The Outsiders (8 page)

Denise
unlocked the door and Jerry almost pushed her over as he flung it
open and stormed into the house.

“
What was it?” she asked as he hobbled toward the
bedroom.

“
Not a damned thing,” he snapped. “Just a stupid loud- mouthed
mutt.”

“
I don’t hear anything, honey.”

“
It’s stopped now. I probably scared it away. It’s just damned
lucky I don’t own a gun.”

Denise
winced when he mentioned a gun, but he glared at her until she
looked away.

The dog
started barking again less than ten minutes after they got back in
bed. This time it sounded farther away, but Jerry was certain it
was the same dog. He could hear Denise’s soft snores from the other
side of the bed, but the constant barking wouldn’t allow him the
luxury of sleep. He was still awake–and the dog was still
barking–when the alarm clock went off at 7 a.m.

Jerry’s ankle was swollen and bruised from his
argument
with the garden hose the night
before. He winced in pain as he gently pulled his sock on. Cursing
the “stupid mutt” one more time, he decided to wait until he was
just about to leave for work before putting on his
shoes.

While
Denise was fixing toast and coffee for their traditional breakfast,
he went out front to get the morning paper. He walked to the edge
of the steps and looked around the yard. The newspaper was in the
center of the sidewalk leading to their front steps.

“
The idiot paperboy is getting better,” Jerry said to himself
as he stepped off from the steps onto the sidewalk.

“
What the–” Jerry felt the wetness as it soaked through both
socks. He lifted his right foot, rubbed his fingers over the bottom
of the sock, and put them to his nose.

“
That damned mutt,” he yelled.

He bent
over and snatched up the newspaper only to find it was also
dripping with the same yellow liquid. He threw it into the yard,
peeled off his socks and threw them at the newspaper, and stomped
into the house.

“
Where’s the paper, honey? I want to clip the coupons,” Denise
asked as he walked barefoot into the kitchen.

“
Damned mutt pissed on it,” he grunted.

“
What dog?”

“
The dog that kept me up all night long.”

Denise
had a puzzled look on her face, but she kept silent.

That
night, exhausted from the activities of the evening before, Jerry
went to bed just after eight o’clock. He had just dozed off when
the dog started barking again. He tried to cover his ears with the
sides of his pillow, but it didn’t do much to drown out the barks.
After about ten minutes, Jerry got and up shuffled to the window.
He opened it and leaned out, cocking his head from side to side in
an attempt to discern which direction the barking was coming from.
Once again, it seemed to be coming from all directions. Suddenly,
the barking sounded like it was coming from behind him, inside of
the bedroom. He pulled himself back in, banging his head on the
windowpane. He spun around as the sound seemed to whoosh past him
out the open window.

“
Denise, did you hear that?” he asked loudly.

She did
not stir.

He
leaned out the window again and started screaming. “Shut that
stupid mutt up. I’m gonna call the dog catcher if you don’t shut
that dog up.”

His
screams finally woke Denise. She rolled over and said “Jerry,
what’s wrong?”

“
It’s that dog again. Can’t you hear the barking?”

She
listened for a second. “No. I don’t hear anything.” She paused to
listen again. “Are you okay, honey?”

Jerry
was about to start screaming at her when he realized that he didn’t
hear the barking now, either. “Well, it stopped. My yelling must
have scared it away.”

He got
back into bed and tried to sleep, but the barking started almost
instantly. He started to get up several times, but the barking
stopped each time his feet hit the ground.

Jerry
spent an extra ten minutes in the shower, trying to wake up. He had
the water temperature several degrees colder than normal, but he
still couldn’t stop yawning.

As he
was getting dressed, a dog barked somewhere in the distance. Jerry
opened the bedroom window and leaned out in an attempt to identify
the barking dog in the daylight.

“
Now what?” His voice was filled with anger.

He
stormed down the stairs and nearly collided with Denise in the
kitchen as she was pouring his coffee.

“
Have you seen the yard?” he asked her.

“
The yard? What about it?”

“
There’s garbage strung all over the side yard,” he said. “I
saw it from the bedroom window.”

Jerry
rushed to the back door and flung it open. Denise walked up behind
him and gasped as she looked out. All three of their trash cans
were turned over and their garbage was strung all over the
yard.

Jerry
pulled off his socks as he went out in the yard. He began to pick
up the trash cans and put them back on the porch. As he walked
towards the third can, his still-sore foot fell into a deep hole
that had been partially hidden by a grocery bag covered in
spaghetti sauce.

He fell
to his knees and cursed loudly.

“
What happened?” Denise called from the porch.

“
I fell into a Goddamned hole. Whaddya you think happened?”
Jerry pulled his throbbing foot out and looked into the freshly dug
hole. “There’s chicken bones in here. The damned mutt tried to bury
them.”

“
Just come back inside, honey,” Denise coaxed. “I’ll rake it
all up while you’re at work.”

He stood
up and stepped backwards. He immediately made a face of disgust as
the soft, warm material squished between his toes.

“
Honey, what’s wrong?” Denise asked.

“
I just stepped in dog shit. I’m buying a gun!” His voice
sounded more like a snarl as he wiped his foot on the grass several
times and then limped past her.

“
Jerry, no!” Denise said firmly. “You know how I feel about
guns. I don’t want one in our house.”

Jerry
spun around and glared at her. For the first time in more years
than he could remember, Denise did not look away from his
challenging stare. He didn’t see confrontation in her eyes, but he
did see resolve.

“
Whatever!” he hissed. “I’ll find another way to deal with that
stupid mutt.”

“
Do you want me to make you another piece of toast?” Denise
asked gently. “I’ll warm up your coffee.”

