Retro Video Game

On a cold September night, the first real chill of the season as August was still a vibrant memory. The compelling imprint still shakes my reflexive assertion of the day’s date, on occasion myself slipping from my mental acuity. Regardless, I had been in the pool house relaxing after a day’s work. Very dim like night. Still two hours till South Park. So, I started silently walking up to the house at a slow, staggered pace. It was then that a vision overcame my imagination wherein my perspective became that of my dog Sadie’s, as if she were in a video game, an early Sega Genesis style, maybe even SNES. A sinister and ominous 8-bit techno theme reverberated through the pixellated screen. While otherwise a character engaged in various attempts to gain objectives, a new objective now appeared with immediate priority. Since her health was low from extended guarding of me, she was chomping at the bit to leave the pool house, so she did. But, she hates most the idea of being abandoned outside. So, she had to get inside with me, or be forced to bark her way in. Her head perks up as she notices my path, a clear route to inside. She immediately whips round and makes for the door, only to be distracted by sub-missions either left unresolved or newly discovered. She dodges through the hostile wilderness of the backyard, heading through new perils to the mission goal, while mopping up the odd loose end. She sees me getting closer, surely a time-limit. A repeated command in a compelling tone, time flees. Her quick, if arthritic, trot suddenly turns into a run. Just in time; music accordingly.