A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 26

This is the sixth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.

Today’s story: Family gives homeless, dying dog the best days of his life.

Butch the Boston terrier had a rough life, but for one week, he knew what it was like to be loved.

After being abandoned by his owners in Pinson, Alabama, Butch spent two years on the street, eating garbage and barely surviving through the harsh winter. Alicia Buzbee and her daughter, Kansas Humphrey, found Butch before Thanksgiving, and rushed him to the vet, who shared the bad news: Butch had a swollen heart, limited lung capacity, and a leaky trachea. For his sake, a humane euthanasia was the right thing to do.

Buzbee and Humphrey agreed, but not before asking to delay the euthanasia so Butch could experience joy in his final days. The pair took him to the fire station and to meet Santa, and a big party filled with presents was held in his honor at a local park.

He ate cheeseburgers and pumpkin pie, and snuggled against Humphrey at night.

— —

After Thanksgiving, though, Butch took a turn for the worse, and on Saturday, with his new family by his side, he died. Buzbee made sure she looked into his eyes as he went, and told him how much she loved him. “I want him to hear those words and see those faces of the people who love him,” she said.

Out of curiosity, I Googled “dying dog movies” and there are a lot. For example, here is a list called The 25 Most Traumatic Dog Deaths in Movies. Having written a movie in which a police dog gets shot in the line of duty and almost dies, I’ve gone down this path before.

It’s emotional stuff.

So what if we did something like the last act of Terms of Endearment, only instead of Debra Winger, the dying patient is this fellah:

That’s Butch from the story cited above. A community rallies around the dog who transforms them in the process before passing away. Not a dry eye in the house.

There you go: My twenty sixth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!

What would you do with it?

Each day this month, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Gender bend, genre bend, what if. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in comments (hit Reply to join the conversation). And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.

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