Life in rural alabama (or) It's a dogs life
I am driving down the road one day in rural Alabama, a dog ran out in front of my truck and I ran over it. I saw the dog in my rear view mirror run underneath a house, so I turned around and drove back to the house to tell the owner what happened.
As I pull up I notice that the house is in an advanced stage of depreciation. Each corner of the house is held up by a stack of bricks without mortar or cement. There is no underpinning on the house so the entire house is suspended on only bricks and the house has no paint. I walk up to the porch and three kids are sitting on the porch eating a bucket of chicken. I ask them if a parent is home. One of them jumps down off of the swing and runs in the house. He comes back out a second latter and says. Daddy coming. He then climbs back up on the swing with his brothers and starts eating chicken again.
Out comes Daddy. He is pulling up the strap on his overalls and is barefoot. He has a lit cigarette in his mouth and an unopened beer in his left hand with the plastic rings still on it. He shakes my hand without a word and looks around as if looking for damage or trying to decide where he is.
I said. “I just ran over your dog. “
He said, “ What did he look like?”
Me “Brown “
Him “Where is he now.”
Me “Under your house, I don’t know what kind of shape he is in. I wanted to let you know what happened
Him “Bobby get the dog out from under the house”
Bobby jumped off of the swing as if he were shot off of it. He ran down the steps and shot himself under the house. There was a lot of barking and yelping as Daddy smoked his cigarette and opened his beer and took a sip.
Bobby emerged from under the house pulling the dog by his back leg. Bobby held the dog down by his collar while we looked the dog over. It appeared that I only ran over his tail, which was broken and hanging by a piece of skin. The dog was yelping and straining to get away.
Daddy stepped on the end of the dog’s tail and said “Bobby let her aloose”. Bobby let go of the collar and the dog dashed back under the house leaving the broken part of his tail behind.
Daddy then took one last drag on his cigarette flicked it into the street shook my hand and went back inside the house.
I got in my truck and went home.
Never a dull moment.
As I pull up I notice that the house is in an advanced stage of depreciation. Each corner of the house is held up by a stack of bricks without mortar or cement. There is no underpinning on the house so the entire house is suspended on only bricks and the house has no paint. I walk up to the porch and three kids are sitting on the porch eating a bucket of chicken. I ask them if a parent is home. One of them jumps down off of the swing and runs in the house. He comes back out a second latter and says. Daddy coming. He then climbs back up on the swing with his brothers and starts eating chicken again.
Out comes Daddy. He is pulling up the strap on his overalls and is barefoot. He has a lit cigarette in his mouth and an unopened beer in his left hand with the plastic rings still on it. He shakes my hand without a word and looks around as if looking for damage or trying to decide where he is.
I said. “I just ran over your dog. “
He said, “ What did he look like?”
Me “Brown “
Him “Where is he now.”
Me “Under your house, I don’t know what kind of shape he is in. I wanted to let you know what happened
Him “Bobby get the dog out from under the house”
Bobby jumped off of the swing as if he were shot off of it. He ran down the steps and shot himself under the house. There was a lot of barking and yelping as Daddy smoked his cigarette and opened his beer and took a sip.
Bobby emerged from under the house pulling the dog by his back leg. Bobby held the dog down by his collar while we looked the dog over. It appeared that I only ran over his tail, which was broken and hanging by a piece of skin. The dog was yelping and straining to get away.
Daddy stepped on the end of the dog’s tail and said “Bobby let her aloose”. Bobby let go of the collar and the dog dashed back under the house leaving the broken part of his tail behind.
Daddy then took one last drag on his cigarette flicked it into the street shook my hand and went back inside the house.
I got in my truck and went home.
Never a dull moment.
