You are so very kind, my dear friend @samsmith1971. I kept trying to smooth it over, to make the first part more graceful. It just wouldn't happen. So I went with it. That ending was written before a word was on the page. I needed to get the ending out. As a matter of fact, when I first wrote it the dog was shot, but I toned that down out of respect for Inkwell culture.
Thank you very much for your sensitive reading of my story 🌟✨🌹