A dog named Borris

Three weeks ago, this park was filled with laughter, frisbees flying, dogs barking and babies crying. Now nothing just me and the old dog I call “Borris”.  I take a drag of my cigarette as Borris decides where his next piss will be. “Stupid fucking dog, there's an entire field to piss in. Just go already” I think to myself as Boriss brings his leg up making it look like he’ll finally go then for some reason or another he puts his god damn leg down and continues to sniff the ground.

For late march its exceptionally nice out, to be honest, I can’t even remember the last time I felt a true spring so early in the season.  My mind is currently working overtime trying to distract me from the current problems it's faced with. The fact that a virus has swept the country and now the only time i get to go outside is when Borris decides he needs to shit, or the new problem i’ve been faced with how my 40 an hour week job just got cut to 24 hours a week. That being said obviously im worried for my health and the health of everyone I care about. But christ works the only thing that keeps my mind busy.

Wait…

Theres someone entering the park. “Christ Borris can’t you piss already?” I think to myself but want to shout at the old dog who’s found an empty bag of chips entertaining. They’re getting closer...The damned idiots are getting closer to me and the dog. They’re drunk I realize. Yeah that’s it, they’re drunk. After all it is 9pm what else do people have to do but drink now? Nothing is open because of this “invisible virus” , nothing  from church to a strip club. Complete isolation.

They’re screaming something but i can’t make it out maybe its because i have my headphones in or maybe its because of the amount of cheap whiskey they drank before they thought it would be a good idea to take a walk even though as well have been given “The don't leave your house” order. I couldn’t care enough about what they were saying regardless. I just wanted to get back home without dealing with some drunken idiot let alone the fact that they could be currently carrying a disease  in which there was no known cure…

I look down at the dog, still nothing… Screw this I scoop him up and start to run out of the park back to my building. 

The usual five block trek seems to take forever due to the weight of this damned dog. Eventually I get to the front of the building wheezing and coughing from years of improper exersice and smoking like some type of 1940’s detective. The people in my building for some reason seem to notice me...they notice the coughing...they think i have the virus...I watch them all one by one close the blinds. Then out of nowhere theres a warm stream running down my arm...the fucking dog finally pissed.

Jesus, tonight was turning into something else. “Fuck it” I think to myself if those drunken bastards can go out and about im going to take the dog on a proper walk. Yeah I smell like dog piss but honestly It’ll give any idiot who isnt staying the proper six feet distance a good enough reason to do so now. I put Borris back down and make my way around the corner. Maybe I’ll grab a tall boy from the corner store that clearly didn’t care about the close order and make my way to the river.

Borris, a dog of 14 was purchased by me when I had just graduated college. When i was one of those drunken idiots when i too thought i had the world by the balls and that i knew better then everyone else. Christ how wrong I was. The dog showed its age with brown patches that turned grey over the years to the entire row of teeth that had fallen out over the years now letting his tongue hang out giving him a rather odd look. Regardless he was a good dog, loyal and playful. I’d be damned if he didnt get as many good walks in as he had left in his meaningless life.

The wind started to pick back up as we left the corner store, so much so that borris was visibily rocking with the wind. Will he be able to make it to the park by the river? Doubtful, Let’s just go back to the park those drunken idiots are bound to be gone by now.

As we get to the park I do a quick scan of the area, not a single drunken bastard in sight. I take Borris off leash and take the little blue ball out of my bag and throw it as far as i can. Borris gets a slow start after it but within seconds has it within his jaws.

I watched as he trotted around the park with it, dropping and watching it bounce before he leaped and grabbed it again. Mumbling something as if I was supposed to understand what in the world he was trying to say.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed it. The idiots were back, this time making ground towards us. I grabbed the leash and bottled towards Borris who was blissfully unaware of what was going on. I could care less if they wanted to pet my dog it wasn't happening. Not the way things were now. As I got closer to Borris I watched him as he waged his tail as he noticed me. I put him back on the leash and we jogged back towards the building

He was a good dog, loyal and playful but he was from a different time. When I wasn’t so jaded and honestly as scared. Scared of other people, scared of some germ, and honestly just scared of what might happen.