One Evening in the Park

The man was lounging in the park, discontent oozing out of every pore, when he heard a car door click. He ran to hide behind the bushes, and saw a petite woman walking away from her car, towards the open space in the middle , carrying a yoga mat. It was clear that she was alone. He smiled with satisfaction.

Norma was late getting out of work. She had missed her Yoga class at the gym but it was too early to go home. Close to her work was a park where she sometimes brought her lunch sandwich. Occasionally, on her way home, in Fall, when the leaves turned and the park was carpeted in gold, yellow, red Maple leaves she would stop by to rustle her feet in the leafy mounds, smell the earth, feel the roughness of the bark, the softness of the grass.

But she had never been there this late. She liked it because it was tucked away  from the main road and she hardly ever saw anyone there but she avoided it after dark.

Its still twilight, she thought as she impulsively turned her car. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not see the big black dog lurking in the corner. Wanting to make sure he was unhurt, Norma parked road-side and got out. It was not a friendly dog and would not come to her. He had no collar and he tucked his tail between his legs but stood his ground. Feeling sorry for him, she waved.

Norma got back in the car and drove over to the park. Ten minutes she thought – it would not be dark for another 10 minutes at least.

The park was deserted. She walked to the middle, spread out her mat and sat down cross legged, breathing deeply.

One, two, three. She could feel the tension draining away, her body relaxing. She could hear the breeze whistling through the leaves. Then she heard branches crunching and suddenly a dirty, red-eyed, mean faced man was walking towards her. He was blocking the path to her car. There was nowhere to run.

Are you supposed to talk in such a case? Or are you supposed to ignore them? He was much bigger with solid legs and arms.

That was when out of the corner of her eye, Norma saw the black dog in the parking lot. He had followed her  and he was watching her, watching the man.

Norma held out her hands, looking at the man directly but past him squarely at the dog.

“You can have my money,” she said to hold his attention, to keep him from turning and looking back. The man lunged at her a leer forming on his face.

Caught completely by surprise, the man never saw the dog coming. He fell to the ground with the weight of the dog on his back and felt sharp teeth in his neck. Somehow he got himself untangled. He hated dogs and this one snarled like he was not going to go away. “Another day,” he said as he ran from the park.

Clearly a stray. “Do you want to come home with me?” she tickled his neck and cried with relief.

Writing 101: Serially Found

Earlier in the course, you wrote about losing something. Today, write about finding something. For your twist, view day four’s post and today’s post as installments in a series.