A Long Walk In The Rain
Here we have a quick warm up story for Backlash!
In this story, Sammy ends up forced to walk home in the rain, and his nice, leather shoes end up getting ruined, not just by the process, but by his first steps out the back door of his friend's house.
As always, read, comment and enjoy!
"What do you mean, 'the car is in the shop?' Don't you guys have three or four?!"
The rain was pouring down heavily as Sammy gazed out of the large, picture window of his friend's house. He was already there later than he should have been, and his friend's parents would be home any minute.
"Can't you call Dad and tell him to come and pick me up? Mom? ...M-Mom?"
A click on the other end of the line sealed Sammy's fate, as the rain continued to fall. He knew that he didn't have any ride coming his way, and his friend was still busy cleaning up the house from their shenanigans, all while pointing at the door with a panicked pawtip, hoping that Sammy would get the hint.
The storm didn't look terribly dangerous, but the rain was falling in heavy, thick sheets, and Sammy was ill-prepared. The pleasant, red sweater vest he wore would soak up the moisture easily, and his shirt would end up a mess, but worse still, down below a pair of nicely pressed khakis were a pair of clean, brown dress shoes, for the most part untouched by the wiles of Mother Nature.
"...Dude...can't I just stay here a little longer?" he asked, but he only saw a hurried wave from his friend as headlights came down the street, and an orange turn signal pointed out the destination of the family van. Overwhelmed with regret, but a greater sense of panic, Sammy gulped and ran for the back door of the house.
He knew the way home by heart. It wasn't any impressive distance, but in a storm like this, it was going to feel like he'd walked several miles through the circles of hell.
Throwing the back door open and slamming it shut behind him just in the nick of time, Sammy couldn't take a breath of relief. Instead, the sharply dressed canine had to grit his fangs together to keep from yelling out in frustration as he took his first, hurried steps out of the back of the house.
His friend's family clearly didn't care much about the drainage system from the roof, as a deep, murky puddle of collected water was sitting just outside of the back door. The outer surface of his shoes was soaked through almost instantly, and the depth of the water was so great that it flooded in and over his ankles, seeping right into the fur upon his paws.
The slick, nasty water from the broken gutters sloshed around between his toes, and his muzzle twisted up in disgust as the rain picked up the pace. He jumped right out of the puddle, but the damage was already done, and there was no safe haven to turn back to. The brown locks of fur upon his head were soaked through only seconds later, and his clothes stuck to his fur and flesh like a second skin as rain poured over them.
A gross sensation of walking in slippery mud ran up the course of Sammy's legs as he began the long, difficult walk back home, his ears suffering through the sound of a thick squelch every time that his heels pressed against the ground.
"What's the point of our family paying for so many damned cars if they don't even work half the time?" Sammy yelled out in frustration, once he was a safe distance away. He was sure that his friend was still going to get into trouble, and it was likely that the same trouble would come around to him when his parents found out that he helped to trash a house, but Sammy was beside himself with a greater frustration.
His favorite pair of shoes was effectively ruined, and the chances of saving them only faded further and further away every time he stepped in a puddle. They were like landmines that wore down the leather of the comforting pair, and thanks to the heavy rain, they were on almost every square of the sidewalk as Sammy approached his house.
It nearly felt like a waste to keep the shoes at that point...but Sammy was reluctant to take them off at all.