JULIE

Julie shivered.

 

Julie was not comfortable with noise.

 

Firecrackers made her jump.

 

And the nonstop barrage of bombs and explosions that followed petrified her.

 

She is now reduced to a constant state of tremors.

 

Her whole family had perished in the overnight bombing.

 

She was spared as she chose to sleep on the lawns as the weather was suffocatingly hot.

 

The neighbors were spared too and they were kind. They asked her to go over to the other side. They told her no harm would come to her. She wore a funny belt, heavy, and a small placard around her neck declaring “I am innocent”

 

She crossed the border. No one shot at her. It was like the old times.

 

The soldiers gathered around her; something beeped and Julie blew up, killing the soldiers and herself in an instant. No time to even register or regret what had happened.

 

The “humans” on the other side cheered.

 

Now, even dogs have a nationality.