A doggie excerpt

A little (unedited) piece of a story I've been fiddling to which I think a few A2Kers may be able to relate.


"Morning," I said, smiling. He didn't comment, but merely got up and trotted after me to the kitchen in hopes of securing a scrap of my morning toast. "You should know better," I said ruthlessly as I popped the bread into the toaster. Huffing a sigh, he turned instead to his food bowl and began munching half-heartedly at his dry dog biscuits. I knew, of course, he was only feigning defeat. He had yet to pull out the big guns in his arsenal. The puppy-dog eyes.

Ten minutes later I sat staring at my computer screen, sipping coffee, nibbling buttered toast, and pointedly ignoring The Saddest Eyes in the World. It is always best not to look directly into those eyes, they've brought grown men to their knees and humbled the mightiest of spirits. And with each successive bite they became more pathetic until, as the last morsel disappeared, it seemed as though they wept for the suffering of every tormented soul that had ever been.

But I hardened my heart, swallowed the toast, and Spot wandered merrily off to nose for crumbs in the sofa.

(Oh, and before you start reporting me for cruelty to ficticious animals, the dog is on a diet as he gets too many treats from persons of less fortitude than my protagonist)