When I was a boy living in Arnprior, I discovered a family of Germans the next street over.
The kids roughly my age, a girl and a boy, had blonde hair and blue eyes,
and were accompanied by their German Shepherd.

I don’t recall how the conversation got there, but at one point it shifted to World War II;
an event not so far away, even to kids in 1966.
We began to argue politically and militarily about who had really won the war.

The Germans, totally convinced of Aryan superiority,
viewed that the Second World War had merely been a setback.

A few days later I was about to walk across the street to a convenience store near the Germans’ home,
with the family black cat, Sooty, oddly enough following me along the way.

The Germans’ Shepherd suddenly charged in full attack mode clearly aimed at my pet cat.
Rather than running, Sooty stood his ground. A moment later the Shepherd made its lunge.
Simultaneously, Sooty leapt up at the dog’s throat with two pairs of claws fully drawn.

Digging them deep into the Shepherd’s throat, the dog yelped in pain, violently shook the cat off,
then went running in the direction of home, leaving all of us in total dismay.
I and the German kids never spoke again.


© 2007

1,560 hits as of March 2024

12/08/2007

Posted on 12/08/2007
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti