The commute in the new town was a pleasant experience for Teah. The way was short and there was an extensive amount of nature to be seen. Large willow trees encircled the pond that lay on the east side of the road near her house. Small cottage-like homes dotted the west side a little past the pond, all surrounded by trees and flowers. Other than that? Nothing but fields of grass and crops.

Teah dropped her six year old son, Adam, off at summer daycare. On her drive to work, she marveled at the beautiful field covered in wild flowers and prairie grass that she had to pass every day. It would make her smile thinking about how vastly different the new little town was compared to the large city they had just moved from. There, the only sign of nature was a weed growing from the sidewalk and flowers in murals that covered some of the smaller buildings downtown.

When Teah picked up her son, he remarked how the flowers in the field swayed when there wasn’t any wind. Teah assured him there must be wind, and perhaps they hadn’t noticed walking from daycare to the car because the surrounding buildings were blocking it. As she drove, she noticed no trees were swaying. Maybe Adam had mistook what he saw, for she hadn’t paid attention to the field on the way home.

While Teah cooked dinner, Adam played with their dog, Daisy. She was a yellow labrador mutt who loved playing with Adam and getting into mischief. Teah often found Daisy down the road eating the neighbor’s cat food or chasing rabbits around the yard. This evening, Adam tossed a stick to the end of the backyard countless times and Daisy always brought it back to him. He patted her head each time and praised her for being so good.

One Saturday morning, Daisy ran off while Teah and Adam worked in the garden at the front porch. Teah thought nothing of it, but became concerned when the dog didn’t come when called. She and Adam walked to the end of the short street and Daisy was nowhere to be found. Adam didn’t understand her worry, so she swallowed it, and in her mind gave Daisy 20 minutes to return before going out to search for her.

At 20 minutes exactly, Teah set out on foot with Adam to look for Daisy. They stopped at the end of the road when Teah noticed her neighbor, Sylvia, at the mailbox.

“Have you seen my dog? The yellow lab?” Teah asked.

“You’re missing a dog, too?” Sylvia began. “My brother’s dog recently ran away, too. He lives a couple streets down.”

“Do you think they’re together, my dog and his?”

Sylvia shrugged. “I haven’t seen either one of them. Sorry.”

Teah decided to take the car and drive around the small neighborhoods nearby. No dogs were spotted and Adam was complaining of hunger. Teah gave up for the day and decided to leave Daisy’s food out in hopes she’d be getting hungry too and would come home to eat.

A week later, while at the grocery store, Teah noticed two lost dog signs on the entrance bulletin board. One she had seen but never paid attention to and the second one looked rather new. She shook her head to clear the pain of Daisy still missing from her mind. She gave the signs one last glance then went about her business.

On the way to daycare one day, Teah caught a strong whiff of what smelled like wet dog. She chuckled because it made no sense. It hadn’t rained recently and there definitely hadn’t been a wet dog in her car. She checked all the car windows to make sure they were up. On the way home, she smelled the same thing, though it seemed a little more subtle.

Throughout the week she’d catch the same smell as she got closer to daycare. It was a little unsettling to her since she never saw dogs around and there was no rain or ponds that could be creating the smell. No one at the daycare made any mention of it, so Teah kept quiet.

There came an unexpected knock on the door one Friday evening as Teah and Adam were settling down to watch tv. At the door was Sylvia.

“You have to come see this,” Sylvia started before Teah could give a greeting.

“See what?” Teah asked, feeling panic rise from her belly.

“Do you have anyone that can watch your son?” Sylvia asked.

Teah shook her head. “What is it?”

Sylvia took a deep breath and held it for a moment. “The town, you know they mow the fields every now and again. Well, they found something… somethings in one of the fields.”

Teah rushed Adam to Slyvia’s car where the three of them hurried to the field in question. Teah’s anxiety rose as she realized Sylvia was headed towards the daycare.

A group of people were standing around talking amongst themselves on this still, warm evening, several of them in tears. Teah rushed out of the backseat of the car and stopped at where the grass hadn’t been mowed. She looked around at the surrounding people, at the lawn mower man that was wringing his hat as he talked to police, then at the man that resembled Sylvia that stepped out from the thick grass. His cheeks were wet with tears. Teah sighed heavily before stepping into the un-mowed portion of the field. She parted the tall grass with her hands and took a few more steps forward. To her horror, within this beautiful field of prairie grass and wildflowers, laid about 15 dogs, all dead, all perfectly preserved. She found her Daisy, next to what looked like one of the dogs on the lost sign from the grocery store. She cradled her dog’s head in her lap and wept. A gentle breeze made the wildflowers dance and nothing more.