The Innocence of Dogs

Suddenly a loud smack hit the window, and Katie jumped from her bed. Briefly in the still dark night she caught a glimpse of something horrible pressed against the glass, but what it was she couldn't tell. It was instantly gone, tearing back across her lawn and leaping over the fence into the neighbor's yard.

Katie immediately registered the loud barking of a dog, and the screaming of a gruff man down the street: "I'm coming over there, Peterson! You hear me!?"

Katie leapt to her feet and ran to the window. Outside the fence swayed slightly and the magnolia tree in old Mrs. Malick's backyard began suddenly to shake violently. The moon shone brightly and Katie's eyes widened in frozen shock as a dark shadow, much the size of a man but more the shape of a mountain gorilla, lifted itself into the tree, climbed rapidly to its peak, then jumped over another fence into Mr. Peterson's yard. There was the loud cry of a panicked dog, a low whimper, a sudden yelp, then ferocious growling and snarling. Katie saw a light click on in the second floor of Mr. Peterson's home, then another on the first. Faintly she heard the creaking of a sliding glass door, the smashing about of unseen objects, then, finally, simply, the barking of the dog.

The next day found Katie working the midday shift at the store. Thankfully she was this time not alone, sharing her shift with Renee, a junior at UC Northridge, from which Katie had recently graduated. Outside for lunch, Katie grabbed something from the deli and on her way back overheard two strangers discussing the previous night's happenings:

"I'm going to kill that dog, I swear to God." "No, you're not. Come on."

Katie walked back into the store and nearly tripped over a tiny Chihuahua connected by an umbilical leash to sweet old Mrs. Malick, who was purchasing a copy of the Bible. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Katie.

"That's alright, my dear," replied Mrs. Malick, picking up her dog and kissing it on the nose, "you may not have seen him, but little Boopsie saw you. Isn't that right, Mr. Boopsie? Dogs always know more than we suspect, don't they?" It was then that Katie realized how much the dog was trembling.

Evening came and with it Katie's return home. Upon grabbing her mail, she noticed a strange package addressed to Mrs. Malick, apparently dropped off on her doorstep by mistake. Katie picked it up, felt something inside move, as though scratching to get out, and dropped the box suddenly. It hit the ground with a crunch and lay there still. With one foot she nudged it slightly, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

Moments later a ring at the door prompted Mrs. Malick to answer and find standing before her the nice young girl from next door. "Why, hello, dear."

"Hi, Mrs. Malick. Um? I think this is for you, it came to my house by mistake."

"Oh? I don't? oh, yes. Please come in..." she stepped back into the house, motioning for Katie to follow, which she did.