This is my first entry in ages for #freewriters hosted by @mariannewest, and inspired by @myjob's story of her escape artist dog. I'm not in a frame of mind for fiction, but I'll shoehorn in a true story from today, and take advantage of this group's prompt "can we go inside" to inspire my post! Mwahahahahahahaha!

Image by Pezibear on Pixabay.

And... BEGIN!

I was making pancakes for breakfast today when I happened to glance outside and see a white furry something go past the door outside. Something clicked in my brain and I knew almost instantly what it was: my neighbor's dog.

I have helped shovel this dog's shit after spring thaw, dog-sat him while his owner was away, and generally gotten to know the pooch well. He's friendly, and getting on in years now, but he likes to go on walkabout whenever he can.

I dashed out into the wintry outdoors right away, still barefoot. He was already gone. I plodded through the fresh inch of powder to the corner of the house, and there he was at the other door, looking at it expectantly, saying, "Can we go inside?"

Yes, we can. The sooner, the better.

I called the neighbor, who hadn't yet even noticed the dog's absence. She came over as soon as she could. It seems she had hired someone to shovel snow off her roof, and the new accumulation made a ramp right over the fence so he could saunter out at will. Fortunately, my house is one of two or three he seems to make his destination whenever he Houdinis his way

Time's up!

I know some repetition and sentence structure errors remain. I'll resist the urge to edit it properly and let it stand as it is. Grrr...