I wrote this short story for the Christmas holidays coming up. Hope you enjoy!
I decided to go for a drive on this crisp and beautiful day of Christmas. The trees were so beautiful even though they did not have leaves on them. You could see the whole countryside through the trees. I drove for miles out in the country. There was not anyone out on these backroads since it was Christmas Day.
I watched deer cross the roads several times so I was being careful. It was extremely odd that deer were out during the day near the roads because normally they never ventured out like this during the day. They must not hear much traffic so they might be venturing out for food. Never liked deer meat and I loved the gracefulness of them. They are beautiful creatures.
Came upon a campsite sign that was tucked in some trees with a arrow pointing to the right. I decided to drive that way because I figured no one was camping this time of year. I turned right toward the campsite and saw that the place was deserted. The campsite had hookups for electricity with picnic tables and bbq pits.It was a beautiful setup.
I kept driving and a dog with a collar came running up to my car and would dash away a little ways. It would keep doing this for a ΒΌ of a mile. That made me very curious so I turned my car around and went back to where I first saw it. I was going back where he/she had run up to the car and it took off down an incline. I saw him/she come back when I opened my door and walked cautiously toward me.
I stuck my hand slightly out for the dog to sniff my hand to show that I was not afraid and friendly. I noticed the dog was female. It turned and whimpered and ran off, but came back. She seemed to be trying to get me to follow her. So I started walking in the same direction as she was trotting away.
We went down the incline a ways and I saw a lone tent down there. I also seen someone laying on the ground. I ran down to the person who turned out to be an adult male. He had a slight bump on his head that seemed to have some bruising. When I got closer to him and kneeled down, he opened his eyes.
By, the way, I had on a white parka jacket with a white shirt under it and white slacks. So, when he opened his eyes up, he said, "Did I die and is that why I see an angel?"
I told him, "No, you aren't dead. If this is your dog, then she found me driving around the campsite , She acted like there was something wrong so I followed her here to your camp,"
He told me, "Yes, this is my sweet dog, Pretty Girl."
I said, "What happened to your forehead? You have a slight bump on your head with some bruising. Are you alright?"
He touched his head and winced. He seemed to be thinking so didn't rush him cause even the slightest of bumps on the forehead can cause a concussion. His dog walked to the other side of him and laid down. She was looking at me with soulful eyes that seemed to be saying, 'Please help my daddy get better.'
He finally said, "I don't know. My head hurts and I feel like I have not eaten in awhile."
I asked him if he had a first aid kit and he said yes, that it was in his tent. I walked to his tent and crawled in and found it, then went back to him. I knelt down to him again and proceeded to put triple antibiotic cream on his forehead, He did wince and I tried to be more careful.
When I was done, then I told him, "I can make you something to eat, but you will have to come with me to my house for me to do that. If you are scared someone will bother your campsite then I can take your tent down and carry everything to my car while you follow me, then I can load everything into my trunk and you and Pretty Girl can get in and go back to my house. But only if you want to. It is Christmas Day and I have already eaten my lunch I cooked for today so I have many leftovers left."
He thought for a bit and then said, "You don't have to do that. I will be alright and besides we are strangers. I wouldn't feel right if you thought I was mooching off of you which might make you think I do this to get attention all the time."
I told him, "I would not think that and I want to give you a special day since this is a special day for celebration. Plus I have so much food that I would end up throwing a bunch out to the trash because it would go bad. So please don't think that!"
He smiled and said, "Thank you, yes, but you don't have to take my tent down at all because I actually live in a cabin near here. I was just wanting to get out of the cabin for a while. We can leave it here and no one will bother it. And by the way, to answer your question about what happened, I was in the process of chopping wood earlier and a piece of wood hit me hard in the head when it flew up. That was the first time that ever happened to me."
So I helped him to his feet and he said, "Hey, why don't you just drop me off at my cabin and I can get my work truck and then follow you to your home so that way you do not have to bring me back?"
I told him that I could do that, so I took him to his cabin down the road which he then followed me to my home in town. When we got there, his dog jumped out of the back of his truck and went barking at my fence to my backyard. My female border collie was back there. Susie, was barking her head off and trying to jump over the fence but it was too high for her. I knew she loved other animals cause when one came around her, she would want to play, so I opened the gate and Pretty Girl ran in there.
I turned to the guy and said, "Oh my manners, I just forgot to introduce myself to you. I am Liza Petre."
He answered and laughed, "I am Peter Long. Nice to meet you even though we seem to be friends already since you already invited me to your home before we introduced one another."
I laughed and took his hand and guided him to my front door. I unlocked the door and told him to make himself comfortable and I would start fixing us all something to eat. I went in the kitchen which was open to my living room so I could see him taking his jacket off and walking around observing everything I had. He would pick up a pic to look at it then put it down. As I was taking things out of the fridge, Susie scratched the door to be let in and I let both dogs in.
The house had 3 bedrooms and she ran to her bedroom and Pretty Girl went with her. There they could lay on her queen size bed that I spoilt her with and she had a lot of toys in there. Had to clean the room once a month to keep the dog hair down to a minimum. So I saw Peter follow them there. He came back and looked at me oddly!
I was heating the food up in my microwave and turned and seen that he looked confused. So I asked, "What is wrong?"
He said, "Do you always let your dog lay on your bed?'
I laughed and said, "That is her bedroom, not mine. I keep my bedroom door closed and also the guest room. Her room is always open. When I got her as a puppy, she wandered around and when I did not see her for a while, I went to look for her. I found her in that room asleep on the quilt so just let her have that room. I do keep the room clean for her plus her food bowl and water bowl are in her closet there. She knows that is where she eats and I eat in here."
He was really surprised about that, but let it go. He asked if he could help me, so I told him where the plates and silverware was and also the glassware. He got all of that and set the table. I asked him to get another extra 2 pet dishes under the sink so I could fill them up with food and water for his dog while we ate. He did that while I went to get Susie's bowls.
I filled them up and we both took them back to Susie's room and sat them down on opposite sides of the room. Both dogs started eating their food. We both went back into the kitchen and I served the food. We both ate in silence, but when we finished, we started chatting to get to know one another. While we were still eating, both dogs came and sat next to our chairs then laid down.
I said first, "So what do you do for a living?"
"I am a electrician."