Back in August, I had a knock at the front door. This was odd for two reasons: 1, anyone who knows me comes to the back door, and 2, it was about 10PM.
I opened the door and there was a kid of about 19 standing there. He just wanted to “let me know” that my dog had bitten him.
As he told the story, Hoot (who has three legs and epilepsy) had hopped over my picket fence. Then he attacked the kid and (depending on what minute the kid was telling the story) had either jumped back over the fence into my yard or was assisted back over the fence by the kid.
We advised him that Hoot had his shots, but if he wanted to go to get the bite looked at to send us the bill. He said it wouldn’t be an issue. We talked for a little while and exchanged contact info.
After he left, Mags and I were discussing how the story didn’t add up. For one thing; if Hoot gets out, he runs. He doesn’t just hang around. And furthermore, if a dog were to bite me the last thing I’d do would be help him back over a fence.
Then… the texts started. The kid was trying to shake us down. While he was starting cheap ($20), we knew that if we paid him off he’d never go away. We told him to call the police to report the dog bite, and we called too.
He continued to threaten us, and promised to “make the dog gone.”
The police didn’t believe him. The hospital didn’t believe him. He reported us to the humane officer, who had to investigate. It made it to the District Magistrate, who threw the case out because our accuser never showed up… because he was in jail.
The Magistrate knew very well who the accuser was, as did the police. He’d made quite a name for himself.
All quieted down until a couple days ago, when I got the news that the kid had died due to an overdose.
I actually feel bad for the kid. His family had done some infamous things within the realm of the area. Lots of crazy to be had, and he was right in the middle of it.
In a way, he’d never had a chance for a normal life. I’m not a big believer in a predetermined “born to lose” destiny, but I sort of know when you have the cards stacked against you.
The kid made some stupid choices. We *all* make stupid choices. His just cost him a lot more.
All I ever wanted was him to just leave us alone. Sadly, I got my wish.
