A short story

[canetoad]

Over the years I've managed to cut all these people out of my life. To the extent that twenty or so years ago I made a conscious decision to exclude these people from my circle.

Even my mother. No - she didn't hate animals, she loved them. As a kid in Scotland she had a collie. We grew up with animals and rescued critters. In an attempt to control me, I was asked not to bring my two dogs if I visited her.

I never saw her again.

I have no idea how many people she informed that I put my dogs before my own mother. She set me up and I didn't bite and to this day I'm proud of that.

And she's dead.

PS I actually started to write about something else but this story appeared unbidden.