Bruce, the local handyman bought a bit of scrubland up on the ridge to help his wife’s crook lungs, like the doc said. With a bit of help from the townsfolk, they knocked together a little shack over a few years. But the hard yakka did Bruce in — he carked it not long after. His missus, still on the mend, was left alone and jumpy, so she got a dog to keep watch.
"The dog barked at everyone who came within two hundred feet of her house, and as time went by, no one dared to go near it. For years the woman endured being on her own with the dog and without people, when suddenly, in a flash, she could no longer stand the situation and went out and bludgeoned the dog—who had served her so faithfully all the years—to death with a so-called Sappel, which loggers use for hauling logs, and threw herself on the mercy of her fellow human beings."
An aussified version of Thomas Bernhard's 'At their Mercy' (with the help of ChatGPT)
original:
https://spurleditions.com/blog/tag/Thomas+Bernhard
People find relationship with their dog more satisfying than with best friend, study shows
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/114383767795473936
#dogs #pets #barking #relationships #literature
NEW BOOK - open access!
The End of the World as We Know It (A free, 65-minute podcast from 2021)
🅻🅸🅲🅴 (
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sort of way, and told us she was okay—that "he's overdramatic" and they've "been through a lot together", then changed the subject by asking if we were from Seattle. She thanked us for checking in a couple more times and started walking in the guy's direction.
How Reputation Does (And Does Not) Drive People to Punish Without Looking (A free, 11-page article from 2023)
