M G Lewis

Foreseeable Harm M G Lewis

The sun was shining in his eyes. And his face was being washed with something rough. He opened one eye.

A beautiful collie was licking his face and making little moans of concern. The collie's once-lovely coat was now wet, muddy, and tinged slime green.

"Hey, Boy."

The collie, heartened by this greeting, wuffed a couple of times and then started barking in earnest.

A little boy in a t-shirt and shorts parted the reeds enough to spot him before pulling back.

"Come here, Chance!"

Chance wuffed but was loathe to leave his new friend.

"Little Boy, get your father...or mother...or somebody. I need some help."

He heard footsteps running away; Chance wuffed and then leaped out of the ditch to follow his master.

It seemed like a long time passed. He was thinking about trying to stand up when an imposing man-shape blotted out the sun. He briefly wondered if it was his attacker/abductor come back to reclaim him, but the man said, "How the Hell? You drunk? Or high?"

"A long story. And no and no. Can you get me out of this ditch?"v

Chance was jumping into and out of the ditch, barking like a fiend, clearly excited by this novel twist to his morning walk.

The man discovered that his wrist was cuffed, and then discovered the cast iron radiator. "You sure you aren't high?"

"Very sure."

The radiator was buried in the muck, but the man ripped it loose and heaved it onto the bank. Strong hands lifted him out of the ditch and deposited him next to his iron companion.

The man, who was still just a huge shape, said, "How the Hell did you get yourself cuffed to a radiator?"

"I didn't. Call the police. Now. Please."

It was nice to be out of the water, and he may have taken a short nap to consider why he'd been lured to Crisfield, clobbered, and kidnapped by a man in a white mask.