SUNSHINE AT THE PARK

This short story has been added to the SHORT STORY PROMPT LINK PARTY 1.

If you’re interested in joining in, wait until you write your story before reading mine below. Write a short story from the prompt below, publish your post, then add it to the link party. It will be fun visiting the links to see how everyone turned the partial sentence below into a short story.

Ready? Here’s the prompt:
A woman, sitting alone on a park bench, hears something that…

Now, here’s my version:

A woman, sitting alone on a park bench, hears something that causes her to turn around. Behind her was a frail looking dog, solid white with dark brown eyes. It was crawling toward her with its front paws digging into the ground as it dragged its hind legs.

She looked down at it and spoke to it but it just stared up at her. She thought it must be deaf.

The woman walked over to the dog and petted it. It wagged its tail.

As the woman looked around, she realized that she was the only one in the park. She bent down and tried to help the dog to its feet but its hind legs were too weak.

As she picked it up and walked toward her car with it, she wondered what she was going to do with the dog as she planned on taking it back to her house.

She put the dog in the front passenger seat of her car, walked around and got into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she looked for other cars, but none were to be found. Her and the dog were alone in the park.

A week passed. The woman was gradually helping the dog to gain strength in its hind legs.

Another week passed. By then the dog was able to stand on its own.

By the third week, the dog was able to walk on its own.

As the fourth week came, the woman was happy to see that she had helped the dog be able to run and play. She felt good about her accomplishment. She also felt love for the dog.

In the beginning, the woman’s intentions were to nourish the dog and help it gain its strength back and then try to find a good home for it. After a month together though, she knew she could never part from the dog.

Although the dog was deaf, the woman named it Sunshine and talked to it every day. They went on to become constant companions, never leaving each other’s side and always enjoying sunshine at the park.

*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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