“On Your Sleeve”
“Come on Scruffy.”
With a gentle tug on the leash, Scruffy turned from whatever interesting smells lay down Rose Avenue, and turned with just as much enthusiasm to the interesting smells of 12th Street.
John chuckled. “You’re so easy to please.” He didn’t know if the dog even heard him with his nose to the sidewalk and his tail gently wagging.
John chuckled again, but it was cut short when he looked up and saw a man walking towards them about a block away. He was an average looking white man scrolling on his phone, but he was wearing a black shirt with some writing on it. He was too far away for John to read the writing, which made him nervous.
Could the man be some asshole trying to hide his assholeness by claiming his shirt “Was just edgy?” Or would the message on the shirt be openly offensive? Or would it be supportive of one of the many political assholes who constantly said offensive things? There were so many unfortunate ways a simple shirt could be used as a bludgeon these days.
John watched the sidewalk until he caught the man’s feet out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he saw the man was still on his phone and his shirt read, “Luigi’s Wings and Things, the best wings of Harrisburg.”
Without looking away from his phone, the man continued on.
About ten steps later, John stopped and glanced over his shoulder to make sure the man was out of earshot. Scruffy, confused why they had stopped, looked at John. “Sometimes,” he told Scruffy, “I really hate what this country has become.”
Go back to the main Monthly Story page, or the main page of my website.
For each story I publish, I like to give the backstory, or anything interesting that happened while writing it. You can see what I wrote for this story on my Published Works page.
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If you’re looking for an escape from the current political nightmare, you might want to check out Lonely Phoenix, my story about a surprise on a hibernation starship.
