Solutions: A Dog's Dilemma by James Gerard (book suggestions .TXT) 📕

Sebastian stepped in quickly, said something that earned him a slap in the face.  He spoke up again but in a different tone.  Rick saw Sebastian’s smile, heard the humble tone in whatever he was saying.

The choke hold eased.  Several men ran up at them both with rifles pointing and herded them with the butte of the rifles into the back of one the empty trailers.  The door came down signaling the imprisonment in the darkness of the trailer.  Rick heard shouts he didn’t understand and shouted back while banging furiously on the trailer's door.

“What the hell happened out there?”

A voice in the dark answered, “The big man.  His name is Armando.  He is the leader.  The man with the pistol is his brother Paulo.  Armando wanted to kill you right there, then go after me and the villagers, but I persuaded him not to.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him that he was much too brave of a man to face a man as weak as you.  I asked him to give you time to rest and heal so you would not have to face a mutt in battle.  As you can see, that appealed to him.”

“So I’m a mutt but not a dog.  Oh, that’s nice.”

“Trust me Rick.  Do not trust what you see and hear.  Listen to what your heart is telling you.”

“It’s telling me to get the hell out of here and shoot the whole bunch of them to smithereens.”

All of sudden Rick felt pangs inside.  It was the grumbling of emptiness.  Knees weakened.  He couldn’t decide if it was a wave of weakness from hunger, thirst, or exhaustion that was causing the meltdown of strength.  The darkness appealed to the need of slumber.  However, the growing warmth inside the walls of metal appealed to thirst.  The fact that he had not eaten for a few days brought thoughts of devouring massive plates of food.  He could not see or hear what his heart was saying, but it was clear that his mind was speaking volumes.

He slapped the thin aluminum and demanded food and drink.

The request was returned with banging and shouts from the outside.

“Stop that Rick.  You call it a need but what kind of need is it if you have to resort to anger to get it?”

“Well, let me see.  ‘Oh excuse me mister guard, but could you please feed me.’  Like that’s going to work.”

“Just be patient.”

“Patient?  Do you realize how hot it’s going to get in here?  Patience?”

“Just trust me Rick, please.  Just relax.  Quit listening to your mind and just go to sleep.”

As much as he hated to, he abided by Sebastian’s request.  But Sebastian did not understand, let alone care, that the pain went running up and down his body and tortured the mind with relentless desires to end the misery no matter what it took.  The wood floor was hard and too uncomfortable to ease the pain.  Thoughts would not cease racing about his mind.  Visions of nasty, violent, hateful things that could be done to another human being consumed him, kept any chance of rest at bay.  But the situation was not new to him.  It was a familiar friend that had accompanied him for most of his life.

Rick, who had always been unwilling to put into action the rage within, now viewed that the unleashed rage could be the answer.  For too long, he reasoned, caged rage had been the wrong strategy to the dilemma of a failed life.  This time, he figured, escaping the cycle of misery meant taking a new and different path altogether.

 “I can’t stand it one more minute,” Rick shouted.  Fists  banged furiously on the side of the trailer.  “Let me the hell out of here now!  Let me the hell out of here.”

Banging and shouting responded back.

“Sebastian?  Sebastian, are you there?”

“Yes I am,” he responded in a whispered tone.

“I can’t take this heat one more minute.  Do you understand?  I swear to you as God is my witness I’ll break through that door and kill them all!”

A slight tapping, Sebastian’s voice and its soft tone was heard.  The door suddenly rose.  Bursts of sunlight came rushing in. Through squinted eyes Rick could see two men standing just at the back of the trailer staring in while pointing their rifles squarely at them.

Rick was about to spring his trap on the unsuspecting men when Sebastian calmly said something, “Rick.  Do not do it.  Just wait.”

Rick, considering Sebastian too plotted against the men, held back the leaping rage and waited for Sebastian’s cue.  He listened carefully as Sebastian talked with one of the men, looked for a wave of a hand, a finger, to signal the call to action, but the only word he understood was ‘Armando.’  The only signal was a soft tapping on the edge of the trailer.  It was a signal that said to sit and cool down in the breeze.

Rick sighed as the wind hit his sweaty skin and blew away the heat from within and without. The man that left returned with a bagful of oranges and a bucket of water.  Water splashed.  The oranges tumbled out of the bag.  Rick wasted no time and consumed the first orange rind and all and washed it down with gulps of water.

“Thanks Sebastian.  What did you say to them for all this?”

“I warned them that ‘Armando would be mad if you should die before he had the opportunity to kill you himself.’”

“And that worked?”

“You are a witness yourself.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Plan?”

“You’ve been quiet the whole time.  You had to be thinking of a plan to attack them.”

