Of Dogs & Wives | Luke Foyle | Grade 9
The next morning, Mr. Shields awoke to find that
he had come down with a cold. He thought that he
could “tough through it” but then remembered that
he had to go to the tax office in town. It passed his
mind that when she was there, Susan would have
gladly done it for him since he had a cold. However,
now that she was not, Jerry was forced to drag
himself into his old Dodge pickup to drive to town
and face the righteous wrath of Uncle Sam.
After an hour or two, Jerry left the tax office with the
sensation that his wallet was a trifle lighter. As he
crawled back into the cab of his truck, it dawned on
him that he had not fed his dogs. He was somewhat
surprised at his forgetfulness because he thought
too much of his dogs than to forget to feed them.
As the old truck rolled down the country road, Jerry
remembered the many times that Susan had taken
care of his dogs under the same circumstances. The
thought of how rare it was for him to return the
favor also flickered across his mind, but he brushed
it aside by stating that, “I went through enough
trouble to marry her; and if that is not enough, then
I don’t know what is!” This response reassured him
and he was happy.
Jerry Shields returned to his small house, extricated
himself from the truck seat, fed the dogs, and then
trudged to the door. Upon entering, he threw himself
down on the couch and remained there for several
minutes until he remembered that there was a bottle
of medicine in the cabinet that would help his sore
throat. He went to get it.
However, the stained label was typed in a small
font that was almost impossible to read since Jerry
had lost his glasses. He tried holding the bottle
at different distances from his nearsighted eyes
and was met with a varying degree of success. The
thought of how his wife would have helped him
returned to him as he tossed off an approximate
dose.
As the next morning dawned, the sun beamed
through the large plate-glass windows of the living
room on Jerry Shields, plastered on the couch where
he had fallen. He awoke slowly and thought of what
“Alright, she does stuff for me but I can do stuff for myself!”
31
BAYLEY BULLETIN, MAR-MAY 2016
