What do you do when your life is static, and never altered? Do you try to change it? Or hold onto familiarity with all the might? Scared of what unknown can overtake you.
Walking in the sun, it was warm against her skin, always broken by wind gusts from passing cars, but she didn't mind. Her steps took time, and feasibly she did want to go faster, but love was holding her back.
"Come on Sweetheart" she spoke lightly to the elderly dog, with panting breath and its bright red tongue on exhibit. Her fur was white, curly to the hilt, with short little legs that had years of wear, causing a kind of amusing waddle. Harmony tried not to pull the dog's leash, perhaps she should even have picked her up and carried the old girl along. But, Zuni seemed so enamored with sniffing every pole on their course, and Harmony didn't want to take that simple pleasure away from her. Maybe, she should have just gone to the farmers' market by herself, she wondered. She observed the way Zuni's small legs rattled with the huge effort it took to take each step in her old age. Harmony did wonder if it was causing her friend pain, but she did love Zuni's company. The dog was the only companion Harmony had, and despite the affection she had for farmer's markets, it would have been less fun with the spot empty next to her. Conceivably it could be good for Zuni to be outside, the heat of the sun soothing to some extent, couldn't it? And, Zuni didn't seem to mind her waddle too much.
She always thought of her relationship with Zuni as kind of odd, despite all the time they had spent in one another's company. The dog couldn't tell her story, couldn't say where she had been up until the time they had met. She had been laying in a pen behind metal bars at the local shelter, waiting for either death or for someone to pick her, for that one person out of the dozens that Harmony suspected didn't bother to give her a second look. Everyone wants a young dog, one with so much life left, without the time and costly health problems of arthritis, dietary restrictions and high blood pressure that Zuni had procured in her old age. And just like Harmony knew little about Zuni's past, she also perceived that all the time she had spent discussing hers with Zuni was all in vain. Zuni knew nothing about her too.
She was already ten when Harmony came to the shelter, only eighteen herself. Maybe the decision to get a dog had been impulsive, especially one with all of Zuni's complication. Harmony certainly wasn't capable of shoveling out that kind of money, but she was starved for camaraderie. Her life alone, it was like persisting in an empty, white room, but one with a mediocre window, where she could look out and watch the people stroll by. But, no matter how hard she banged on the glass or how loud she yelled to be saved, not a single one looked her way. At the time, she had been living away from home for a little under two years, her life consisted of work and nothing else, starving for attention any way she could possibly get it.
Perhaps Harmony had just felt bad for Zuni, the dog having been overlooked so many times just like she had. So, maybe it wasn't under the most sane of judgment, but she took her home and called Zuni her own. Now, it had been four years together, and Harmony suspected that wherever Zuni had been before had limited her ability to be a true dog, to be happy and play like one. Despite her old age, Zuni often tried to jump and have fun as if a puppy lived inside her mind, contained in a body fraying at the edges.
They had finally arrived, noticing the stalls ahead. Harmony adored farmers' markets more than anything, she wasn't sure quite why though. There was something about it, the kids playing in the grass, the couples laughing, and sometimes there was even an ice cream truck. The air smelled kind of sweet, maybe honey suckles, but she liked to think it was every fresh apple, maybe even the ones bit into and releasing the syrupy scent of the innards by the gentle wind. Harmony loved being there, but she never really bought anything, she couldn't afford it. But, she always did get a small treat, and in the case of today, it was a pack of raspberries that popped in the mouth like balloons when you bit into them. Also, a small bag of popcorn to share with Zuni, Zuni loved popcorn.
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His Angel
Romance"You have a name, don't you?" his voice was deep and irritable, but rather calm. Her eyes lifted just slightly, now staring at the edges of dark hair that hung an inch or two from his shoulders. Her lack of answer seemed to annoy him further, she co...