“No.  I kept myself occupied with prayer.”

Rick thought that odd as he began to peel an orange.  Why would he be praying to God at a time like this?  It is time for action.

A scream rang out.  A woman kicked and scratched at Armando as he dragged her towards one of the wooden houses.

“Oh my God,” Rick shouted.   He bolted towards Armando screaming “no” at the top of his lungs.

A shot rang out.  He stopped dead in his tracks.  Another shot rang out and kicked up dirt just in front of his feet.  Armando looked over to him.  He threw the woman aside.  Marisol ran into her arms.  Armando marched right to him shouting aloud and waving the machete in the air.  The villagers quickly gathered and stood silent.

A loud shout broke the silence.  Armando looked past Rick.  Sebastian came running up from behind and stood between Rick and Armando.  Rick heard the words come rapidly out of Sebastian’s mouth.  Sebastian pointed, turned around with his arms in the air to the villagers.  Armando laughed, roared out loud, then removed a knife from its sheath and handed it to Sebastian.

“What’s going on?”

“Trust me Rick.  Everything will be fine.  You are challenging Armando to a knife fight.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Rick screamed.  “Just let me get my hands around his throat.”

Sebastian held out the knife, “Take it.”

“No way!  Not with a knife.  Tell him hand to hand combat.”

“You have no choice.  Take the knife.”

“I just want to hurt him so bad Sebastian, I mean really, really love to hurt him.  I’m not using the knife.”

“Trust me.  Take the knife.”

“Damn it Sebastian! I don’t know even how to throw it.  Get me a baseball bat.”

“A knife or a baseball bat; what is the difference?”

“A bat would feel so much better.”

“Consider our Lord Rick.”

“The Lord?  I ain’t no saint.  Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yes Rick, it does matter.  We are not perfect.  God knows that.  If we were Rick, then why would Jesus have to hang on a cross?”

“What are you talking about?  Just give me a damn bat already.  I’m ready to do this.”

“Why do you not see Rick?

“See what?”

“God took his wrath out on God because he loves us.  He loves everyone.  That’s why He is on that cross.”

“Why are you playing with me?” shouted Rick.  “Are you doing this to me because you deep down just have hate for me just like everyone else in this damned world?”

Nothing Sebastian said made sense to him.  He could not reconcile how on one hand Sebastian wanted him to go after Armando with a knife, while in the other he is mentioning God.

Sebastian grabbed him by the shoulder.  “Stop listening to your mind Rick.  Stop listening to that voice who is telling you to hate, that it is okay to do this.   Do you think God has taught you to hate and see hate in others?  Who do you think God is?  God did not teach you anger.  God has not told you that.  God is in your heart.  He speaks to you from the heart.  He is in everyone’s heart.  You are his child.  Everyone’s his child.  God sacrificed himself, Jesus, for you Rick, for all of us.  Stop the nonsense and listen to your heart.  Stop obeying that voice and take the knife.”

Rick looked into Sebastian’s eyes alit with passion, a countenance sure and strong, but it did not matter. He snatched the knife out of his hand.  “You want me to take the knife and jam it into his evil heart than that is just what I will do.”

“I do not want you to do that at all Rick.”

Rick screamed.  Rage now coursed through the veins.  He had enough of the confusion.  Out of anger, out of spite, he would reveal Sebastian’s evil heart by abiding by his wishes. 

“Armando has agreed to give you an hour to hone your skill.  And by the way, Armando only agreed to this when I told him you’d both be blindfolded, ten paces apart.”

Mouth agape, Rick was speechless.  He looked at the knife, looked at Sebastian, looked to the sky and laughed.  If Sebastian wants me to kill him, then I’ll kill him, he thought.  But don’t they dare blame me. 

“Good,” said Sebastian, “you are ready to practice.”

Sebastian pointed to a tree some thirty feet away and Rick hurled it at the target.  Clink.  He looked at Sebastian and stared intently, waiting for him to say something in response to the failed attempt.  Sebastian retrieved the knife and handed it back to Rick.

“Again.”

Clink.  He sarcastically smiled at Sebastian.  “I can do this all day if you want.  Then again, wouldn’t it be better if I let him go first so he can kill me and get it over with?”

Again and again the knife bounced off the tree.  Sebastian gave him pointers as to how to hold the knife, how to throw it, how to make it stick, but every time the knife failed.

A shot rang out.  A voice shouted.  The villagers came out and circled the town square.

“It is time Rick.”

Amidst a wind that was whipping up dust and bits of dry brush, amidst sunlight fading behind the dark clouds above, Armando walked into view.  Rick saw the wry smile on his face as his men shouted and came up and slapped his back.

“Oh, I get it.  This is like…like that David and Goliath story isn’t it?  You’re like a