Writing Prompt: The dog began to bark.

Morning all and happy Friday! Let’s see what today’s sentence leads to shall we? Timers at the ready and off we go.

Huh. Nothing like the start of a ghost story for Friday morning. Not what I expected but fun.

Friday, August 9^th: The dog began to bark.

The dog began to bark.  Colin looked around and saw the dog was looking at the stairwell. He looked to the stairwell and saw nothing thee.  “Hush, Bingo,” he said.  Not for the first time he wished he had been able to change the dog’s name. 

The dog originally belonged to his mother.  She didn’t want to live alone in the house after his father died and didn’t want a roommate.  He made all sorts of suggestions, most involving moving to a smaller house.  She did not want a smaller house.  She had lived in the largest house on Oak Lane since his father got the big promotion three years before he was born and she was going to stay in that house until they carried her out feet first.  She would not let anyone think a deceased husband changed her living circumstances.

And so she got the dog.  His mother claimed he was a mix. was a mix.  Colin was sure he was a Staffordshire with maybe a hint of something else around the edges. His mother was convinced that only mutts made good pets and since she thought Bingo was a good dog, clearly he had to be a mutt.  She named him Bingo for two very important reasons.  The first was the sheer joy she felt simply in yelling Bingo repeatedly.  The second was that every time she yelled Bingo her neighbor and best frienemy, Thelma, frowned remembering the time his mother beat her to the grand prize at the bingo hall.

By the time his mother died, Bingo’s name had become a part of him and he would answer to nothing else.  Colin tried.  He tried random name at first and then when they failed to elicit a response he tried names the rhymed with Bingo.  In truth the only name he could come up with was Ringo and he anticipated several Beatles related questions should the name stick. 

He wondered if his knowledge of the band would be up to it.  He shouldn’t have bothered worrying.  When he used it the dog merely cocked an eyebrow at him and snorted.  Further attempts just caused the dog to turn a cold shoulder towards him and ignore him until he stopped.     Colin finally gave in and Bingo the dog remained. 

Normally Bingo wasn’t a barker.  It was one of the things Colin appreciated.  He also liked that the dog always came when called, if one used the right name.  He was all things considered a good dog.  ‘And when he barks there is a reason.’

“What is it?” he asked.  He walked to the stairs and even climbed them.  There was nothing there.  Colin came back down stairs.  Bingo stopped barking, snorted and walked away. Colin shrugged and retuned to the kitchen to continue to make his dinner.  After dinner he moved to the living room.  Once again Bingo walked to the stairs and began barking.