Avoidance

He set the can of beer down. All this silly self-destruction. It was inane and there would be no fucking more of it. He would go out. He would take the dog out.
At that moment the dog padded through and gazed at him beseechingly, swishing its tail.
- What? What is it? You want to go out?
The dog leapt at him, its tail swishing vigorously now. He went to the porch and put on his boots, fetched the dog's lead.
It was a cold day but clear and sunny. The ground was still damp from a previous rainfall. The dog ran on ahead, grinning wildly. He followed it down into the woods where it retrieved a stick and tried to bring it to him. He jumped back, conscious of the fact he was wearing his good jeans which he intended to wear later when he went out.
- Get away frae me! he squealed, flapping his hands in a decidedly pantomimic manner. Any observers might conclude that he was deranged.
He was going out tonight to meet Laura and he didn't want to show up pished, wearing muddy jeans. Fuck sake. One needs to maintain a presentable appearance in terms of both dress and mental co- what was the word, cohesion? I mean he wanted to seem like he was with it, not pished out his skull like some feckless tragedy.
The dog returned with another stick and he ushered it away again. Fuck sake. The dog was determined to foil his attempts to maintain a presentable appearance. Maybe the dog was jealous of Laura, of the time he spent with her and no with the dog. That was one line of speculation. A fairly preposterous one albeit.
They came to a bridge. A small one, but bridges perturbed the dog whatever their size. This one granted safe passage across a burn that was particularly wild today following all the recent rainfall. The dog gingerly made its way across, tentative bastard. And of course at the other side it wanted to be petted and reassured. He stepped back to the middle of the bridge, urging the dog away.
- Beat it ya radge, he suggested. Go on, go, look, see over there. He pointed vaguely behind the dog and it spun around to see what phenomenon it was being urged to regard.