Jason’s six year old daughter, Penelope Ann, played on the swings. Although six, and an avid lover of outdoor play, she was not the tomboy one would suspect. She didn’t like snakes of frogs, but could be convinced to hold a hamster. She disliked the mud, fighting, tree forts, playing in the rain, and fishing. She did like soft things, pink, bows in her hair, taking bubble baths, perfume, and skirts. She was shouting to her daddy, “Push Higher!” as he stood behind her, shoving the swing into the air.
Jason was an average looking thirty five year old man. He was a little under six foot, with a normal build. It was after work and he was taking his child to the park to play. Most of the families had gone home at this point, and the park was nearly deserted. He pushed her for over a half an hour as she laughed and screamed.
He didn’t notice the stray until it was at the edge of the playground. He was taking her off the swing and heard the soft padding of the dog’s feet on the ground. It stood right outside the perimeter of the lights, walking around as if it wanted to stay in the dark. It was a German Shepard, or a Shepard mix. Its mouth was open and it eyed them cautiously.
Penelope didn’t like dogs. She had been bitten the year before and had developed a fear of them. She reacted with the fear and the dog realized it was in charge, it was the alpha. The dog strode into the light as Jason pushed Penelope toward the car. “Hey!” he shouted loudly, “Get out of here!”
The dog would have none of it and continued toward them. When it got near enough to them Penelope started crying and hid behind her father. Jason kept his daughter behind him as the animal turned. Then when it came too close and looked as if it were sniffing the air, Penelope filched and jumped back. The sudden movement made the dog snarl and this further frightened the child.
Jason picked up his child and shouted at the dog to no avail. While she was in the air the dog grabbed his leg and shook. He toppled and the animal shot towards his daughter. Jason was not an athletic man, but moved quicker than he ever had and snatched the canine by the scruff with his left hand as it lunged. It turned and bit his forearm. This was not a snap, or a little nibble, this was a full on bite. The dog did not release.
Jason stood and screamed, “Penny, get to the car and shut the door!” She paused weeping, “Daddy!” she cried. He only had to look at her once and then did as she was told. She would remember that look for years to come. Never again would she see it on his face. There was something so cold in his look, like part of him was missing.
Jason was not a brave man. He had never exhibited any quality like this up to this point. In the eighth grade he stood idly by while his friend was beaten up by two ninth graders. He backed down from three fights in his adult life. He never stood up to his boss.
His bravery was not thought out, it wasn’t planned, it was biological. Parts of his subconscious and some of his glands took over his actions. He was able to think, but his actions were not made by his conscious. His arm was in the dog’s mouth and with one shake his radius bone had snapped. It was at that moment the subconscious took over. He would remember this moment as a blur, almost as if he was reading something in the third person or watching it on TV.
Two strange things happened. Firstly, there was no pain. The adrenal glands worked furiously and all he felt was pressure. He knew that the dog had injured him severely, and that his arm was broken, but all he felt was the force of the teeth. Secondly, instead trying to retract the arm from the dog, a normal reaction in this situation, he grabbed the back of the dog’s collar and shoved his arm deeper into the teeth at the back of the mouth.
The dog was unsure how to react to this. At first it bit down harder, but then it’s grip on the arm released, and the back of its tongue tried to dislodge the arm, pushing up over and over. The dog began to buck like a wild horse. Its backside trying to pull away and it was lifting into the air. It jumped four times before Jason used that moment to knock the off balance dog over and onto its side.
Jason followed the dog to the ground. He held the collar tight and landed on his knees, his bulk on the dog’s ribcage. The dog tried frantically to get up but couldn’t, its head was pinned to the ground and three times it its weight lay on it’s now injured ribcage. Snarling turned to whines, and in that moment alpha became beta.
The grip on the collar was not released, instead the uninjured right hand twisted, cutting off oxygen and blood flow. The dog struggled, and squirmed. It tried in vein to get out from the weight and it spun its head several times to bite him. He held this position until long after the dog was still. Then he snapped out of it. His base biological functions no longer in control, he collapsed next to the dead animal, pulled out a phone and called for help.
For the rest of his life he could never answer why he did not let the animal go and he would never again tap into his primal nature.
