Jason's Life

           Ten years ago, there was a man named Jason. He was 26 years old. He worked in a very small company. He was a very kind man. But the problem was that he had only a few friends. (Actually, not many people wanted to be his friend for a reason that I never really understood). Anyway, he wasn’t even married yet. His parents had passed out a few years ago. His parents had left him some of their possessions. That was basically everything he had. He was tired of living this life.

            He woke up, got dressed and went off to work. It was a cloudy weather so he brought an umbrella with him. As he thought it was going to rain. When he reached, he greeted his employee and his teammates. They didn’t reply at all. They didn’t even budge! How rude! But he just went on with it and began his meeting with his senior. After a very tiring meeting, they had lunch break. All the men sat together and ate lunch. Jason tried to squeeze in, but they didn’t allow him. After work, he went home feeling very sad!

           He reached home after buying some noodles to eat for dinner as he had nothing at home to eat. He reached his small apartment. Then he checked his mails on his Lenovo laptop. He then started listening to K- Pop on Spotify. After a long night, he went to bed at 2 am.

           The next day, he woke with a very disturbing yawn and put on his joggers. He took out his earphones and started jogging while listening to his favorite songs. It was Saturday, so he had no work. He thought of going to gym today as he was growing fat. He had a membership for gym. So he went there and did some weight lifting and body building. After workout, he went to the supermarket and bought some groceries. As he was on his way home, he spotted a small dog.

  The dog was in a box that said, “Live with fear, or overcome it.” He ignored the sign and started leaving when the dog barked. Jason turned around. He thought and stared at the dog. ‘I guess I should take the dog home. I mean, it doesn’t look like it is in a good condition.’ So, he grabbed the dog and took it to Pet Smart.

  When he reached Pet Smart, he looked around for a person who could help. He found a woman who looked like she was about 26 years old. On her badge was the name Sheryl Montague. Jason told her that he wanted to get the dog a check-up. Just in case it wasn’t feeling well. After 30 minutes, the attendant brought back a clean, fresh dog with white, curly fur and little ears. Its tongue was sticking out as if to lick someone.

‘We got him a check-up, gave him a bath, and fed him,’ said the attendant. ‘OK,’ replied Jason. He then took out his wallet and asked, ‘How much do I have to pay. She stopped him from taking out the money. ‘You don’t have to pay anything. But, you can get a Pet Smart membership for just $22! You can then get discount for every visit you make.’ ‘Ok, I shall get the membership. And I also needed stuff for the dog. So if you have anything like that, I would like to have that.’ The attendant replied, ‘Yes of course, we have a package like that for $ 30.’ Jason shook a little and then replied in a shaky voice, ‘Ok, I think I will go with that please.’ So Jason went to the billing area and got his membership. The attendant came with the package and said, ‘Sir, there is a 50% discount on your first visit. So the total for today would be $38.72 including tax.’ He bought the package and headed home with the dog.

He named the dog Scooby. Scooby was a playful and cheerful dog. Jason felt good being with Scooby. He opened the box with Scooby’s accessories. In the box, there was a packet with a lot of dog food (Chicken). A plate to keep food and water (made necessarily for dogs). A soft, comfy, a peach colored bed (again, made necessarily for dogs). And finally, another small box with toys for dogs. Scooby barked with happiness. He licked Jason and Jason said, ‘Yuck.’ Jason fed Scooby food and it went to sleep on its new bed. Jason ate its dinner and went to sleep also. The day passed very quickly at Pet Smart and made both of them tired.

The next day, Jason woke up, put on his joggers and went jogging with Scooby. Jason had to agree that Scooby was fast. Like really fast! It outran all the other dogs and had put enough pressure that Jason had to run that fast too. While they were running in the park, they saw a group of people with their dogs. They saw an obstacle course. Then Jason spotted a big sign in the air, held in the air by bricks. The sign read, ‘Obstacle course for dogs. Winner wins $500 as prize money.’

Jason’s eyes sparkled, ‘Scooby let’s win this money.

‘They headed towards the obstacle course (I bet I know what you guys are probably thinking right now. ‘Wow, what a coincidence!’ Yeah, but that was meant to happen. It was destiny. And as some people say ‘You cannot deny destiny!’ I guess that applies to them also!) They went to the person who sponsored this event. He was a dude named Mr. Richard. He allowed us to enter the contest. The course didn’t even look that hard. Mr. Richard explained, ‘We will time the dogs on how swiftly they can complete the course. The one who completes it the fastest will win the prize money of $ 500. Everyone understand?’ Everyone gave Mr. Richard a confident ‘Yes!’ Mr. Richard replied, ‘Then let the games begin.’

The first two dogs that went timed about 5:34 seconds. The third one turned out to be good. It timed about 2:45. Now the fourth and fifth were from the same owner. But the dogs failed miserably so I am not even going to tell you how much time they took. We were the last ones on the list but they did not defeat the time limit of 2:45. It was now Scooby’s turn. I tried to explain in the middle of the competition that you had to win this. I think Scooby understood my instructions.

When it was Scooby’s turn, it looked aggressive. And the timer started, there it bounced, there it ran, there it jumped. Jason was praying. I mean literally praying! He had closed his eyes and started mouthing some words. After Scooby finished the obstacle course, Mr. Richard went to the microphone and was silent for a while. Every dog, every owner looked gracefully at Mr. Richard. He sighed, ‘All right, all of the dogs have participated and completed the obstacle course. And the results have been made. We have found our winner for this year. And the winner is - - - Jason and his dog Scooby with a time limit of 2:43.’ Everyone was silent and then Jason screamed, ‘Yes, yes, we won Scooby, we won!’ They were awarded with $500. Jason went home giddily.

They celebrated! Jason’s life had changed. He had never been that happy in 20 years! Jason’s and Scooby’s victory was posted in the newspaper. Then, the next day, when he went to work, he saw people that had never even thought of talking to him. One of the men said, ‘Congratulations, you and your dog. I have a dog too, but it is usually lonely and doesn’t want to come out of my house. So how about my dog and your dog start playing together and we can chill at home and have parties, all of us, we will have another friend.’ Jason was delighted, ‘Yes, of course, I would love to have friends with me. My dog will also have fun.’ And her shook hands with everyone. Everything was well. The dog had changed his future. He was very grateful for that indeed.

Now we shall move on to the present…

Jason had a wife, two sons, and a daughter. His dog Scooby entertained the kids. His daughter was the oldest, her name was Piper. She was 6 years old. The two sons were twins. They were both 3 years old. Their names were Christian and Ethan. Jason’s wife was Sheryl Montague. (Sound familiar!) Scooby was now a full grown dog. They were living a very happy life. All was perfect. Jason’s life had started...