Van Gogh's Dog

Vincent walked in the snow of his village town. He had nobody. No other human

being could understand his depth and richness.

"Papa! Papa!" He showed his father a portrait of the dog. It was above and

beyond what any of his classmates were capable of.

"Pssht!" his father said. "Some picture!" His father had always done a "Pssht!"

and gone on to repeat a stressed version of what his son had just said.

"I need a family picture for my new assignment," Vincent said.

"Wait 'til your mother gets home," his father said.

"Mama, I need this picture," Vincent said.

"You can't have the picture!"

"But I need the picture to do a painting and pass my art class! I want to get into

the advanced art program!"

"No! You can't have the picture!"

Vincent took it off the wall. "So what. I care more about my grade."

Vincent's mom let it burst out, after all the time telling him how good people got

into academics, "I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR GRADE!! You can't take the

picture!"

He took the picture off the wall and his dog came up to protect him from not

taking the picture.

His dad swung towards Vincent and the dog came up and bit his dad on the arm.

"No! We must let this dog go!"

"No!! Papa! No!"

The dog was Vincent's only friend and he didn't want the dog to go away. His

Dad took the dog out back and he shot the dog while Vincent cried so much. Vincent

remembered how he took the dog out of the town and had coffee with the dog. Vincent

talked to the dog about things he liked and things he was disappointed about and now he

was sad that the dog would not be there anymore.

He talked to the dog. He apologized to the dog about how stubborn and different

his upbringing made him but the dog went away. He was afraid that the dog went away

because he reached out to the dog and wanted to be friends with the dog. He felt guilty

for sharing his dark secrets with the dog because he felt that pushed the dog away or

caused the dog to misunderstand him.

Vincent got sad. He ran away for a week. He went to another village a couple of

train rides away.

Vincent went to a café where everyone looked alien to him. None of them knew

how much the dog meant to him and he felt that set him apart. People thought he was odd

because he was so pensive and non-active.

Vincent fell into the gutter. He smelled the urine and the concrete. When he

looked up he saw the cackling of the passers-by. His eyes picked up on their bruised

bodies and broken souls.

They mistook him for an orphan. "Doesn't look so good from where you're at,

does it?" She cackled loudly.

While he was there he had a concussion that put him into a deep sleep. He saw an

image of the future, when he saw a memorial where everybody who was there said how

much they cared about him. His father, who told him he could never do anything and

would never amount to anything, said how bright his paintings were and spoke of all the

nice things he did that were typically ignored. His mother, who typically treated him like

he was mentally challenged because he was a byproduct of horrible parenting, spoke of

how brilliant he was and how much he challenged himself. All the people he went to

school with who never came to do anything with him or see him said how much he

impressed them.

His mind flashed back to several years where he'd never be invited to do anything

for New Year's. The couple of times that he would be invited nobody would kiss him. He

was predominantly alone.

He had an image of his parents making sure that he'd never ever leave their house

and then he would never be able to reach anyone. Physicians in the dream said

everything, "He has tuberculosis... Lead poisoning... He's possessed." For the most part

these diagnoses were shortcuts that could not help Vincent get to be the successful artist

he wanted.

He came to in the morning and walked home. When he greeted his father tears

rolled down his eyes. That secret dog identified him with what he had to become, the

ultimate Outsider- having nothing but superficial relationships outside of the parents who smothered him.