Casually dressed and sporting a messy bun, I made my way to the car to ride into town. The weather gave me the feel of summer despite being in April whilst the smell of wildflowers engulfed me in a magical bliss. I’d never taken the time to admire my surroundings like this before, perhaps because back in the city all I could see was concrete and cars, whereas here, you could see and feel at the same time, how nature balanced out. It’s aura gave me a peaceful state while heading out of my property.
I turned on the radio and Maroon 5’s She will be loved was playing as I passed by my neighbours’ houses. The streets were quiet and since it wasn’t even noon the town was almost deserted. I parked the car by the local library and explored my surroundings, unsure of exactly what I was looking for. In my fear of not feeling safe I had ended up here without a clue on how to fix that so I just walked around the town square with no direction, hoping to get some divine sign of what to do. Moments later, I took the first exit out of the square and my eyes caught a glimpse of the solution I was looking for.
The town’s lake surrounded by a big portion of grass was entertaining the presence of the dog I had seen on my hike earlier on. The golden retriever was running around following butterflies whilst his owner sat under a tree with a book in his hand. As I approached him, the dog took notice of me and ran towards me, happily moving his tail when he reached me and allowed me to pet him.
I had been so scared earlier that I didn’t bother appreciating how helpful dogs were for people with issues like mine and as I petted the dog I realised exactly what I needed, to feel safe here. Smiling down at the dog, his owner approached me with a look that was a lot less intimidating now than it had been up on the hill. He greeted me with a smile this time and softly asked ‘Can I help you with something?’ and in that moment I thought and said ‘Yeah, I think you can.’
‘I saw you earlier by the hill close to my cottage. I don’t know if you remember-‘ I tried continuing but my voice trailed off, embarrassed by the impression I had probably given him when he saw me eyeing him like an axe murder. He picked up on it immediately and nodded, reassuring me by saying ‘I remember.’
‘Oh great!’ I sighed relieved and slightly less embarrassed. ‘So, what can I help you with…?’ he asked, putting an emphasis on the last bit of that sentence which told me he was fishing for a name to fill that gap with. ‘Uhm Mia…my name is Mia. With dimples lighting his face and a wide smile he extended his hand in acknowledgement, ‘Nice to meet you Mia, I’m Hunter. This is Thor.’ He pointed at the dog and scratched him behind his ears. ‘What can we do for you?’
She asked herself the same question and managed to get her brain working for more than two seconds to answer with ‘I’m new in town you see, and I don’t know where things are around here so I was just wondering if you knew where I could find either an animal shelter or a pet shop, since you…you know? Have a dog?’
The look on his face told me my questions didn’t really make sense since I was literally assuming that he knew where the animal shelter was because he happened to be in the park playing with a dog. Blushing and feeling slightly uncomfortable I tried to make it better by explaining what I had meant by asking a stranger about an animal shelter but I only seemed to make it worse. Eventually, I just said ‘ Sorry, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.’ and attempted to leave but he stopped me ‘No, no, that’s not it. There just aren’t a lot of people around here looking for that sort of thing so we don’t have a shelter here but, I know a place that has some pups if that helps?’
Could that be more axe murder-like?
‘No, you know what? It’s fine.’ I said backing away ‘I’ll look up a shelter online’. ‘Are you sure? I can give you a ride there and I’m sure you’ll find a good pup to take home.’ Alarmed at his suggestion I just waved it off and said ‘Thank you but no.’ quickly running out of the park towards my car, anxious to get back to my cottage and lock myself there.
Note: This post continues the story line of the two previous ones Morning brainstorm #1 and #2.
Creative Writing Studio 