"Dad! Can't we skip it just this once?" Greg pleaded. It was Saturday morning. Don and Greg both had Martial Arts classes.
"No Greg, you made a commitment. Part of becoming a strong human being is by disciplining yourself. And anyway, I'm taking the puppy to the vet today. We have to have him checked out. I also need to try to find the real owner."
The whole time, Greg was distracted. Don managed to flip him - hard. He had the wind knocked out of him.
"Ah yes, humans are so frail. The slightest thing hurts them..." Don thought with satisfaction.
After class, Mom took them out for burgers. She then had one errand after another.
"Don, do you get the feeling that Mom is stalling?"
"Yeah... But we can't do anything about it."
Finally, late in the afternoon they got home. Dad was in the living room. "Can everyone please come here? It's time for a family meeting."
"Is he ok?" asked Greg, worried.
"I have both good and bad news, guys. The good news is that the puppy is in perfect health. The bad news is, the vet found a chip under the skin. It's as I suspected, he was never a stray."
At this news, Mom brightened. Despite trying to hide it, her smile was evident. Greg tried to hold back the tears brimming in his eyes. Don was curious where his fellow demon might be going. At least he was out of the cave, therefore unlikely to go mad.
"This is why I called the meeting. The puppy is not for sale, he was bred for a guide dog program. We have four options."
"Uh, dad? Does that mean one day he will help a blind person cross roads?" asked Don.
"Yes, if everything goes as planned."
Don turned away. He couldn't help but laugh a little. Having watched that very same animal become possessed by an ancient demon, he knew how that would end. The frailty of humans never ceased to entertain him.
A frail, helpless, and blind human at the mercy of Taspirin? That would be almost as much fun as having him become a part of the family. But not quite... The house was entirely too boring.
"What are the choices, Dad?" asked Greg, wanting to get back to the point.
"We have been offered the choice of being puppy raisers, or taking one of the puppies which wasn't selected for the program. This one would be ours to keep, free of charge as a finder's reward. Alternately we can wait for a future litter. We can take first choice, also free."
"Those are only three options, honey. What is the fourth?" asked Mom.
"Well, we don't have to have a puppy. That's why I asked for a meeting. So we can vote on it."
"If we decide to raise him for someone, how long will we get to keep him, Dad?" asked Greg.
"It will be at least one year. But I really hope you will go meet the other puppies before you decide. I saw them, and they are perfect. You've never lost a dog, but I have. It hurts. A lot."
'Will we ever see him again afterwards, if we raise him?" asked Don, only mildly curious. Obviously Taspirin would not be in the dog that long.
"Most likely yes, at least once more. But we will never be a part of his life again. You will lose him. Let's go look at the other two, before we vote."
"Alright, Dad. Did he go back there too?"
"No, I actually left him at the vet's, to be neutered."
COUGH COUGH COUGH
"What's wrong, Don?"
"I just need a drink. I'm fine." he sputtered.
"Good, then shall we go see the puppies? You'll get to meet the mama dog too, she's so nice!"
Greg was thoughtful. "If we decide to help raise a guide dog, what happens next - for us, I mean?"
"From what I understand, we will be right back where we are now. We can either do it again, get a puppy of our own, or decide not to have a dog at all. Personally I don't think any of us would feel like having another one around for a long while."
He really is great!" exclaimed Greg, playing with one of the two puppies, while the rest of the family watched.
"I better do something." thought Don, also known as Belazarkin. He most certainly did not want a puppy.
Pretending to check out the loner puppy, he let it see his glowing eyes. It ran to its mother. And wasn't seen again by anyone for hours.
"Hey Greg, what about the other one? Have you seen it yet?"
"No, I'll have a look."
Don then quickly gave the more outgoing puppy the same treatment. He hid inside the couch, and refused to come out.
"Well, shall we vote now?" asked Dad.
"I want the one I found."
"I'm with Greg." said Don.
"I vote we wait a couple more years." was mom's decision.
