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Larry And The Dog Dish |
| Written by David Neve | |
| Friday, 08 August 2008 | |
Larry walked through the door and the first thing he noticed was that the dog's water bowl was empty again. Letting out a breath of exasperation, he dropped to the floor and stared at the empty bowl. "Missed it again" he said to nobody in the room. He looked at his watch and calculated the time since he last filled it. Five minutes. He filled the bowl, gathered up the trash bag, walked the trash bag outside to the pickup container and returned. Five minutes. Five minutes and the bowl was empty again. He went to the refrigerator door, grabbed his list and slowly started going down it.
Water Milk Cherry Kool-Aid V8 Cranberry Juice Milk Of Magnesia Doctor Pepper Orange Juice
Orange juice was the last item he had placed in the bowl and by far the fastest to disappear. He put the list back on the door and looked at the empty bowl. Determined to find out what is happening to the liquids in the bowl, he filled the bowl back up and sat across the room staring at it. Charlie disappeared more than a week and a half ago - so he knew his dog wasn't drinking it. In fact, had Charlie not been gone, he may never have noticed that Charlie isn't the only one drinking from the bowl. Sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the room, Larry sat and watched the bowl. Minutes turned into hours and nothing had happened. He got up to stretch his legs when he thought he heard a scraping sound. Sitting back down immediately, Larry continued his vigil. Moments later he was rewarded for his patience in the form of a small clear tube, about a quarter inch in diameter, rising out of the hardwood floor. As he watched he could see no apparent hole in the floor; the tube seemed to begin at the floor and was extending itself slowly, moving towards the bowl. He watched as the tube made its way over the lip of the bowl and then slowly slipped down to the orange juice. There was a short sucking sound, and then the orange juice was gone. Shortly thereafter the tube also disappeared into the floor. Larry was stunned. Although he had no idea what to expect, he did not expect this. He stood up, intent on continuing his experiment, but after glancing at the clock - decided that sleep would be a better idea. The next morning he got out of bed and went straight to the kitchen. He looked at the bowl and an odd thought occurred to him. He wondered what the mysterious tube operator would not drink. Retrieving the list from the refrigerator once again, he studied its contents. So far, everything that he had put into the bowl had disappeared within an average of ten hours. He had gone from one extreme to the next, even went the silly route and tried Milk Of Magnesia. He did notice that nothing on the list was incredibly tart. Grapefruit juice. Unsweetened grapefruit juice would be his next test liquid. After eating a quick breakfast, Larry filled the bowl with grapefruit juice. He went to the other side of the room and waited. Not even three minutes had passed before he heard the scraping sound and then saw the tube appear through the floor. As before, the tube made its way to the bowl and dipped in. Larry watched with fascination as the liquid flowed through the tube and made its way through the floor. As the bubble to liquid ratio increased, and the bowl was pretty much empty, Larry was surprised to see a blue liquid rising up the tube and flowing into the bowl. He sat and watched the bowl fill until the tube was empty. Then watched as the tube retracted itself back into the floor. He waited for a little longer, not sure if the tube was done, then got up and walked to the bowl. He lifted the bowl and sniffed the contents. It didn't smell bad. He swished it around in the bowl and the consistency didn't seem offensive, whatever that meant, he thought. He touched it and it felt as much like any other juice he had known. There was only one thing left to do. He grabbed a ladle from the kitchen drawer and put about six ounces of the substance into a small glass and set it on the kitchen table. He then took a seat and stared at the glass. Now what? He had no family to speak of. Charlie was gone. He had a job, but so what? He picked up the glass, gave it one last sniff and drank. At first the liquid tasted sweet, then he noticed that it had a bit of a twang to it that caused his mouth to pucker up - then he found that it had the kick of a good southern whiskey. When he got to the last stage of the flavor sensation, he folded up like he had just done a double shot - that moment when the burning sensation hits your throat and you're gasping for air but don't want to take a breath; when you scrunch your body up tight like you want to cough, and you squeeze your eyes shut to fight back the tears. Long minutes later, "Whew," was the only word he could get out as he sat with his eyes still closed, recovering from the drink. He opened his eyes when he felt something cold and wet against his hand. He reached up and found a muzzle, and then the rest of the animal. "Charlie?" Charlie whined that happy, "Gosh I'm glad you're here" noise that dogs make when their owners come home from work. Larry rubbed his eyes and blinked them a few times, "Why's it so dark?" Copyright 2008 David Neve |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 08 August 2008 ) |
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