Tag: bones

Posted in dogs

The Truth About Marrow Bones: Dogs Love Them, Prices Skyrocket

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My dogs wonder, “Why don’t you buy marrow bones for us anymore?”

“Have you seen the prices?”

Marrow bones used to be scraps from the butcher. Now they are high demand and therefore high-priced products. Bone broth is a trendy nutritional staple now.

The price of beef is up. So every part of the cow is more expensive.

Some people blame COVID. People stayed home and learned to cook, so the demand for meat went up.

Some blame a higher minimum wage. The money to pay stock clerks at the grocery has to come from somewhere.

But the dogs love these things. Somehow, they can extract the marrow from the middle of a slice of bone. It’s good for them, too. Chewing these bones scrapes some of the plaque and tartar off their teeth, delaying a dental cleaning.

When I give the dogs a bone, they are focused. One hundred percent of their attention and energy is devoted to scraping every speck of marrow from that slice of cow bone. They are obsessed with that one inch slide of bone.

Okay, so I guess it’s worth it. I love my dogs, and they love bones. A win-win?

Posted in flash fiction, Stories

Scavenger

Posted on by William Douthwaite

She would never forget.

She would never forget how life had stripped away every song, every feather and every freedom.

She would never forget how she became a scavenger. Just like him.

The restaurant closed. Unemployment ran out. The stimulus was spent.

The lights were on. The water ran. The rent was paid. But that’s it.

It’s amazing what you can find if you look. A discarded Visa gift card with $2.71 left on it. A mattress, bookshelf, chair, lamp, coffee maker and carpet remnant by the side of the road. A neighbor’s Wi-Fi without a password. A bag of clothes outside an overstuffed donation bin. A gel pen by the side of the road. Half-used spiral notebooks, half-full shampoo bottles, half-read books and half of a pizza out by the road in front of a cleaned-out house. The Gideon gave her a bible. The pastor gave her a few bags of food. Lightly-used toys by the curb became gifts for the nieces and nephews. Free samples at Costco, even if you don’t buy anything. A free Krispy Kreme donut because she got the vaccine.

That was a rough year. Until the restaurant reopened. The customers came back. The hours were long. The tips were especially generous. They remembered her. They understood.

Her car wasn’t fancy, but it got her there. She sang along to the radio. The lights were on. The water ran. The rent was paid. She brought a bag of food for the food pantry. She donated some extra clothes. She bought a few things at Costco. She bought a coffee to go with her free donut.

But she would never forget. Every time she glanced in the rearview mirror, she would see his bones.

And she would remember.