Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Bittersweet Tale of Geriatric Blue


Once upon a time there was a little hillbilly named Omar Watson who had a hound dog named Geriatric Blue.  They went everywhere together; the river, the creek, the Texaco Latrine between the river and the creek.  But one day Geriatric Blue was bravely defending Omar from a hobo and got rabies.

"I know he is your only friend in the world and that you'll likely become a stunted individual because we couldn't afford a vet to put Geriatric down in a humane fashion," said Omar's Mom, "but you have to take your shooting gun and shoot him in the face.  It builds character."

Omar got his shooting gun.  He leveled the sights at Blue and put his sweaty finger to the trigger.

"Gotta pull the trigger," he said.  "Got to be a man and make momma proud."

But one look in Blue's rolling eyes and frothy gums reminded him of all the good times they had being barefoot and throwing sticks in the river and doing whatever else it was that redneck children do on a regular basis.  It was very bittersweet, which I am telling you rather than describing using critical detail because it takes less effort on my part.

"I can't do it, Ma," Omar said.  "I can't shoot Blue."

And so he didn't.  Geriatric Blue lived a long, happy life biting Omar's redneck neighbors in the neck and buttocks.  Then came the day he bit Squirrely Zeke Loughton, who was out of his inbred mind on some sort of moonshine he'd made out of sterno, Scope and crystal meth.  The drugs caused the rabies virus to mutate, and he became patient zero of the zombie apocalypse.  

This would change Little Omar's life considerably, but that's not what this story is about.  It's about a boy and his dog.  Happy times.

THE END?

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