Duffy’s short canine legs were working overtime in his attempt to flee the much larger Doberman that had been chasing him since the park. His paw still hurt from the twig that had become lodged in it, but he could still run. He headed for a small hole in the fence he saw up ahead and made it through just in time to narrowly escape the Doberman’s sharp teeth. It barked through the hole, but Duffy recognized how safe he was, yelped once or twice with an attitude, then headed off to the dumpster he loved to root through before heading home.
He turned a corner only to find the Doberman standing there in wait, almost smiling at him. He turned to take off but the bigger dog was just too close, he knew he was caught. And he would have been if not for the little boy digging in the park.
“Hey!” the kid yelled and both dogs froze to look at him. He ran and scooped up Duffy. “Bad dog!” he said to the Doberman, who had been hit by his master just enough to assume another strike was coming, so he ran away whimpering. The kid held Duffy up so that their eyes met. “Hi, I’m Billy. Duffy, huh?” Duffy recognized his name and gave a friendly bark. “I think you owe me one, Duffy. That big dog was probably going to eat you.” Duffy responded by licking the kid’s face, on which the little Scottie recognized the taste of ice cream. He licked until the taste of vanilla was gone and then wiggled until Billy dropped him.
“Hey!” the little boy said as Duffy took off down the path, leaving Billy to continue with his digging project.
With the park behind him, Duffy headed to the dumpster, where he filled his belly from the Mexican restaurant that used it and went to head home when the door opened and a man carrying two huge bags of food stepped on his tail. Duffy whelped in pain loud enough that the man stumbled and dropped one of the bags. The splattering sound let him know something had gone wrong in the bag, but he wanted to check on the poor dog he’d stepped on first.
“You okay boy?” he asked in a kind tone as he squatted to check the pup. Duffy jumped up and barked once in anger before taking off, leaving the man to check on his dinner.
A Flash of Inspiration 