An Hour Later

An Hour Later

“This is a mistake.”

Jack looked quickly to see if anyone heard him. Fortunately, not.

He put down the stick he’d been carrying, sitting down to think.

He knew he should have checked the door when he heard Oscar scratching. Oscar always scratched when he wanted to go outside, but Jack was so close to the end of his homework, he just wanted to finish! Then he could take Oscar for his walk and enjoy it too, instead of hurrying because he still had homework. Once he did finish, he walked into the kitchen, unfortunately, the door was already open. Oscar had let himself out.

He’d rushed out, checking the yard, no Oscar. Plus, the small fence that kept him in was knocked over. Jack had planned to fix that a hundred times! But every time, once they got back from their walk, he always thought, ‘tomorrow’. Well, it never is tomorrow is it, he thought, as he climbed up the hill to the street.

He sat at the edge of the road, trying to decide which way Oscar would have gone. Usually if they walked from here, they went left, but if they walked from the other side of the house, Oscar would pull to the right. So, he probably did go left, but Jack didn’t know how long he’d been out. Going to the right, maybe he could catch him coming around the block, rather than running to catch up with him before he got to the busy street. A conundrum. Weighing the two possibilities, he unconsciously reached out, patting Oscar, who had just nuzzled up to his side. Which was when his brain finally checked in.

He grabbed Oscar giving him hugs and snuggles. Life was good again. Plus, an hour later, the fence was finally fixed.