The pit bull’s jaws clamped down on her leg, before I knew what happened. The dog had come flying out of nowhere. My daughter was screaming as I clawed at the dog’s throat and gouged its eyes. I strained against its neck muscles to no avail. Reaching inside its jaws, I wrenched some relief for my little girl. My fingers were being sawed to the bone.
My wife came running from the house with my big Bowie knife I used for deer hunting. The knife was heavy and razor sharp. I hacked once, twice, sawing the dog’s head off. The dog’s jaw muscles finally relaxed their grip. My daughter had passed out from the shock.My wife cradled her head as I examined her wound. It didn’t look too bad, it was in the fleshy part of her thigh.
Then I noticed my hands were bleeding badly. Two fingers were missing from my right hand, the left was minus a pinky. Ripping my shirt I made bandages for my daughter and myself.
I looked at the dog’s head, there hanging out of its mouth were what was left of my fingers. One glassy eye seemed to stare at me in triumph. I gave the head a good kick, I knew I’d made a good bargain. My wife ran after it to retrieve my fingers. A garbage truck came around the corner, squashing the dog’s brains all over the street.
I’ve been published widely for 20 years. Done 20 chapbooks, 1 with Bukowski & Jack Micheline. I’ve worked with Mike Tolento, the genius artist on Bitchslapped. I read last year in Paris in the Beatnik bookstore overlooking the Seine.
This was great, but I can hear the animal rights people now. No, not for killing the dog.
“He’s a DEER HUNTER?!!!”
We ate the dog, so it was cool.