A Dog Story

INT. MY PARENTS HOME - DAY

Nine-year-old me is waiting in the living room, playing with my Flash Gordon toys.

ME
Pew Pew. Give up Ming. Never Flash. Pew Pew. I’ll save you Dale.

My MOTHER, 28, comes in from the front porch, sadness in her eyes. She sits cross-legged on the floor next to me.

ME (CONT’D)
Did Princess have her puppies?

MOTHER
Yes, honey, but Princess...she didn’t make it, honey. I’m so sorry.

My mom hugged me as tears sprang to my eyes.

ME
What will happen to the puppies if they don’t have a mom?

MOTHER
We’ll have to feed them the best we can and hope they make it.

ME
Can we keep one? To remember Princess by?

My mom nods and a tear escapes her eye.

MOTHER
Yeah, honey. If they make it.

Just then my FATHER, 28, enters with my Grandma.

FATHER
Your mom’s here. We should go.

My mother nods and turns to me.

MOTHER
Grandma is going to be with you while we take Princess to the vet. He will make sure she gets to doggy heaven.

And that’s when it hits me and I burst into tears. Grandma hugs me.

GRANDMA
Go on now, he’ll be alright.

My parents leave. Grandma cleans my face. I calm down.

GRANDMA (CONT’D)
Now, that’s better. You want to see the puppies?

I nod.

ME
Mom said I could keep one.

EXT. FRONT PORCH - DAY

Grandma is showing me how to feed the newborn pups. She takes an eyedropper and fills it from a bowl of milk. She hands me the dropper.

GRANDMA
Now just give them a small drop like I showed you. Not too much.

I give some milk to one of the puppies. He shivers. I laugh.

ME
I like this one. I’m going to call him Sparky.

Grandma smiles then looks up as a squad car pulls in front of the house. She pats me on the shoulder and goes to see what the officers want.

They say something to her and she cries out, falling to the ground in tears.

ME (V.O.)
That was the day Sparky and I lost our parents.

EXT. MRS. WALKER’S HOUSE - DAY

The front door opens and a snow white French poodle runs out onto a front yard that’s bounded by a chain fence.

ME (V.O.)
Now, down the street lived a poodle named Fifi. Yeah, like Cheech and Chong.

Fifi goes up to the chain link fence and whines.

ME (V.O.)
And just like Fifi in the Cheech and Chong album that I’d secretly listen to with my best friend Brett, Fifi was in heat.

Mrs. Walker and her daughter come out of a side door and get in her baby blue ‘62 Ford Galaxie, the one with the white top.

MRS. WALKER’S DAUGHTER
You sure it’s a good idea to leave her outside in her condition?

MRS. WALKER
Unless there’s a dog that can open a front gate, She’ll be fine.

The Ford backs out of the driveway and heads down the road. It passes by an unfenced home with a large German Shepherd sitting unleashed in the front yard.

ME (V.O.)
This is Spike. Spike’s an asshole.

A young girl pedals past on her bike. Spike snarls and gives chase. The girl, terrified, pedals for all she’s worth. As she pulls away from him, Spike gives up the chase and raises his nose in the air, sniffing.

Meanwhile, Sparky waddles up to the front gate of Fifi’s house. Fifi barks excitedly. Sparky stands up on his hind legs and is just about to paw the gate handle open when Spike arrives, growling.

INT. HOME - DAY
I’m sitting at the dining table, playing solitaire. My grandmother sits down next to me.

GRANDMA
It’s a sunny day. You should be outside playing with your friends.

ME
You mean friend. I only have one friend, Brett.

GRANDMA
That’s because you spend all your time playing with your dog.

ME
He gets me and I get him.

GRANDMA
I understand. You’ve had him ever since that, that day. But honey, you have to understand something too.

She puts her hand on my arm.

GRANDMA (CONT’D)
We all get hurt. We all have scars, pain that never really goes away.

But you have a life to live.

