Man's Best Friend, Boy's Worst Nightmare

         Asher was not a dog lover, or a cat lover, or an any animal lover for that matter. So once he found Ace, his life was turned upside-down. Asher was walking along the dirt trail that wound around his house the day he first saw the beagle. It had just started to rain and the path was rapidly turning muddy. Out of the corner of his eye Asher caught a glimpse of an odd shaped brown lump in the roadside ditch. He lightly jogged to the gulley and peeked in over the small lip in the road.

A small yap of excitement came from the blob of mud and something that looked like a stick started to wag back and forth. Asher bent down and smeared some of the dirt off the thing. Its back leg was stuck in a muskrat trap and the poor thing had been stuck there for who knows how long.

Asher gently removed the metal jaws. The thing jumped out and firmly planted its feet on Asher’s chest. Mud splashed everywhere and a wet pink tongue slid across the boy’s face.

“You’re a dog?!” Asher stammered, spitting the sludge out of his mouth.

The pup only barked wagged his tail. Asher pushed it off him and sat up, wiping his shirt. The dog fell and picked up the leg that had been in the trap. It looked up at the boy with its sorrowful brown eyes and whimpered.

“No, you’ve got to be kidding me. Nu-uh. No way.” Asher said, standing and shaking his head. “Now, stay dog. Stay.”

He slowly backed away and turned to run. The pup barked and chased after him on three legs. Asher sighed and picked the dog up in his arms.

The walk back home was a long and cold one. The rain poured down like a waterfall. The dog never stopped squirming in Asher’s arms and he wrestled with the animal. When they reached his house, Asher ran up the steps and plopped the dog down in the bathtub. He turned on the water and rubbed the muck off the pup, grumbling the whole time.

“Stupid dog, I don’t even like dogs. They always need walked and fed and taken out to the bathroom. You probably even smell bad, don’t ya?” Asher brought the pup’s fur to his nose and sniffed.

“Uh! You are rancid, dog!”

Asher took his mother’s bottle of shampoo and cracked open the cap, dumping the shimmering liquid all over the matted fur.

“Now you’ll smell like tropical breeze with a hint of vanilla.” He read off the bottle, throwing the dog a grin.

Asher scrubbed and scrubbed till his hands hurt. Bubbles covered the dog, often causing it to sneeze. The boy stood and reached for the shower head to rise the pup with when the hound made his move.

The dog leaped out of the bathtub, bubbles flying every which way. Asher yelled and franticly chased after the dog. There was a trail of soapsuds all over in his room and down the stairs and the boy finally found the dog lying on the couch. All the bubbles had burst and what Asher laid his eyes on was beautiful.

The pup was a beagle with a stunning glossy coat. His nose was bright pink and a small black spot shaped like a spade was on the tip. Asher couldn’t help but smile.

“You think you’re funny, huh? Are you like top dog or something? The kind of the castle? The high card in the deck?”

The beagle replied with a bark at the last comment.

“What? You’re the ace?” Asher said mockingly.

The pup off the couch and onto the boy, knocking him over. His wet rosy tongue flashed in and out of his mouth, rapidly licking the boy’s face.

“Hey! Okay, okay. Cut it out boy. Fine, you’re the Ace.” Asher said, defending himself from the relentless slime covered tongue. He put his arms around the beagle’s neck and stroked his fur.

“Maybe I’ll keep you Ace. Just maybe.”

Word Count: 678