by Ksenia Vlasova-Kuznetsova
“We’ve got to take him out.”
I gulped. Sitting on a bench in the late evening might not have been a good decision on my part, but hearing this conversation just made it that much worse. Of course, everyone was used to overhearing threatening conversations, because the neighbourhood I live in isn’t exactly the best one.
“No, man, I don’t care if you wanna give him another chance. He’s done it once, he’ll do it again.”
Oh boy. I don’t want to hear this. This is the last thing I wanted. All I asked for was to spend a quiet evening in the park, and now I’m being thrust into a situation involving criminals. Not exactly how I was planning on spending Thursday night.
“Just take him around the block! Or better yet, lock him in a room and make him understand what he’s done. I’m not gonna feed him tonight.”
Dear Lord. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror that the person that these criminals are talking about is going through. Maybe I should do something. I quickly stand up, walk around the bench and go over to the man on the phone.
“Hi, Hello, um, Good evening? Sir, I, I’m gonna have to ask you, to, um, hand over the person you’re keeping, um, locked up to the p-police.” My voice trembles, but I still manage to get the sentence out. He glances at me angrily, then sighs.
“Look, Greg, just put him in a cage or something. I gotta deal with this lady here.”
I stiffen. Deal with me? What does he mean? Oh, I knew that being brave could lead to something bad like getting abducted or murdered. The guy presses a few things on his phone, then turns to look at me.
“Look little lady – Greg is my roommate – and the “person” we’re talking about is a puppy that we decided to adopt. The only thing is, the little sh*t pees everywhere constantly.”
I stood, dumbfounded. Now this made a lot more sense.
“Oh,” I said. “ A puppy. Huh.”