“
I don’t have time. I’m already late for work and I’ve gotta
take another shower. I’m covered in dog shit and garbage.” Jerry
stormed out of the kitchen.

Jerry
pulled the heavy box out of the trunk of his car and started for
the house. He saw a large pile of crap in the center of Denise’s
flowerbed. The muscles in the back of his neck tightened up as he
climbed the steps to the porch and vowed to kill the
dog.

The
aroma of roast beef filled the air as he hobbled into the kitchen,
grumbling under his breath. Even the smell of his favorite meal
didn’t make up for his throbbing ankle or his lack of
sleep.

“
Whattcha got?” Denise asked as she looked up from the pot she
was stirring on the stove.

“
Traps. I went to the hardware store and bought a bunch of
traps for that stupid mutt.”

“
Traps? The kind that let you catch it and release it somewhere
else or the kind that’ll hurt it?”

“
I hope they hurt,” he said. “Otherwise, I spent eighty bucks
for nothing.”

“
Isn’t there anything else we can do?”

“
I called the dog catcher from work. He said they would make a
few trips through the neighborhood tonight, but they can’t do
anything if they can’t find it.”

“
I just don’t want to hurt another dog,” Denise said
quietly.

Jerry
had to bite his tongue at the mention of the “other dog.” He
planned to kill this dog, too, and he didn’t want Denise’s
compassion to get in the way.

“
I’ve gotta do something. I haven’t slept in three days.” He
sat down at the table and started to carefully unlace his shoe. “My
ankle is killing me. It’s swollen to twice its normal size. You
can’t be too happy about the garbage and the hole in the back
yard.”

“
Well, no, but I still don’t want you to hurt it.”

Then lucky I didn’t tell you about the rat
poison
, he thought as he pulled his shoe
off and winced in pain.

“
Maybe your favorite dinner will help calm you,” Denise said.
“I’ve even got those baby carrots you like so much.”

The
smell of the food combined with Denise’s demeanor started to relax
him. “Okay. If I can get some sleep tonight, I won’t hurt the dog.
Maybe I can take these traps back and get a live trap instead. Then
we can catch him and take him to the pound.”

By the
time supper was ready, he was actually starting to believe
that.

Jerry
closed his eyes and laid his head back. The warm water in the
bathtub, combined with the two glasses of wine and three helpings
of roast beef, started to relax him. The Epson salt in the water
even made his abused ankle feel a little better.

He
soaked in the bath until the water started to get cold.

When he
walked into the bedroom, he was less tense than he had been in a
long time. Denise was already in bed, reading a
magazine.

“
Are you feeling any better?” she asked.

“
You know, I really am.” He paused and then said, “And I
haven’t heard a dog bark since I’ve been home.”

“
That’s good. Maybe you scared it away. I hope you’ll be able
to get some sleep.”

“
That won’t be a problem. I’m so tired that I could sleep
through anything tonight.”

“
Good night, honey.” Denise put the magazine on the night stand
and turned off the light.

“
Night,” Jerry muttered as he closed his eyes and welcomed the
darkness.

Jerry’s
eyes snapped open. The clock on the night stand read 11:03.
Everything was quiet. He lay very still, listening to Denise
breathing next to him as he tried to figure out what had him
wide-awake in just less than two hours after they went to
bed.

He had
just summed it up to his imagination when he heard the barking. He
jumped out of bed and ran to the window. As he opened it, the
sounds of the barking got louder. It seemed closer now.

“
Denise,” he said softly.

She did
not stir.

“
Denise.” His voice was a little louder now.

Still
nothing.

He
quietly closed the window and snuck down the stairs and into the
kitchen.

He
raided the refrigerator and took the rest of the roast beef
out.

Jerry
carried the box of traps out onto the back porch and started to set
each one of them, baiting them with a generous hunk of roast beef
laced with enough rat poison to kill a small elephant.

The
barking seemed to be coming from every direction as he placed the
twelve traps around the back yard.

Satisfied with his placement of the traps, he went back to
bed with a smile on his face.

Denise
woke up to the sound of a dog howling–or more accurately,
screaming.

“
Jerry, wake up.” She put her hand on the crumpled bedspread
next to her. It was empty.

The dog
scream-howled again and Denise’s jumped up.

“
The traps!” she shouted as she sprang out of the bed. “He set
those God-awful traps.”

She ran
down the stairs and into the kitchen. The back door was open and
there was a large pile of crap in the doorway. She jumped at the
sound of the howl. It was weaker now, but she was certain it was
coming from the back yard.

Denise
gingerly stepped over the smelly mess and went out onto the back
porch.

She
froze at the top of the steps, staring at the horrific scene in
front of her as if she were dreaming.

Jerry
was lying in the middle of the yard. Both of his feet and one of
his hands were caught in the traps, their sharp, metal teeth buried
deep into his flesh. His free hand–if it could still be considered
a hand–was missing three fingers and the tip of the thumb. Denise
could see the bloody fingers lying inside of one of the nearby
traps. He was dressed only in his underwear and a T-shirt, and they
were covered in dirt, sweat, and blood.

“
Jerry!” she cried as she started down the steps.

Jerry
slowly raised himself to his hands and knees. His body began to
shake as he spewed the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
Denise recognized the large chunks of roast beef in the frothy mess
and nearly got sick herself.

She took
a step forward and Jerry lifted his head slightly and started to
growl and snap at her, blood and spit dripping from his mouth. She
stopped and stared in disbelief as Jerry tilted his head back and
began to howl. When he did, Denise could clearly see his neck. He
was wearing a large pink dog collar.