Doreen

Travis stopped while Tina scampered inside to answer the phone. He was on both knees in the side walk, his back to the street. He had just picked up another pole to drive in the ground when he heard a peculiar sound.

He ignored the noise and was raising the hammer to strike the pole when the racket attracted his attention a second time. With the hammer still in the back swing, Travis hesitated and turned his head over his shoulder, toward the street.

The sight of the brown and white pit bull dog froze him for a terrifying heartbeat. He realized that the sounds he heard were the dog’s toe nails, scraping the concrete as it ran across the street.

Travis jumped to his feet and spun to face the street. He held a PVC pole in his left hand, the sledge hammer in his right. The dog was closing on him, giving Travis only a second to react.

He cocked his right arm back to swing the sledge at the dog’s head. Travis’ instinct had him backing up as he prepared for the attack. Just as the pit bull leaped for his head, Travis stepped on the plastic bucket that held the PVC poles.

The bucket snapped under the unexpected weight, and Travis lost his balance when the bucket spun out from under him. He fell backward, affecting his aim with the sledge hammer. His attempt missed the dog’s head, and the hammer slipped from his hand, flying across the yard.

As Travis fell, his left arm went out and up, but he still held the piece of pipe in his hand. The sharpened end of the pole plunged into the throat of the pit bull as the animal plummeted toward him. The pole embedded itself just below the dog’s lower jaw bone.

The dog howled in pain, bitting at the pole while still in mid air, instead of Travis’ head. The weight of the animal caused Travis to release the pole. When the dog slammed to the ground, the pole was driven deeper into the animal’s throat.

Travis rolled away from the dog until he felt the hardness of the sidewalk concrete underneath him. He jumped to his feet, his mind racing, probing all his options for any possible escape. The dog was thrashing about, growling and biting the plastic pole.

When Travis stood, the dog caught sight of him and fixed its attention back on its original target. With teeth showing, the pit bull began another charge.

Travis reached down and picked up the closet weapon he could lay his hands on. He grabbed the bail of the paint bucket and swung a tennis forehand, striking the dog against the left side of its head. What was left of the bucket shattered even more, leaving Travis holding just the metal handle to continue the fight.

The blow knocked the dog over on its side, but it jumped to its feet and began a third charge. Travis made a bolt toward the driveway when he saw the dog hit the ground. His intention was to try and jump into the bed of his pickup for safety. Two strides into his dash, Travis slipped on a pile of the plastic poles and fell to the ground. He had not yet made it to the driveway.Lying on the ground, Travis braced himself for the attack by covering his head with his arms. He could hear the dog grunting and gasping as it lumbered toward him.