amphibi.us

there was a terrible shouting outside
a young boy screaming
BUDDY! BUDDY! COME HERE BUDDY!
BUDDY, COME HERE!
the boy sprinted past my window
down my driveway
where there was more yelling and screaming

soon a filthy, pungent smell
seeped into the house
through the slightly open windows
of a late summer night

it was one of those horrid smells
you can taste on your tongue
and can’t spit out

BUDDY! BUDDY! BUDDY!
COME HERE! COME HERE BUDDY!

I sat for a few minutes
just listening
sometimes you don’t know what to do
so you keep doing what you know

but the boy carried on
his voice shooting out from various areas
around the house

and finally I pulled on a shirt
picked up a flashlight and went outside

turned out Buddy was a dog
and he was in the woods
behind the neighbor’s house

a skunk clamped tight in his jaws

other people arrived on the scene
family or friends with flashlights
sending foggy beams
slashing through the woods
and the cool, black air

I turned and walked away
went back inside
glad that Buddy was not my dog
that I didn’t have to clean him
and deal with that horrific smell
glad I didn’t have to bring him to the vet
get checked for rabies
and foot the bill

but most of all
I was glad
that finally, something
had gotten that goddamn skunk

© Jackson Warfield, 2010

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