Kotaro R...
Yokota Middle School
I didn’t mean to smack the dog. It just happened one day. It was just a normal, hot sunny summer evening, or I thought it was summer because temperatures below 80 are ancient in Guam.
That day after school, in 4th grade, will always be a memory to put in the back of my head, and never to be remembered again. I’m surprised that I remembered this part of my life as a military brat, because it was the time when my dad was constantly on TDY, and my friend, Miles, moved to Oklahoma.
This left my brother and I to play by ourselves, every day after school, for a week. I lived on the Air Force Base in Guam. Guam is a small island, so small you can drive to the other side of the island in three hours. Being an island, my backyard was covered in trees, making up the woods filled with iguanas and stray dogs. To top it up, the woods had the Brown Tree Snakes.
“You know what Kotaro, I want to take a quick peek at those dogs. Maybe we can chase them around with a stick.” Said my older brother, Ryunosuke.
Now, at the time, we were never the brightest kids. We didn’t have video games and Netflix shows were unwatchable. I guess we were stuck with that idea.
We headed into the woods, knowing full well that our Mom didn't know we were going to chase around wild dogs with local rabies implanted inside them. Already, I could smell the stench, so strong that it was like a 2nd grader that puked at the end of the hallway and the teachers had a bird bath with the puddle. To no one's surprise, a dog immediately started barking at us and we tried to kick it further away from us. It felt like the sound was piercing through my ear, all the way to where my toe was, and shook the ground from the vibration coming from my eardrums.
It started barking as it inched toward our mud enveloped feet. I took a stick from the ground and started waving it around until I smacked the dog, by accident of course. Oops…
I guess it’s not every day you get to smack a wild dog. Man, I love being a military kid.