Help Yourselves
This week’s Story Starter teaser is:
After the way they’d been treated, why shouldn’t they help themselves?
Fandango’s Story Starter #262
Help Yourselves
After the way they’d been treated, why shouldn’t they help themselves?
That was Charlie’s argument, anyway.
Nobody had actually asked Charlie.
Charlie was a Labrador.
But judging by the determined expression on his face, he had appointed himself spokesman for the group.
Three dogs sat beside him in the darkened kitchen.
Bella, an elderly terrier with questionable hearing.
Max, whose legs were too short for almost everything he attempted.
And Daisy, who had been told repeatedly that evening that she was absolutely not starving.
This was clearly a lie.
The humans had spent the entire afternoon preparing food.
Chicken.
Sausages.
Cheese.
Something involving bacon that had nearly broken Charlie emotionally.
And what had the dogs received?
Kibble.
Kibble.
Then came the final insult.
The humans carried everything outside for the birthday party and closed the kitchen door.
Charlie stared at the others.
This could not stand.
Fortunately, humans consistently underestimated dogs.
Especially dogs working together.
Max squeezed through the gap beside the pantry.
Daisy pushed the stool.
Bella accidentally knocked over the bin, which wasn’t part of the plan but proved an excellent distraction.
And Charlie climbed.
When the humans returned ten minutes later, they found four dogs sitting innocently on the kitchen floor.
The platter of sausages was empty.
Half the cheese had vanished.
Someone had taken one very precise bite from the birthday cake.
Nobody moved.
Nobody confessed.
Charlie looked at Daisy.
Daisy looked at Max.
Max looked at Bella.
Bella was asleep.
“Which one of you did this?” someone demanded.
Four tails began wagging.
After everything they’d endured that afternoon — the smells, the waiting, the unbearable injustice of kibble while humans ate bacon —
why shouldn’t they help themselves?
Charlie burped.
The case was closed.
#FSS
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
My new song is out.
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
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