Written for Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction
Challenge using the image for inspiration.
Here’s where the prompt took me.
Bernard the dog had been planning this for three weeks.
He’d watched Jack do it a thousand times: hop in, grip the wheel, make the engine roar, go places with smells in them. How hard could it be? Bernard had excellent reflexes. He could catch a bagel mid-air. He could herd four sheep and a confused goat simultaneously. Steering a small truck down a single road was clearly beneath his talents.
The opportunity arrived when Jack popped into Millie’s Sandwich Shop “for just one minute” …. a phrase that, in this town, meant a minimum of forty-five minutes and possibly a second breakfast.
Bernard slipped through the open window, settled into the driver’s seat, and placed both paws on the wheel with the gravity of a man …. or dog …. about to change history. He surveyed the road ahead. Pedestrians. A delivery bicycle. Jenny May Lindstrom’s prize-winning geraniums. So many obstacles, so much glory.
He leaned forward, peered over the dashboard, and waited for the truck to simply understand what he wanted.
Nothing happened.
He pawed the wheel left. Still nothing. He huffed at the steering column, the way he huffed at squirrels who refused to be intimidated.
The truck remained parked, smug and immobile, mocking him with its complete apathy.
After several minutes of increasingly dignified glaring, Bernard reached a profound conclusion: the truck was broken. Definitely not a problem with his technique.
He settled himself in the backseat once again to wait for Jack, licking his wounded pride.
Oh, the humanity.
NAR©2026
This is “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
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