He was awakened from a sound sleep by the screech of the screen door at the back of the house. Larry listened for foot falls as he reached for his glasses and the cellphone he kept on the nightstand. There it was; the squeak of the floor between the kitchen and dining room. Someone was in his house. He quietly slipped into a pair of jeans and stepped into his shearling slippers. With the .45 he kept in the nightstand he made is way downstairs.
Larry saw the flash before he heard the shot of a gun being fired, but it wasn't his gun. The bullet grazed him as he fell backwards on the landing. Before he could make another move, Larry heard snarling, the growling, then yelling, "Get away from me!" Larry couldn't see what was happening in the shadows, but he knew the sounds of a dog attacking the intruder.
"Get away! Get away!" the man continued to yell. "Call off your dog, man! Call off your dog!" The growling and snapping, the sounds of tearing cloth and flesh, the clicking of teeth on bone continued. Silence.
Silence. It was over. Larry found a light switch and turned on the lights. The intruder was heaped in a soundless bloody mass that no longer moved. Whoever it was had been mauled so badly Larry couldn't discern a face. He called 9-1-1 on his way back to the bedroom to put the gun away.
The police and the ambulance arrived within moments of each other. The officer was a friend of Larry's form Church. "Do you know this guy?"
"Never saw him before tonight, Matt."
"I got to tell you, Larry, I haven't ever seen a mauling this bad before. Sorry, but I'm going to have to take your dog. It's just for a couple days. You'll most likely get him back."
"Matt, I don't have a dog."
"I thought you had a Shepherd, or Shepherd-mix. What was him name?"
Larry saw the flash before he heard the shot of a gun being fired, but it wasn't his gun. The bullet grazed him as he fell backwards on the landing. Before he could make another move, Larry heard snarling, the growling, then yelling, "Get away from me!" Larry couldn't see what was happening in the shadows, but he knew the sounds of a dog attacking the intruder.
"Get away! Get away!" the man continued to yell. "Call off your dog, man! Call off your dog!" The growling and snapping, the sounds of tearing cloth and flesh, the clicking of teeth on bone continued. Silence.
Silence. It was over. Larry found a light switch and turned on the lights. The intruder was heaped in a soundless bloody mass that no longer moved. Whoever it was had been mauled so badly Larry couldn't discern a face. He called 9-1-1 on his way back to the bedroom to put the gun away.
The police and the ambulance arrived within moments of each other. The officer was a friend of Larry's form Church. "Do you know this guy?"
"Never saw him before tonight, Matt."
"I got to tell you, Larry, I haven't ever seen a mauling this bad before. Sorry, but I'm going to have to take your dog. It's just for a couple days. You'll most likely get him back."
"Matt, I don't have a dog."
"I thought you had a Shepherd, or Shepherd-mix. What was him name?"
"You mean Hawkeye? He got a hold of the wrong end of a rattlesnake. He died about s couple months ago. I don't have another dog."
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