Category: Creative Writing

We all know the old adage, don’t we? Was silence golden in the situation I am going to write about below? Probably, because the friendship our neigbhor lady and I are beginning to form may have suffered severely otherwise. Well, decide for yourself…

As of late, we’ve been having some really toasty warm days, hot even.
The majority of people stay at home and try to keep hydrated and cool as best possible. And what did our neighbor lady do? She thought, that a bike ride through the woods would be just the ticket….wait for it…. She took her 15 year old dog along, who has health concerns, and had him running at full speed. Later on that evening, via text message, she complained to me, because her dog was so tired and had no energy left. Well gee whiz, why do you think that is?
It took every bit of home training I ever received as a child, not to hurl a few choice words at her.
What the fluff was she thinking? Oh, you know what? It’s nice and hot outside today, why don’t I go for a bike ride and have her running beside me at full speed? And when she flips me the birdie, because she’s exhausted and ready to collapse, I’ll look at her and say “But we’re in the woods, darlin’, it’s cooler here than in town, so what do you want”? Let’s see how much she likes that?! Gosh, I don’t know. Am I overreacting? I know, that sweet little guy is her dog, and it’s not my place to say anything. In hindsight, I think I should have regardless. She is a well-read, intelligent woman, that’s why this stupid action doesn’t fit into the picture at all. Otherwise she makes such a fuss over her dog, for example offering various food choices every day including cooked meals – because he is a picky eater. She buys all kinds of oils, pills, lotions and I don’t know what else to keep him healthy. And in stark contrast to this, that bike ride in the freaking heat. Luckily, her daughter’s kids are still on summer break, keeping their grandma busy and away from me. And while I begrudgingly adhere to the old adage in this instance, about silence being golden, I’m disappointed in her for doing this, and for being so unreasonable even days later.