Unconditional Love

“That damn dog! How did she get out this time?” I asked.

He replied, “It’s my fault. I didn’t secure the back gate properly. Why does she run away like this when we take such good care of her?”

“We can’t take it personally. It is just doggy instinct to hunt. I am just sorry you need to chase her when she does this. Try looking down by the pond.”

Just as he grabbed a leash, the culprit appeared: tail wagging, dirty nose, and a dead gopher in her mouth.“There you are! Come here. Who is our best girl?”

From Guest Contributor Janice Siderius

The Postscript

It was boiling mid-September, Freshman Gym, 30 kids in blue and white trying not to faint, two bees hounding us, Mrs. Jenkins scowling at our clumsy volleyball.

Since then, Brian’s been in and out of marriages, has a kid he’s ok with not seeing often, multiple jobs, half-bald, half-brown wisps, slow, ineffectual, chunky.

But in that gym, Brian was a long-haired demon god, always moving, lean and all instinct, feasting on shiftless opponents and becoming the postscript to everything I would ever write about my youth, not always the point or the signature, but an afterthought never to be ignored.

From Guest Contributor Steve Bogdaniec

Worker

The sparse landscape spread in every direction. There were mountains to be sure, a flat white one to this left and a glass tower to the right, but there was no food within actual reach.

Jim crawled forward, then back, then to the left and right. An observer might think his path random, but Jim's instinct told him that the best way to find food was this haphazard approach.

He panicked when the giant approached. Only its torso was visible above the horizon, but Jim went hurdling in the other direction.

He wished he'd never left the hill this morning.

The Grimalkin

Finnegan wasn't the first to discover the cat. His dog was, as Finnegan was pulled forcefully to the brush where the grimalkin was huddled. Close to death it seemed.

His dog didn't know any better. If it hadn't been for the leash, Sam would have mangled the old cat. Dogs only understand their instinct.

Finnegan could see that this was no ordinary cat. This was one of the elders. There had been a time when his kind had ruled this land. That time was no more, however, and now they were mostly refugees.

Finnegan unclasped the leash and walked away.