She gives my arm a good squeeze. She’s getting teary.

GRANDMA (CONT’D)
Your mom and dad would want you to have a good life, be happy. Play with friends.

Pounding on the front door interrupts us. I open the door to find BRETT, 11, panting with wide eyes.

BRETT
Spike and Sparky are fighting!

ME
Oh shit!

GRANDMA
I’ll have none of that language child or I’ll wash your mouth out with soap.

I dash out the door and down the street. Then I skid to a stop, face contorted in horror.

EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

MR. JOHNSON, 84, is spraying a hose at Spike as Sparky lies, motionless, head covered in blood.

MR. JOHNSON
Git the hell away. Go home. Git.

I’m running home as fast as I can. Sparky, motionless, in my arms. Brett opens my front door. My grandma takes one look and drops a bar of soap.

I/E. GRANDMA’S CAR - DAY

I’m holding Sparky in the backseat. Grandma glances over her shoulder from the driver’s seat.

GRANDMA
Is he breathing?

ME
I - I don’t know.

GRANDMA
Find a heartbeat.

I put my head against his chest and listen.

ME
Yeah. He’s breathing too.

She glances down at him and then gives me that look that says what can’t be said. Tears start falling from my eyes.

INT. VETERINARIAN’S OFFICE - DAY

The vet, DR. REMINGTON, 30, comes into the waiting room to speak to the two of us.

DR. REMINGTON
I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. You should come in and say goodbye.

We walk into the surgery room. Sparky is awake now. Blood cleaned off and head shaved revealing two nasty bite marks. His tail wags feebly as I pet him.

DR. REMINGTON (CONT’D)
He can’t see you. The bite he took severed both his optical nerves.

The doctor turns around, syringe in hand.

ME
So he’s just blind? He’s not dying? He’ll live if you don’t give him that shot?

DR. REMINGTON
He can’t see, son. It’s for his own good.

ME
But you wouldn’t put a human down if he lost his sight.

DR. REMINGTON
That’s not the same thing.

ME
No, it’s not. Dog’s don’t need their sight as much as humans. They depend on their sense of smell.

I turn to my grandmother.

ME (CONT’D)
You said, just because you’re scarred doesn’t mean you stop living. He could still have a good life.

Grandma looks to the vet.

GRANDMA
Would he live?

The vet nods.

GRANDMA (CONT’D)
Then what will we have to do?

DR. REMINGTON
You’ll have to help him everyday. Treat his wounds.

ME
I will. I nursed him when he was a puppy.

The vet looks to my Grandma. She nods. He turns and puts the syringe away.

DR. REMINGTON
I’ll give you a list of instructions and some medicine.

INT. HOME -DAY

Sparky is lying on his bed, shaved head sporting two wicked fang marks above and behind each eye.

ME (V.O.)
I was good to my word and I nursed him back to health. And as I did, I began to heal as well.

I open the front door. It’s Brett. I look to Sparky.

GRANDMA
You go on. I’ll keep an eye on him.

I go out to play.

INT. HOME -DAY

Sparky waddles into the kitchen to eat. His hair has grown back, but his eyes are cloudy.

ME (V.O.)
It didn’t take him long to learn his way around the house.

Meanwhile, I began coming out of my shell.

Three neighbor kids come into the house. One of them sees Sparky and laughs.

GIRL
That’s the funniest looking dog I ever saw.

INT. HOME -DAY

Sparky waddles over to the kitchen door, stands up on his hind legs and opens it to go outside.

ME (V.O.)
A year later, he knew his way around the whole neighborhood.

EXT. BASEBALL SANDLOT - DAY

I’m playing baseball with all of my friends. I’m at third base.

ME (V.O.)
I began to realize that it was okay to have a good life.

EXT. MRS. WALKER’S HOUSE - DAY

The door opens and Fifi goes out into the front yard.

ME (V.O.)
And then one day it happened; Fifi went back into heat.

