It was a peaceful Saturday, no school that day and no school the next day. I had done all my homework the day before on Friday. Well, it did make me tired, but the serenity of Saturday morning assured me restfulness for the next two days. As the morning sun traced the line of the horizon, I let my pudgy dog, Suzi, out in the yard while I prepared her breakfast.

Carefully carrying her pet dish with dog treats, I stepped out of the backdoor to serve her majesty her morning meal. I called out Suzi a couple of times, but received no reply in return. Knowing Suzi’s capability of vanishing into thin air and only being found after a lot of effort, I dashed inside the house and searched every corner of the house, only to find no sign of that harmless creature.

Hurriedly, I grabbed my phone and came out into the yard and started contacting every person I had in my caller list. As I explained the situation to my father, I caught sight of the backyard door. It was open.…

Soon, me and my mother met our father a few blocks down the road as we had already started our search. We continued our mission in my father’s car. The vehicle came to a very sudden halt as my mother, visibly horrified, shouted at the top of her lungs, exited the car and came back holding Suzi’s collar. There were damaged bushes nearby, something Suzi would definitely do. But there was no sign of my dog yet. As we moved on, we saw paw markings in mud and bitten off grass in some yards we passed by.

Another halt caused us to come to almost fall out of our seats. There was a huge crowd in front of a house. We stepped out the car to see what the commotion was about. As we approached the source of all the attention, my mother jumped back in shock and I felt myself shrivel into a dried prune. Father shook his head side to side in disappointment. Suzi was stuck in the entrance of another dog’s kennel and the dog was stuck inside! So there was uninterrupted barking of the dogs quite unbearable for anyone present there.

Long story short, father had to pay to cover all the damages and I got ticked off for leaving Suzi unattended. The guilt gnawed at me like a persistent ache, but still to this day, I feel wronged to have been scolded like that for Suzi’s wrongdoings.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 12th, 2025