F2K : Lesson Three

I found this difficult to write, I cried a lot. It's about Jake.


From your own writings, pick out a paragraph you like; then tell it from a different POV.


The lead slipped from her hand and the dog nimbly dodged underneath the couch, jumping over the metal struts supporting the legs.

"Hey you, come back here!"

Annie chuckled a little as he faced the corner then headed back around the room. However, her laugh was strained, the tears were falling. He walked back towards her, his trailing lead getting tangled round the vet's legs as he tried to move out of the dog's way. She sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall, "Come here darlin', come and have a cuddle".

He headed straight for her and, turning round, sat down on her outstretched legs. "That's a good boy." She put her arms around him and gave him a hug, breathing in his doggy smell. Normally she hardly noticed it, but now she wanted to remember everything she could. His white fur tickled her nose and she sneezed, surprising them both.

The nurse came into the room carrying a metal dish and she and the vet both looked down to the pair sitting on the floor. Annie nodded slightly and nudged her dog off her lap. She stayed on the floor, kneeling up to hug him again as he stood in front of her, his side pressing against her. She could feel his heart pitter-pattering under her hand as she held him close.

The vet spoke softly, "Hold him tight for me; I just need to shave a little bit of his leg."

He knelt down too. The electric razor whizzed but it was so quick that the dog didn’t seem to notice the noise. The nurse knelt down beside him and passed over a small antiseptic wipe.

"This will be a bit cold for him, hold him and keep talking to him."

Annie hugged him again as he moved his leg away from the coldness. The vet took one of the syringes from the metal dish that the nurse was holding.

"How...how long will it take?" Annie asked, tears running down her face.

He smiled gently, "It's very quick, less than a minute, just keep talking to him all the time". She nodded, and buried her face in fur.

"It's all right my love...it's all right." Hot tears ran down her cheek and spilled onto her dog's back. She deliberately didn't watch what the vet was doing but heard the clink of the syringe in the dish and tried not to think about the liquid death that was pumping round his body. She knew that it was nearly time.

"I love you darling, you know I love you, I always will." She repeated the same words over and over, kissing the top of his head. She wanted the last thing he heard to be her voice, the last thing he felt to be her arms around him and her kisses. She wanted him to know that he was loved. Her voice turned thick and croaky as she cried.

She felt him sag against her, and gently supported him as she let him slide to the floor. She started to sob even more. It was over.


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Jake could smell the scents of strange creatures. He recognised his own kind, and those pesky cats, but there were others in the air... He skipped across the room under the bed, there was one wafting on the air over in the corner and he wanted to have a closer sniff.

He heard her voice calling from behind so turned back and, pushing past a stranger, trotted up to her and sat down heavily on her lap.

This is much nicer than sitting on the cold floor, he thought. He felt her arms around his tummy and smiled happily to himself as she scratched one of his ears.

He stood up again as she nudged him and then pressed himself against her as she hugged him. Hug me again, he thought, I love it when you tickle my tummy and scratch behind my ears. Scratch my back too, in that place I can’t reach however hard I try.

He felt someone else kneel down beside him and looked round, confused at the new people who were here with him. The whirr of something strange distracted him a little but he snuggled back against her and closed his eyes in pleasure.

What’s that, it’s cold...ouch...and it’s sharp...

He could feel water splashing on his coat and looked up, worried for a moment when he saw she was crying. She smiled at him again and he felt reassured, everything’s fine.

He could hear her voice telling him she loved him and he wished he could tell her that he knew, and he loved her too. But these humans, he thought, they just never seem to understand what we say.

Her voice seemed to be getting further way, and he felt a sudden wave of tiredness sweep through his body. His eyelids felt heavier...he leant against her.

So tired, just need to sleep for a little while.....