A Mr Magoo

It was a dark night, in the small town of Marlow there was just pure silence. The only sound that could 

be heard was that of the rattling bunch of keys on a holder. Fumbling with the keys to the jewelry store, 

Jack Harbor squinted his eyes hard enough to un-blur them. Without the aid of his specs it became 

difficult to spot the key to locking the store. He jumbled and fumbled the keys within his sweaty hands. 

The light of the moon was of no help at all as clouds gathered around making it more difficult for the old 

man to see. Minutes ticked away while Jack became more frustrated as he grabbed each key and

plunging it into the key hole with failing success. He grunted and cursed under his breathe. Again and 

again he tried all the keys on his holder. Had he taken out the wrong bunch of keys? Considering being 

sixty years old he was becoming more forgetful. Taking a deep breathe to calm his nerves, he tried again

for the fifteenth time. Slowly he inserted the key into the hole turned it to lock and failed. Until his 

patience was over tested one of the keys finally turned and locked the door of the store. Sweating 

profusely Jack Harbor shouted “hurray!” in triumph almost causing himself to have a heart attack while 

at it.

With this task completed Jack Harbor made his way home. Home was just eight blocks away from the 

store. Having stayed in Marlow town for twenty years, he knew the place like the back of his hand. To

occupy himself he made a whistle of an old famous song called, “let’s stay together “. He trudged all 

alone on the path whilst whistling softly to himself. While he enjoyed his whistling, a scurrying sound of 

paws on the cement ground suddenly interrupted him from behind. Turning to look behind to see what

it was, only resulted in him seeing nothing. Shrugging his shoulders and resuming his whistle Jack turned 

to face his main objective that is going home. After a couple of steps the scurrying sound disturbed him

again. Turning again, all he could vaguely see was the cemented pathway which met his eyes. Jack shook 

his head and came to the conclusion that he was now hearing things. Turning to face his way home, he 

unexpectedly shrieked and jumped back a feet away from what appeared before him. Jack Harbor

squinted his eyes in order to see clearly what was in front of him. 

His vision was all fuzzy. He could see dark biddy eyes, a snout and fur that seemed to be brown in 

colour. What was before him seemed to be standing on all four legs. The old man blinked a couple of 

times looked again at what was before him. Yes biddy eyes, a snout, fur and four legs that’s what he 

saw. Jack came to the idea that this was a dog before him. What was a dog doing outside at night at this 

hour? The thought nagged him. Maybe it was a stray dog he concluded. He decided to take it home just 

in case he comes across its owner. In the meantime the animal could stay with him. He decided to name 

it to make it easier for him to remember. Reaching into his pocket he searched for treats he could lure 

the dog with. He felt a plastic containing a chocolate bar. He took it out and held it towards the dog. 

“Come here boy.” Jack encouraged the dog while holding out the chocolate bar. The dog responded. 

And it took an awful bite at the chocolate. “You like chocolates I see how about I call you Coco.” A

grunting sound came from the animal before him. Jack excused this as well with a maybe its hungry. 

Finally reaching home with the dog. Jack Harbor made sure to give the animal a bowl of water and food. 

It ate wildly throwing about large chunks of food and water messing up the floors of the house. The dog 

made a devastating scene. When time came to get some sleep Jack gathered some old blankets near the

window of the living room. The dog ran and plumped itself comfortably in the bundle of blankets.

Leaving the animal, Jack too went upstairs to his room to sleep off the exhaustion of the day.

Deep into the night Jack heard what he thought were tiny howling sounds of a blood thirsty mosquito. 

As the night progressed the sounds got louder and louder jerking Jack out of bed in a fright. He sat there 

listening as to what it was. It howled again and again. The sound came from down stairs. Jack searched 

for his glasses he still could not find them. Going down stairs Jack found the dog howling at the window 

which visibly showed off the bright full moon that sat in the dark sky. It howled again and again. “Typical

of dogs. “Jack muttered as he went back upstairs to sleep. Plucking his ears with ear plugs, the old man 

drifted off to sleep.

Early in the morning the newspaper boy always knocked at the door of Jack Harbor to signal him of the 

delivery of the newspaper. Dropping the newspaper on the welcome mat, before attempting to knock

the door Jack Harbor had already opened it and stood there in his morning robe. 

“Morning Timmy, I have a small favor to ask you.” He said.

The newspaper boy was dumbfounded, “What sort of favor Mr. Harbor?” he asked

“Well you see I found a lost dog last night. Can you help me find its owner? “The old man asked with 

pleading eyes that the boy could only agree to help.

“Before I go Mr. Harbor can I take a picture of the dog?” the newspaper boy asked

“Yes you can. Please come inside.” Jack Harbor invitingly opened the door wide enough to welcome the 

boy inside.

“There it is”, the old man pointed at the blankets. The newspaper boy was puzzled. What he saw before 

him was no dog at all. Of course it had biddy eyes, a snout, fur and four legs. 

Jack Harbor smiled delightedly as the boy snapped a few pics of the ‘dog’. When the newspaper boy 

finally left the house, he got on to his bicycle to finish the daily tasks of delivering the newspaper. When

it was now afternoon, every tree in Marlow town had posters of the dog’s picture in black and white. The posters read in bold black: LOST TEDDY BEAR.