Project Azalea by J.E. Conery

Author:J.E. Conery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John E. Conery, Jr.
Published: 2021-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38

A Different Kind of Cocktail

Upon arriving home, Prudence walked through the house, scratched a sleeping Japonica behind the ears, gave Theo a good night kiss, and collapsed on her bed. In her exhaustion, Prudence left the door off the porch slightly ajar. Theo hadn’t patched the screen door yet, so in the still of the night, as he did every night to ensure his masters were safe in their beds, Japonica walked through the house and noticed a thin light from the streetlamp peeking through the open door. Japonica nudged the door open and crawled quietly through the hole in the screen door, then took the opportunity to take a midnight stroll through the quiet of the neighborhood.

Around 3:30 in the morning, he helped himself to some leftover macaroni and cheese casserole and daube au jus, topped off with a torn piece of stale, buttered French bread—all courtesy of Chookie’s garbage can, which already had been knocked over by some pesky opossum.

“That’s the one. See where that mangy-ass mutt is?” said Tyler Loomis, pointing toward the house.

“You sure? I thought it was that one over there,” said Earl Patrick Tyler as he nodded in the direction of another house while peering through his new pocket night vision scope.

“No, you’re looking at the right one. That’s his mangy-ass mutt digging in the garbage.”

They crept closer, keeping quiet so as not to alert Japonica. When they were within throwing distance, Earl heaved the Molotov cocktail, filled with the finest UAK moonshine west of the Mississippi. It sailed through the air as if in slow motion, dripping flames along the way like tracers ahead of patriot missiles headed toward the center of Baghdad. It breached the thin kitchen window and landed on the floor, immediately spreading flames throughout the room.

By the time Chookie awoke, the thick, black smoke had already consumed Tante Ju, who lay on the floor with her lifeless hands stretched toward her bedroom door. With his room now ablaze, Chookie just stood in the middle of his room, crying, coughing uncontrollably, and utterly confused. Japonica rushed into the house barking as loudly as he could in the hopes that Chookie would hear him. Chookie heard Japonica through the roar of the inferno and followed the barking. He made his way toward the front of the house and escaped through a side door. Japonica followed him, but got trapped by a flaming support beam when it fell. Barking gave way to helpless yelping, and except for the sounds of the fire, the yelping quickly gave way to silence. He burned to death in a most horrific manner. If all dogs went to heaven, ol’ Japo was up there, curled at the feet of St. Pete.

“What’s that big boi doing in the yard?!” Earl yelled nervously. “I thought only high-yeller and his mother lived there.”

Tyler replied, “Well, I saw the dog and thought—”

“You thought? You thought?!” Ear screamed, thoroughly enraged at his cousin. “You stupid asshole, we firebombed the wrong house?!

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