Week 10 Storytelling: Dog Almighty

Bruce was walking home from work one day. Bruce is far from a fan of his job, believing that he is overworked and underpaid. Bruce was cursing himself, his job, and overall, his life. He was miserable. That was until a small, hyperactive Corgi ran in front of him and began jumping with joy around him.

"Hey little buddy," said Bruce. Bruce knelt down to check for a collar or a tag on the Corgi. "Who's your owner?"

The dog simply wagged his tail and started running into a nearby alley. Bruce began to walk away, that is until the Corgi barked at him as if to signal Bruce to follow him. For a reason unbeknownst to him, Bruce decided to follow the Corgi into the alley.

"Okay, girl, what are we doing here?" asked Bruce, in the same tone as a parent who is playfully speaking to a baby who cannot yet talk. Almost instantaneously, the giant smile that the Corgi had on its face disappeared.

"First of all," started the Corgi in a smooth, deep voice, "I am a male." Bruce looked at the adorable Corgi in horror.

"W-w-what the hell?" stammered Bruce as he was backing away from the alley.

"Don't be afraid Bruce." said the Corgi. He began circling Bruce to keep him from leaving, corralling him back towards the alley. "I'd prefer if we spoke in private. By your own reaction, you can see that others will most likely be scared as well."

"You're a talking dog?!?" exclaimed Bruce. "How is this possible?!?"

"Why is the sky blue?" responded the Corgi. On a normal day, Bruce may have answered that question with scientific facts, but after meeting a talking Corgi with the voice of a Jazz singer, everything Bruce knew about science was thrown out the window.

"What's going on?" asked Bruce, now a little more calmly, or as calmly as a man can be for someone who just met a talking dog.

"I saw that you've been a bit down as of late. What's wrong?" asked the Corgi. Thinking that he was hallucinating, Bruce thought that it couldn't hurt to divulge his true feelings to the Corgi.

"I don't know. I hate my job and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere in life," admitted Bruce.

"You shouldn't become so mopey than! If you don't like an aspect of your life, change it!" responded the Corgi. One could even argue that it came out like a command.

"And why should I take orders from a five pound dog?" questioned Bruce, now aggravated. The Corgi rolled his eyes and walked towards a nearby dumpster. "Because life is too beautiful to hate it." Upon saying that, the Corgi began licking an empty can next to the dumpster. Bruce just stared in horror and disgust, a shrewd look forming in his face.

"Don't look at me like that!" snapped the Corgi. After he was done licking the can all over, the can seemed to magically transform into a baby bluebird. The bluebird hopped next to Bruce, pecking at crumbs next to him before it flew away into the blue sky. He then went to a nearby, abandoned shoe and licked at it until it morphed into rabbit. The rabbit looked at both Bruce and the Corgi before scurrying out of the alley.

"You can't tell me that wasn't beautiful," said the Corgi matter-of-factly. "Life is hard, but it is also short. You can't just sit around at a job that you hate for the rest of your life. Go out! Go to art school!"

Bruce remained quiet, partly because he was a bit freaked-out that the Corgi knew he wanted to try his hand at art school. The Corgi merely stared at Bruce, waiting for his response. After a few minutes of contemplation, Bruce opened his mouth to speak to the Corgi, but before he could, he awoke to find himself lying in his bed at his apartment. Despite having been a dream, Bruce couldn't help but feel affected by it. The next morning, Bruce placed his two-weeks notice at his job and began filling out an application for a local art class in a nearby college.

Weeks later, now happily in art school and currently a prospect for a graphic design job, Bruce wanted to mark the start of his new life with the introduction of a new four-legged friend in his life. Bruce went to the local dog pound to find a dog to adopt and call a friend. To his surprise, at the very back of the building, there was a Corgi wagging its tail in anticipation for a new owner. Bruce couldn't help but smile.

"Hey little buddy," said Bruce, as if greeting an old friend.

The End

(A Corgi! Just like the one in my story:

Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

Author's Note: For this week's story, I decided to take an idea from the Native Americans of Alaska and merge it with the beloved story of Bruce Almighty. In the stories that are linked above, the Inuits have a legend where the raven is the creator of most life. In many of the stories, we see what the raven creates and why they are created. The idea that I really loved from the story was that the raven acted as a God-figure, an animal that seems just so random. I wanted to keep this idea in my story, but instead of a raven, which I always associate with death (and mediocre football), I could make my animal be a Corgi. I thought it'd be funny to have the creator of all life be a Corgi, and even funnier by making his voice similar to that of Morgan Freeman's. Speaking of Morgan Freeman, I chose this voice since he is who I associated most with Bruce Almighty. I am guessing that you guys can start to see why I decided to name my main character Bruce. Overall, I wanted to write a nice little story that shows a man who is disappointed with his life eventually make changes so that he can be happier. I hope you guys like it!