Journal #25

Jack was sad. His little doggy had just died. Jack loved his dog; it was his pride and joy. Lala, who had been a small black toy poodle, had been Jack's best friend since the time Jack was a young boy. Now at the ripe age of seventeen, Lala had been quite an old little dog. Jack had known Lala's time was near, but he never wanted to actually think about it. Reality was hitting him hard in the face now, though. It was time to face the truth.

All of a sudden, Jack heard his cell phone ring. It was Jack's favorite song, "Cyclone." Usually, Jack would find himself bopping his head along; he would maybe do a little jig. Today, however, he slowly just flipped his phone open and muttered, "Hello?"

From the other end of the line, Jack heard a lot of laughing and shouting. In a loud, slurred voice he heard his best friend, Sam, shout, "Dude! Where are you? Get over here now. You are missing out!" Jack took a deep breath and straightened out a little bit. Jack, as a freshman and sophomore, had been a starter on the football team. That came with a bit of baggage, and Jack knew that. Jack had a reputation for being the big man on campus; he was quite the partier. Jack knew he should probably go to this party or people would just not know what to do. Jack slipped on his mask, cleared his throat, pushed the image of Lala out of his mind and smoothly said, "Yeah man, I'll be there."

Jack pulled on some nice clothes, sprayed some cologne, and headed out the door. He showed up at Sam's house, still upset and deeply moved by the death of his ear dog, but put on a tough face and sucked it up. Sam answered the door and wrapped him in a man hug. "What is up, my man? Dude, where have you been? People started showing up hours ago!" Jack cleared his throat but did not really say anything back, just let his head fall back with a loud laugh. Jack grabbed a drink and had a great time for the rest of the night, according to everyone else. The truth, however, was that he was miserable the entire night. He missed Lala so very much, but he could not show it. It was a very sad night.