Half companion, half trouble-maker

(An imagined real story :-))

Norm was a typical Australian bloke, with a typical Australian dog.

The dog was called Rusty.  He was half companion, half trouble-maker.

It proved difficult to keep such an active, free-spirited dog under control.

He would always fall into mischief.  And some mischief was clearly worse than others.

In fact, limits had been reached of late, and Norm had to give Rusty a couple of warnings for ruining people’s property and bringing home dead animals.  It was a point of complaint in the community, a point of embarassment for Norm, and a point of concern for Rusty’s future.

During the day Rusty would usually be out and about.  It was when he returned in the afternoon, that Norm would feel most uneasy about what Rusty had destroyed this time.

What damage has Rusty done which will need explaining, fixing, or covering up?

One particular afternoon, almost on cue to the worry that was awaking in Norm, Rusty started his return trip down his long home street.  But this time, Rusty’s approach was accompanied by a loud, horrible screeching noise.

It was the sound of a large goose.  An extremely distressed goose, being held against its will and being dragged slowly and surely back home.

Rusty’s natural instinct and determination patiently dragged this poor goose some unknown massive distance, with each drag only covering 30 centimetres at a time.  This was despite the goose being physically larger than Rusty, and its intense flapping and distressed screaming throughout the entire ordeal.

It became clear to Norm what had happened before even seeing the crime scene of feathers Rusty was dragging from who knows where. The trail of evidence was clearly leading all the way directly to Norm’s back door, and the whole neighborhood would already know the culprit.

The noise surely alerted everyone a kilometre in any distance from his home.

The next door neighbour, Jack, came on the scene at the same time as Norm.

Norm was sweating.  There’s no way he could escape from this extremely unsettling, awkward moment.

Norm had instant visions of community outrage, police reports, and Rusty’s demise.

Jack, the neighbour had a look of shock at this massive goose still struggling in the jaws of a tired yet proud Rusty. Then he walked in close to Norm’s ear and whispered, “I’ll go you halves.”