"I vote we take the little outgoing fella, but if you guys are sure about this, I'm proud of you for doing such a good deed." said Dad.
Secretly he had hoped that by leaving the guide dog puppy at the vet, they would be more open to the other two. By presenting the boys with a chance to take home a puppy of their own immediately, he was almost positive that they would see it his way. What had gone wrong?
"Ok, we will pick him up Monday night. But Don, you will need to get permission from school first to take him with you every day. That's part of the agreement with the Foundation."
"I'll do it!!! It would be so cool to train a seeing eye dog!" exclaimed Greg, literally jumping up and down at the idea.
"Sorry, but I don't think that would be a good idea, Greg. This is going to be difficult enough next year. I know it seems a long ways off, but the year will fly by. This is going to be one of the hardest things you will do in your life. This is my final decision, either Don takes him during the day, or we don't do this."
After the longest weekend of Greg's life, Monday night his new best friend came home. And promptly snarled at the two boys waiting to greet the cute puppy.
This is a 100% power up post
Cover image Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels edited to add the title and border and puppy eyes using the Canva gallery
Cool post, thanks for posting
Thanks, what did you like best about it :) ?
The topic and how it soeaks through the story.
Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @wrestlingdesires.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
Thanks so much for the boost :) I'm loving Ecency :)
Excellent, I'm loving the story! ha ha Taspirin ain't gonna be happy with that change in fortune...ouch lol
Maybe he should have stayed put in the cave 🤣 Could those little snips be why he's in such a foul mood? 😂
is this a sequel to a previously written story?
Yeah, the other parts are in the Just Down The Road curated collection :) We really do need it to state that in the posts. I'll see if I can suggest it as a new feature :)
I'm trying to challenge myself by making the pob-wotw prompt the next part of the series. So far it's been fun :)
!PIZZA !ALIVE
@nonsowrites.pob! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @wrestlingdesires.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (8/10)
You Are Alive and have been rewarded with 0.1 ALIVE tokens from the We Are Alive Tribe, and it's paid for by the earnings on @alive.chat, swing by our daily chat any time you want.
All boys would love a puppy but these boys really need a puppy.
!LUV
Greg needs a puppy :)
Don needs an exorcist 😂
!PIZZA !ALIVE
Thank you @wrestlingdesires,
You are one of the people encouraging me to write short stories. I mean I am reminded through your interaction that it is good to continue writing each week.. However this week was not possible and the pob-wotw did not fit the direction of my story.
I will follow your story and mutually encourage each other. !LUV !PIZZA
Thanks so much, I had no idea you liked my writing so much :) This definitely encourages me to try to do better :)
!PIZZA
<><
@wrestlingdesires, you've been given LUV from @mineopoly.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (9/10)
@wrestlingdesires! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @mineopoly.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (7/10)
<><
@wrestlingdesires, you've been given LUV from @mineopoly.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (3/10)
You need to stake more ALIVE tokens (you can send 10 tips for every 1000 ALIVE tokens that you have staked)
Which little boys wouldn't want a puppy? Don seem to be the strange one.
He loves exploiting human frailty .. like he does in his brother?
That's because he is a demon! They're never very nice😂
!PIZZA
🤣🤣🤣 I died laughing at this and then the coughing. Very funny.
This is really good, all the twists and turns. I'm sorry I've been offline a bit and missed this before now. I want to know what the next turn will be. Is there another after this for the series? I looked in your collection but didn't see one. I want more, very selfishly, I want more. 😂
That is a huge compliment :) And the next one was posted a day ago :)
!PIZZA
@nineclaws! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @wrestlingdesires.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (7/10)
OH BOY, I'll check it out! You're welcome. You've spun this out so well. 😊
I hope you'll like it. I had to include FOUR word prompts😂
🤣 I'll take a look shortly and leave you a comment.
Enjoy your bedtime story😂
It's going to be tonight's bed time story. Hoping for no nightmares. 😂
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@wrestlingdesires(2/10) tipped @nineclaws (x2)
Learn more at https://hive.pizza.