“I’m sorry to hear about your dog,” was what he said. But his eyes conveyed nothing but mirth. Why did he bother telling lies? Why did he visit at all? There was no need to turn up and laugh at my sorrow. Obviously he’d never had a dog else he wouldn’t be so cruel. A number of people in the area had lost their dog recently – mainly through old age apparently. Some people don’t seem to realize what a pet can mean. It was okay for Algernon to expresses sympathy as a neighbour but not if it was insincere.
Then the news came over the radio: someone was poisoning dogs in the region. When Algernon was arrested my grief turned to spite. I hoped they’d shoot him in the knees before tying him to an electric chair. No luck. He was released without bail within the hour. No one knows where he is. Apparently going into hiding is to protect him from people like me. We don’t seem to realize the plight of the victim. Our hearts are hardemed.
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