Sleepless: A Collection of Weird Stories

Fetch

On that rainy day when smiling was out of character, laughter was grossly inappropriate, and the clouds' appearance matched the feeling of the family, Janet's 10 year old rottweiler, Chico, laid on the front porch with his head touching the floor more than all the raindrops put together. Janet's 22 year old sister, Rocky, was parking her red 2004 Dodge Neon in Janet's driveway, and to her surprise didn't see Chico energetically jolt towards her, a common ritual between them. Chico just laid there. Waiting and not waiting. Thinking and thoughtless. Rocky's eyes welled up as if the rain leaked in through a hole in her sockets, deeply exhaled and opened the Neon's back door closest to Chico,

"Poor baby! Come in sweetie! Jump in the car."

Chico moved his eyes acknowledging her, but stared off directly in front of himself two seconds later.

"Come on boy!"

Rocky pointed into the car,

"In! In you go!"

Chico didn't move a muscle, but again glanced in her direction briefly.

Rocky then decided to use reverse psychology,

"Fine! Don't go inside! More room for my cats!"

This didn't work for Rocky as she soon remembered that dogs don't speak english and understand reverse psychology. She rubbed her chin for a moment to brainstorm and remembered that she had some beef doggie treats in her trunk from her previous visit. She dangled it in front of the opened car door, but Chico didn't bite. She walked up to him and waved the slim-jim knockoff treat,

"Hello. I'm Mr. Beef. I'm here to inspect the inside of your stomach. Please let me in,"

but that didn't work either. Rocky leaned against the passenger's door, stared at Chico, and pondered how to get the dog to jump in. She looked at chico scrunching her eyebrows, squinting her eyes, and rubbing her lips against each other inwards and outwards, and then slowly opened her dark brown eyes widely and grinned with her mouth opened,

"I got it!"

She grabbed her spare house key from her cluttered fake name brand purse, ran inside the house and grabbed a chewed and dirty frog dog-toy. Originally green and fluffy, this now brown and rough frog was Chico's favorite plaything.

"Here boy! Inside"

She held it up near the car, threw it in the back seat, and Chico stood up slowly and walked toward it, finally jumping in.

"Woo! Hands down Janet's best purchase ever!"

Janet drove a mile down to her small two bedroom blue house. When she arrived to her home and opened the door, Chico walked in slowly, turned to her and then laid flat on the floor.

"Welcome home, boy!"

Weeks went by and Chico would eat only half of his food. He became noticeably thinner as time passed. His bone structure was visible through his fur, and after two weeks, flies started to circle around him. Rocky made multiple daily attempts to play fetch with Chico. She grabbed tennis balls, threw them far in her backyard, but Chico always ignored her. He laid on any surface, staring off into the distance. The only real interaction Rocky and Chico had were when Rocky grabbed his favorite frog toy. Chico always seemed to be alive at those moments. Rocky used that frog toy to get Chico to do anything. She got him to eat small portions by shaking the toy in front of his bowl. She got him to walk around the neighborhood by tying the frog with rope onto a broomstick, and holding it in front of him. Without the frog toy, he would've become unhealthy and sick.

One day on an early Saturday morning, Rocky grabbed the frog toy, shook it in front of Chico's face while he was lying on the ground outside in the backyard, and tricked him into the backseat of her car.

"I hope you like where we're going, Cheeks."

She drove for a few miles and finally arrived at a local park. As she parked, Chico sat up, and stared into the big open field.

"We're here boy!"

She opened the door and Chico eagerly jumped out into the parking lot. He stared off into the field, tilted his head diagonally, and started wagging his tail. Rocky was putting a leash on as Chico sped off into the field.

"Cheeks! Wait! Come back boy!"

Chico ran until he got to the center of the big empty field. He stared upwards, wagged his tail, sat, and then ran about 30 feet, jumped, and ran back to the center. Rocky was running towards him and then she notice something and stopped. She dropped the leash and broomstick-frog toy hybrid that she gripped in both hands.

"What the...Chico?"

Chico was playing, and he finally looked happy. Rocky was shocked and thrilled as she stared at the dog playing in the distance. Chico ran far again, jumped, and ran back into the center with his mouth open. When he reached the center, he closed his mouth, sat and waited for something. Again he ran, jumped, went back to the center with his mouth opened, stopped and closed his mouth. He repeated this for 30 minutes. Afterwards, he ran towards Rocky, wagging his tail, filled with energy, and started to lick her.

"Woah! I love you, too!"

She smiled, confused as to why the sudden change in his spirit. She poured water in a bowl for him, and he drank without the frog toy.

"Huh! All you needed was a trip to the park. This is where Janet use to take you, isn't it? Okay, we'll come here more often."

What Rocky never knew is that Chico didn't just like coming to the park because Janet would take him. What he loved most is that he saw her there that day and played fetch with him.