Read Online The Outsiders by Neil Jackson - Free Book Online

door. He followed the sound of the dog’s
barking. Halfway around the side of the garage, the flashlight went
dead. He shook it a few times, but it wouldn’t turn back on. The
moon was completely hidden behind a wall of clouds and it was pitch
black out.
    Still following the constant barking, he walked slowly
forward with his hand gliding along the side of the house. After
about ten steps, Jerry tripped over something and fell face-first
onto the ground. Cursing, he felt around on the ground and found
the garden hose, still wrapped around his feet. An intense pain flared through his
left ankle when he stood up. Still cursing under his breath, he
slowly limped around to the side door of garage. The barking seemed
to be coming from all directions now. He listened, but it was
impossible to get a bearing on it. He found the doorknob and tried
to open it, but it was locked.
    Of course it was locked. All of the doors and windows were
locked, he thought. Why didn’t I go out through the door in the den? Why was I
trying to sneak up on a potential burglar?
    He
limped around to the front of the house, tripping over the porch
steps before ringing the doorbell. He rang it several times before
Denise came to the door. Somewhere between the third and fourth
ring, he noticed that the dog had stopped barking.
    “ Who is it?” she asked cautiously as she turned on the porch
light.
    “ Who the hell do you think it is?” he answered. “Just open the
damned door.”
    Denise
unlocked the door and Jerry almost pushed her over as he flung it
open and stormed into the house.
    “ What was it?” she asked as he hobbled toward the
bedroom.
    “ Not a damned thing,” he snapped. “Just a stupid loud- mouthed
mutt.”
    “ I don’t hear anything, honey.”
    “ It’s stopped now. I probably scared it away. It’s just damned
lucky I don’t own a gun.”
    Denise
winced when he mentioned a gun, but he glared at her until she
looked away.
    The dog
started barking again less than ten minutes after they got back in
bed. This time it sounded farther away, but Jerry was certain it
was the same dog. He could hear Denise’s soft snores from the other
side of the bed, but the constant barking wouldn’t allow him the
luxury of sleep. He was still awake–and the dog was still
barking–when the alarm clock went off at 7 a.m.
    Jerry’s ankle was swollen and bruised from his
argument with the garden hose the night
before. He winced in pain as he gently pulled his sock on. Cursing
the “stupid mutt” one more time, he decided to wait until he was
just about to leave for work before putting on his
shoes.
    While
Denise was fixing toast and coffee for their traditional breakfast,
he went out front to get the morning paper. He walked to the edge
of the steps and looked around the yard. The newspaper was in the
center of the sidewalk leading to their front steps.
    “ The idiot paperboy is getting better,” Jerry said to himself
as he stepped off from the steps onto the sidewalk.
    “ What the–” Jerry felt the wetness as it soaked through both
socks. He lifted his right foot, rubbed his fingers over the bottom
of the sock, and put them to his nose.
    “ That damned mutt,” he yelled.
    He bent
over and snatched up the newspaper only to find it was also
dripping with the same yellow liquid. He threw it into the yard,
peeled off his socks and threw them at the newspaper, and stomped
into the house.
    “ Where’s the paper, honey? I want to clip the coupons,” Denise
asked as he walked barefoot into the kitchen.
    “ Damned mutt pissed on it,” he grunted.
    “ What dog?”
    “ The dog that kept me up all night long.”
    Denise
had a puzzled look on her face, but she kept silent.

    That
night, exhausted from the activities of the evening before, Jerry
went to bed just after eight o’clock. He had just dozed off when
the dog started barking again. He tried to cover his ears with the
sides of his pillow, but it didn’t do much to drown out the