The Dog & the Man in the Great Circle

 

The Dog & the Man in the Great Circle




The sun had disappeared in the west and turned the sky into a dark stillness without much visibility. The pointed eared, brown snouted Dog lay on his belly preparing for another self-appointed guard of the vicinity around him.

Then, just as so many times before, the Man in the Great Circle began to rise from the east. The Dog raised his brow and adjusted his focus toward the towering intrusion. The Man in the Great Circle consecrated the Dog with a shaking countenance as he continued his excursion upward. The brown Dog knew he could not give up his territory, and just as before, he knew the obstacles that would ensue in an attempt to ward off the luminous Man.

“Rouooooo! Roo—roooo!!” cried the pooch.

The master’s voice echoed angrily from the screen door. The Dog howled all the louder. Even with the Dog’s warnings, the master saw no threat. For his astute security measures the Dog was promptly rewarded with a hurled loafer to his backside from the porch, but he pretended not to notice. Despite the discouragement from his owner, he was bound and determined to stay alerted toward standing his ground.

Many hours passed and with bold, tumultuous howling, the brave Dog noticed the Man in the Great Circle retreating in the western sky. The Dog barked him down and down, exhausted and determined in securing victory over his recurring foe. Finally, the Man in the Great Circle surrendered defeat, and the Dog resigned his raspy howl.

Exhausted and worn, the Dog lay down in the cool grass besprinkled with dew and lowered the lids of his eyes. With the rising of the yellow light, he knew that he had once again protected the land from harm. The Dog, with a heave of his chest and tremoring jowls, slumbered all that day to prepare for the next night’s battle with the Man in the Great Circle.

John Cravens



John Cravens Jr. is both a retired shop teacher and postal worker from Bono, Arkansas. He spends his retirement gardening, working in his shed, and when inspiration hits, writing flash fiction.