Variations on Free Will
Variations on Free Will
He purchased the dog on a Wednesday
by Saturday it was already house-trained
Within a few weeks he had managed
to teach it basic commands and a few tricks
The best was the ‘business-bell’
a school bell left on the floor by the back door
When the dog had to go
it would lift its front paw and ‘ding’
Afterward it would watch him pick up the mess
and drop it into a pit in the farthest corner of the yard
***
He was devastated when it ran away
on a Sunday
He drove about town for weeks
yelling its name from his car window
He searched until he died
a month later
when he thought he’d spotted the dog
his neck craned for a better look
not paying attention to the road
running a red into the back of a pick-up truck
***
No one who attended the service
on a Sunday
found it ironic –
except for the dead man
and maybe the dog
long picked up and given a new home –
that the bell tolled
before they buried him
***
R L Raymond, Originally published in "Steel Chisel"