EXT. BASEBALL SANDLOT - DAY

I’m at bat when the same young girl that had been chased on her bike by Spike runs onto the field, shouting and waving frantically.

The bat drops. HEART POUNDING, I race down the street.

ME
(Sharp gasp)

I come to a dead halt. The whole world seems to stop in thunderous silence.

Spike goes for Sparky’s head. This time Sparky is quicker. Charging beneath the larger dog, Sparky comes up under Spike’s throat.

Hind legs rippling, Sparky stands to his full upright height, jaws locked on Spike’s throat. He lifts Spike off his forelegs.

Sparky becomes bathed in blood.

Time starts again as my scream pierces the stunned silence.

ME (CONT’D)
Sparrrkyyy!

I dash forward as the two dogs topple, Sparky still clamped onto Spike’s throat. Grabbing my dog, I pull him off the German Shepherd. The neighborhood kids look on in shock.

Spike’s owner, MR. TESCH, 44, and his two teenaged sons, come running out of their house. Mr. Tesch cradles Spike’s lifeless head in his arms.

MR. TESCH
You killed my dog.

ME
Your dog attacked my dog first, Mr. Tesch.

The neighborhood kids all nod.

MR. TESCH
I’m gonna call the pound to come get your dog. It’s a menace.

ME
Your dog’s the menace. He shoulda been on a lease. He terrorizes all of us.

The kids all agree. One of Mr. Tesch’s sons raises a fist at me, but Tesch stops them.

MR. TESCH
You kids get out of here. Give me that dog.

I turn and run, Sparky in my arms. Tesch’s other son starts to give chase, but Tesch calls him off.

MR. TESCH (CONT’D)
Let him go. We know where he lives.

EXT. HOME -DAY

Grandma is arguing with Mr. Tesch and the dog catcher. The dog catcher shakes his head, which enrages Mr. Tesch and causes my Grandma to smile.

Mr. Tesch turns and glares at me as I watch from the window, then he stomps off in disgust.

Script on Blackscreen: Two days later.

INT. HOME -DAY

I open the kitchen door and start shouting.

ME
Sparky. Sparrrrrky.

I turn in concern to my Grandma.

ME (V.O.)
Sparky had disappeared. After a week passed, I was pretty sure Mr. Tesch or his two boys had killed him.

EXT. HOME - DAY

I glumly sit on my front steps, head in hands. A car drives by and stops at the street corner. I look up.

Mr. Teach’s two sons give me hard looks. The oldest boy, behind the wheel, guns it, sending rocks flying as he speeds away. My Grandma comes to the door.

GRANDMA
Hooligans. Come inside.

INT. HOME - DAY

I’m eating dinner with my grandmother.

GRANDMA
I went down to the pound to look for Sparky. I saw they have a lot of nice dogs that need a home.

ME
I don’t want another dog. I want to find out what happened to Sparky.

He’s been gone two weeks.

INT. HOME - DAY

I’m at the dining table, toying listlessly with a card.

ME (V.O.)
And then, on the seventeenth day since he’d disappeared...

There is a SCRATCHING at the kitchen door. I jump up and fling the door open.

ME
Sparky!

Something is wrong. Sparky pulls himself into the house by his forepaws, dragging his hind legs behind him.

ME (CONT’D)
Grandmaaaaaa.

I/E. GRANDMA’S CAR - DAY

I’m in the backseat, Sparky in my lap.

ME
You think he got hit by a car? What if his back’s broken?

My Grandma glances back at me then keeps driving.

ME (CONT’D)
He’s not gonna make it is he?

INT. VETERINARIAN’S SURGERY ROOM - DAY

The vet is giving Sparky an examination as I sit, brokenhearted, nearby. My Grandma’s hand on my shoulder.

ME
We can’t save him this time, can we?

Dr. Remington just chuckles in reply. I look up at him in shock.

DR. REMINGTON
Sparky will be fine. He just needs rest. He’s exhausted and wore his hind legs out.