Digging Down Underneath It - Jennifer Baljko

Sammy thought the folks he lived with were crazy people. He didn’t understand what they were saying half the time, and they were mostly nice enough. But they were always shouting at each other. There was always a raucous somewhere. And, there was a ton of them around, coming and going all day long. There was the blonde lady who always fed him, and gave him tasty treats. The guy with the mustache who played catch with him. Sammy liked him, but it was always too dark when that one came home and it was hard for Sammy to find the chewed up ball. And, then there were all those random-sized little people – god, they screamed the loudest, mostly at each other, never really at Sammy. That tiny one up there in that funny looking white basket… she was the loudest in the bunch. Sammy tried to get a whiff of her, but was shoed away by one of the taller little people.

Sammy, a little guy himself, tried to get away a couple times. It’s not that he hated the people or the noise. He just knew there had to be something beyond the fence. Everyone went beyond the fence, everyone except for him. He had seen the blonde lady and the man with the mustache undo the latch. He had tried to do the same with his nose, but couldn’t quite unhinge it. God, how he wished he had a thumb… that would have made things easier. And, there was no way he could jump over the fence… his legs were still too short. That left only one other option. He had to dig underneath the fence. So, when everyone was off somewhere, he started pawing his way out.

When he heard footsteps coming closer to the backyard, he would run towards the door, and wag his tail with way too much excitement. He had to distract the crazies. He didn’t want to anyone what he was doing. He suspected if got caught he would get in trouble, and probably wouldn’t get his afternoon bone. He was anxious to see what was out there, but knew he had to be cautious, too.