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The New Leash


She can’t bear Charlie’s impossibly dark, beseeching eyes. He wants to go for a walk – needs to prance and run to the park, but she can’t do it.

She scratches the fur behind his ears. “Sorry. Daddy’s not here for walkies and I can’t… can’t...”

She’s tried to be brave for Charlie. She trembles, sickened by the gift a well-meaning friend brought when Joe died. This one’s blue. Even hanging behind the door where she can’t see it, she smells the leather. It reminds her of the last time she saw the old red leash. And how Joe used it.  


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