David Tompkins

  

                I was playing in my sandbox on a stone-cold Thursday evening when it came. The thing that scarred me for life. The thing that still haunts my dreams. But we’ll get to that later. I was an adorable little 3 year old living in a typical suburban home with my brother and my mother, getting all the attention from the people in the neighborhood because who doesn’t love an adorable little 3 year old. I had it all, an older brother to annoy the snot out of, a loving mother, and my shiny new playground that is the bearer of many great memories and unfortunately, one petrifying experience.

            One day in November, these people moved in to the house beside us, which was great for me because it’s more people to give me attention. But then I saw it. They were the owners of one of the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen, this was fine, until everyone in the neighborhood crowded around the adorable satanic creature and begged to hold him, including these two old ladies who would make the most delicious pies in the entire Roanoke Valley and bring them by our house every weekend. I thought this was very disloyal.

For the next few weeks I heard the same things over and over, “He’s so cute!”, “Can I hold him?”, “You’re so lucky!” which used to be said about me until this mutt came along.

I just couldn’t take it anymore, I had to put a stop to this. I had to make the dog miserable. Every time they let it out to pee and do its thing, I taunted that little creature like it was my job. I would call it to the four foot wooden picket fence, and when it got close enough, I would throw sand at it. I did everything I could to make that dog cry and bark so loud that the neighbors would have to get rid of it.

A year passed and my neighbors still hadn’t gotten rid of the dog. Now let me remind you, German Shepherds don’t grow very slowly and he ceases to be the cute adorable little puppy he’s always been. This dog was now at least 3 feet off the ground, had these massive deadly teeth, and eyes that could just burn a hole into your soul. But that didn’t stop me, oh no!

One day their dog, the destroyer of worlds, decided it had had enough. They let him out on his regularly scheduled time and being the lucky kid I am, I was outside playing in my sandbox. So I went over and did my thing, threw sand, dirt, and maybe even a plastic shovel.

This spawn of Satan just hopped right over the fence like it was nothing and stared me down until I had tears in my eyes. I have never moved so fast in my four years of living. I started sprinting like my life depended on it, which in my mind it did. I didn’t look back once so I don’t even know if it was chasing me. But we can all agree after a whole year of getting bullied, it was most likely chasing me. I ran inside, laid down, and started bawling. My mother came to the rescue and fed me a delicious bowl of Cheerios. After this terrifying occurrence, I learned that you can’t always be the center of attention.