Chapter Eighteen: Clyde

Chapter Eighteen: Clyde

A few weeks later, along came a new addition to our little family. No, not that kind of addition.

I was outside hanging clothes on the line, when I heard a small whimper. I followed it to the trees lining the field. There I searched for the source. Within minutes I found it.

Staring up at me from under the shrubbery with big brown eyes was a scrawny,  mewling puppy. I gathered it into my arms and went back into the house. I warmed some milk on the stove and set it in a bowl on the floor. Then I set the puppy down and coaxed it into lapping up a bit of the milk.

I set a rug next to the fireplace and moved the puppy to the rug. Afterwards I woke John from his afternoon nap.

“What is it?” He grumbled, trying to wake up. I guess, to be fair, maybe I shouldn’t have jumped on the bed to wake him.

“You’ll never guess what I found in the woods today!”

“I give up, what did you find?”

“A puppy!”

“Babe, you are kidding me, right?”

“Well, no.....why would I be?”

“Out of all the unusual things that you could have found, you went and found a puppy.”

“Yes, I guess I did. Can we keep him, please?”

“Did you name him already?”

“Well...yes...I did.”

“Well since you named him....”

I crawled onto his lap and gave him a long kiss. I leaned back.

“I have the best husband in the world!”

“Don’t you forget it sweetheart.” The second kiss ended our conversation completely. I woke up a few hours later and found John’s side of the bed empty. I tiptoed to the kitchen and found him watching the puppy lap up the milk. Tears were shining in his eyes.

“John, what’s wrong?”

“He’s just so.... innocent and perfect. What did you name him?”

“I named him Clyde.”

“Why Clyde?”

“I don’t know, he just seemed kind of ornery to me. Like a Clyde.”

Clyde added normalcy to the house. With his puppy antics, life was enjoyable.

Reviews

[Nienor Niniel]

I like the almost summary-like style of this book; no one has a perfect memory, but some events imprint themselves more fully, and that seems the way in which this book is written.
All the main characters don't seem to be quite sane, even Jane and John. Like they're perfectly normal people on the outside, but are perpetually this close to going completely postal. Maybe the house is possessed or cursed, because of everything Jack and Emma did. It makes me wonder: Everything is going swimmingly now, but is this going to last?

[Rachel_Biggs]

We will see ;) Mwahahahahahaha!