dog days of summer

Sage was a dog who belonged to a couple my dad worked with. He was the size of a small pony, but he was very friendly. When I was in Jr High, they used to hire me to feed him (the dog, not my dad) when they went out of town. Sage ate a large bowl of dog food and two heartworm pills every day. Sometimes he also had other medicine I had to squirt onto his food. I was very conscientious.

Except one time, when I was supposed to feed him for the weekend, and forgot all about it.

Where I was when I realized it: biology class, Monday afternoon
Sinking feeling in pit of stomach: yes

After school, I raced to their house and quickly fed Sage. Then I pondered what to do. If I didn't say anything, they'd never know - they'd feed him again when they got home that evening, and he'd probably eat it all, since he was bound to be really hungry. I briefly wondered if getting double heartworm pills that day might kill him, but I dismissed that as paranoia.

The problem was the money. I really didn't have a problem keeping the information from them that he'd gone Sat & Sun without food -- after all, what's done was done, Sage was fine, and they'd be happier not knowing. But I couldn't handle the idea of taking the money -- that seemed over the line for me.

So I left them a note explaining that I'd forgotten, and that Sage had already been fed once that day, and that I didn't expect to be paid.

Amount they paid me: zero
Number of words they spoke to me about the incident: zero
Number of times they mentioned the incident to me: zero
Number of times they asked me to feed Sage again: zero
Number of times I thought about it upon seeing either of them during the subsequent 25 years: all of them.