The Race Home( short story-page 7)

 

          I was sound asleep when suddenly Tara started to bark towards the dark side of the basement where the bathroom was and I thought did I leave the basement door ajar? I got up half-sleep and checked the back door and reaffirmed my conscience, it was locked and safe, so I laid back down beside Tara, but she was so distressed, very edgy for some uncertain reason, so I got up again turned on the lights and Tara walked in there with me to let her see that no one was in there, and I thoroughly rechecked every corner, and we both snuggled up and fell into a deep sleep until morning. 

          I usually got up and and ran two miles before I ate breakfast, Tara usually stayed on the front porch until I came back off the hill toward our home and she greeted me with the most passive eyes of any creature on earth, she was so acutely keen on everything, very little ever got by her. I showered and ate some cereal and fed Tara. We adjourned again to the basement and watched some morning banal shows and called it a morning.

          I was bored through out the day so I decided to head to the Rolling Fork River, a short jaunt of a mile through the bramble and mire, but it was always worth hearing the river’s quiet ripple run her recourse like she’s done a billion times, the quietness alone with nature was soothing because nature wasn’t always docile and forgiving, for she can be a lover, preacher, or a butcher and she can be them all at once. I love my woods and animals, nature has always been kind to me with her limitless solitude.

          We headed back and Tara never veered away like most Beagles do, she was always faithful to me and me alone, I guess the moment when I saved her life she realized I loved her. I jumped the five-foot fences like nothing for exercise and I laughed because Tara always just slipped through the woven fence so effortlessly and managed to always lead our way back home, she knew the trail better than me but a few times I’d hide behind a tree and she would stop and come back and find me, our little game we played endlessly.