Made whole and fulfilled by his imagination and memory …
The sea waves were gentle this morning …
He mused ….
Weighing heavy were the events of the day to come …
Like a roll of film in an endless loop …
He kept catching from the corner of his right eye …
The black figure as it came out from within the house …
And dashed past him almost touching his leg …
Only to disappear behind the wall and unto the abyss of the cliff …
He paralyzed // unable to move or breath …
A playful joke being delivered by the dog …
Surely …
Following what seemed to be a well-rehearsed script,
He walked to the point where the dog had disappeared …
And expected to see her there, waiting for him …
The grass leaves move by the gentle breeze …
No dog …
It finally dawned on him that she had jumped off …
Or accidentally fallen …
In either case, there was no dog …
His eyes filled with water …
And his mouth became dry …
He ran into the house to take his car keys …
The road to the beach snaked alongside the cliff ….
And although he drove fast, it took the predictable eighteen minutes to reach the beachfront …
Without hesitation, he ran to the place on the beach directly below the house …
He knew it well …
Nothing …
Several people were walking about and became aware of his agitation …
A wild look moved his head from one side of the appointed location to the other …
He let out a primal sound …
Trapped in pain …
He walked over to where he was assured the body would be ….
And fell to his knees and took a large handful of sand and released it between his fingers …
The breeze took the sand away from him …
Back at the house …
He felt nothing at seeing where all five puppies had been mulled and eaten …
Short Stories
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I like that this piece begins in a calm setting and then progresses with a feeling of anticipation by the second half and then becomes darker as it advances. I must say the ending made me gasp. I was suspecting a ghost, but very nice plot twist!