The Gift of the Ghost

The Next Day

It's around 7 am and I wake up. "Hey, bud, who were you talking to last night," my dad asks me as he walks to my doorway. "Uhh...Nobody," I tell him. "Well, your mom told me that you were talking to someone and weren't liking this home very much," he tells me. "Yea, I don't," I agree. "Okay, well let's go get some breakfast," he says as he walks near the stairs. "Alright," I say as I follow. We go into the kitchen and he starts making some coffee. I open the pantry, get some cereal, and make myself a bowl of it. "How'd you sleep?" "Well, I slept alright," I lied because I hadn't; I woke up in the middle of the night. "That's good, I guess," he tells me. "How'd you and mom sleep," I ask him. He turns his head towards the coffee machine and picks up the coffee that was finally done. "Dad," I say loudly. "Yes, son." "How'd you and mom sleep," I repeat. "Well, we didn't. We were up all night and busy," he responds. "Hmm, doing what," I ask. "Well, that's really something I don't talk about," he says suspiciously. "Oh," I say as I stare at him. "What, well, it's a surprise," he says to me. "Yea, alright," I say. A few minutes later, he joins me at the table and we sit and finish our breakfast. "Daddy," Emma says as she comes down the stairs. "Yes, sweetie," he says back. "Who was that man in our bathroom," she asks curiously. Dad gets up fearfully and stares at her to ask her to repeat her question. "The man in our bathroom, who was that," she asks again. Dad puts down his coffee on the table and runs up the stairs. He looks into the bathroom and sees nothing. "Emma, come here," he yells. "Yes," she responds. "Where is he, I don't see anybody," he says back to her. I come up the stairs as well, to see what is going on. I go to my room and get my pocket knife from my drawer. My dad and I start to search the house along with our weapons; my pocket knife and his handgun. As we finished searching, we found nothing but a dog that came out of nowhere. I held him and looked at his tag. The back said, "128766 Easters Co. Road" and on the front, it said "Tigris". I got my phone and searched for the address. "Hey, bud, we'll go take him back home after my coffee," my dad hollers at me as he goes to put his handgun back in his room. I looked back at my phone and it said that the address was 4 miles away. "How'd you get here," I whispered to the dog. He looked up to me and licked my chin. "Daddy, can we keep the dog," Emma asked dad. "No, sweetie. He already has an owner," he told her. Mom came out of her and dad's room and came downstairs. "Goodmorning," she tells my dad. "Mommy, look. They found a dog in our house," Emma tells her in excitement. "Oh my goodness," she screeches as she looks at the dog that was sitting in my lap. "Mom, it's okay. We're returning him home right after dad finishes his coffee," I told her to calm her. She loves dogs and this frightened her. "How'd he get here," she asks as she walks toward me and him. "I have no idea," I say. "Wow," she says as she sits next to me. Tigris walks into her lap and sits. "Aww, isn't he so adorable," she says as she pets him. "Alright, you guys. I am done with my coffee," dad says as he gets up and grabs the keys. Mom hands me Tigris and I walk to go put him in the car. We get in and drive to the address that was on the back of the tag. I pet the dog but realize as we get closer he starts shaking and gets frightened. Dad looks over and says, "well, that's awkward, shouldn't he be getting happier." "I have no idea," I tell him. I pet him more and try to calm him down as we finally arrive in the neighborhood. We found the house and it looked very nice. I got out of the car and held Tigris in my arms. Dad rings the doorbell and we hear a deep voice say "coming". Tigris starts shaking and it was very noticeable. "Is this guy a bad owner or something," I ask my dad. "Well, I have no idea, bud. But, we need to return him anyway," my dad tells me. The door opens and we see a tall, white, man staring at us. "Can I help you," he asks us. "Yes, we found this dog at our house and his tag has your address on it," my dad says. "Ahh, well, yes, that is my dog but I got rid of him. I left him about 3 miles from here. He's a bad dog and he always tears up my wife's shoes. So, we had decided to get rid of him," the man says in a clear and cheerful voice as if leaving this poor dog was the right thing to do. "Well, sir," my dad starts, "why would you get a dog and then release him miles away from you," he says annoyed. I could tell that my dad really disliked this man and I was starting to as well. "You know what, fine, you give him to me and I will give him to the pound," the man says as he stares at my dad with a mad look. "No, I am not going to let that happen. This poor dog doesn't deserve you, he deserves better," my dad says to the man straight up. The man fiercefully closes the door. We walk away but as we start to, the man opens the door again and he comes outside to us. He pushes my dad towards our car. "What the hell is wrong with you man," he yells at him. The man pulls out a gun to my dad's head but starts to cry and stares at the dog. As he cries he starts to lower the gun to the ground and he lets my dad go. "Brian, get in the car now. Take Tigris with you," he shouts. I pick up the dog and get in the car. "How do you know his name," the man asks. "Because I looked at his tag," my dad says calming down. "Why did you do that," he asks him. A tall, blonde-haired, lady comes outside of the house. "Rob, what are you doing to this man. Why did you take my gun," she asks aggressively. "I don't know, I just don't know," he says. She takes the man inside and shuts the door. "I am so, so, sorry. Why did you come and what did he do," the lady asks my dad. "Well, I was taking your dog back to you guys but we had a disagreement and a disliking of each other when we were talking. I don't appreciate how your husband says these bad things about Tigris now. No dog deserves that." "Sir, I am not his wife. I am his daughter. My mom died about 2 years ago. I am Sarah by the way," the lady says as she holds out her hand. "Nice to meet you," my dad says looked confused. "He said the dog chews on his wife's shoes," my dad continues. "Well, that was true. But, see, that was her dog and he was there when she passed. She passed in a car accident. Ever since then, he has been trying to get rid of him," the lady says. "I am a police officer and that is why he had a gun. He has anger issues," she says. "Oh, well I am extremely sorry to hear that. I was just returning the dog and didn't know about this situation," my dad tells the lady in apology. "Oh, it's fine, sir. If you need anything, I would be glad to help you. But, that dog, we can no longer have. My dad doesn't like him. I am sorry," the lady tells my dad. "And, I see you have a son." "Yes, his name is Brian. He's 12, my family and I just moved in about 4 miles from here," my dad tells her. I didn't really like how he told her my age, but it was fine, I guess. I opened the car door and waved at her, "hello." "Hey," the lady responds with a smile. "I would be glad to show you guys around sometime," the lady says. "Yea, I guess I should look forward to that," my dad says as he gives her his phone number. "Alright, well. See you around," the lady says as dad comes back in the car. "Bye," he says. "Well, what should we do with him," I ask as dad starts up the car. Dad starts to drive and as he stops at the stop sign he answers. "I don't know, keep him, I guess,"  he tells me. I was excited by that news. We now had a dog and Emma was going to love this.